… The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galations 5:6
Hi! It’s been awhile since I was able to write an update. It hasn’t been because things have been busy here but because my laptop computer and cash box with all the money and my identification broke out of my room and fled to parts unknown. This all happened last Sunday morning while everyone was at church. We have a gatekeeper for Sunday and 3 individuals got into the yard with a lie. My sister Tanya stayed home from church because she was feeling sick and I was at the hospital. At 10:00 am there was a knock at the gate and the gatekeeper saw a young person who said that she came to speak with us about papers for a medical visa and that she was waiting for another young man whose name I will change to Judas. He told her he couldn’t open the gate for her but she begged to be let in and said that she would sit and wait for everyone to come back from church. He was just shutting the door when Judas pushed through and shoved past the gatekeeper. They were in the yard awhile and Judas got up to head toward the kitchen door. The gatekeeper told him he couldn’t approach the house and he replied that he was only going to wash his feet. My sister was at the door to the house and saw him and talked with him. The 3 people in the yard were all known at Coram Deo because in the past they all were helped with medical and/or education needs. Tanya asked Judas why he was there at that time (it was the time people in Haiti are in church). He replied he was there to see the visitors. She talked with him a little while and then eventually the 3 young people in the yard left. They never did wait until the visitors came back. I arrived back home at 11:30 from the hospital and saw that the laptop computer was missing. The file cabinet was also smashed open and the cash box was missing. This proves that the persons who committed the crime knew exactly where to find the stuff. I contacted the police and they are now in the process of conducting an investigation. They believe that as many as 5 people were involved in this theft. Tanya was able to identify Judas and when the police questioned him he supplied the names of the other two. It is frustrating when people bite the hand that fed them but God will judge in the end. Pray for Judas and his buddies that they change their hearts and mend their ways and for the police as they conduct their investigation.
One of the things that the thieves didn’t steal was my old Windows 98 computer. It was sitting on top of the kitchen cupboard with a broken power button. The fact that this computer wasn’t taken as well only goes to prove that the thieves knew it wasn’t working and shows that the thieves knew the house. I took it over this week to the computer repair shop and they removed the broken power button. You just have to stick something inside the open space to push the contact area to turn on the computer. I use a Qtip because it is softer than other things that I could use. I figure that I have designed a new model. I call it the Compa-Qtip. After you power up the computer you can use the Qtip to clean out your ears! It’s great to email and surf the web again!
Recently 25 children received operations for their hydrocephalus. Things went well until the medical team left. That afternoon the hospital director said that there was only a 4 day contract signed with the Ministry of Health and there would no longer be nurses assigned to the childrens care. We ended up on Wednesday to hire nurses so that the children would get care. It was also a real blessing the my sister and the rest of the crew were there to help. Without them things would have really fallen apart. The doctors at the hospital refused to look at the children who had post-op problems. The haitian neurosurgeon came in and discharged patients that could go home but he was battling hospital bureaucracy too. He went to the Ministry of Health and the Minister of Health himself came to the hospital last Thursday to order the hospital staff to look after the children. A couple of times the hospital staff shut off the water so that the mothers had no water to bathe themselves or their children. There was one evening when a hospital worker came in and told the mothers to leave the room because they were not allowed to rest on the extra beds in the room. He told them that they had to sleep on the floor. The mothers didn’t listen and I told them if they tried it again to call me on the phone. There was some iv antibiotic medicines left by the team to be used for the post-op treatment of the children. A nurse got them from the storage room and put them on the desk in the room. Within a couple of minutes other nurses came by and stole them all. I went into the other pediatric room and told the nurse there that I knew that nurses came in and took the medicine away for "safekeeping" and asked for a vial. She told me that she would give me one this one time only and pulled one out of the cabinet. On Sunday we needed more so I went back to the room and didn’t ask this time. I just walked up to the medicine cabinet and told the resident doctor that I needed the antibiotic and took it. She looked angry but didn’t stop me. During the surgeries the medical team had problems finding iv poles to hang up the fluids after the children came back to their beds from surgery. The nurse that I talked too said that I would have to talk with administration and ask them. There was nobody in administration so I went on a search to other areas of the hospital and took some from the other rooms. I made sure that it wasn’t already in use though before it was removed. It was great fun sneaking down the hallways with iv poles under my arm. I did this several times and never got caught once! There are 3 children still hospitalized, Maudlin, Manasseh and Sammie. Keep them in prayer and pray for healing mercies as they deal with post-op infections. No matter what the problems that are here in Haiti it is great to help these kids and families with Christian love. Here is a poem that explains what it is and how we should serve God with it. Have a good day!
Karen
An ardent spirit dwells with Christian love,
The eagle’s vigour in the pitying dove.
‘Tis not enough that we with sorrow sigh.
That we the wants of pleading man supply,
That we in sympathy with sufferers feel,
Nor hear a grief without a wish to heal;
Not these suffice – to sickness, pain and woe,
The Christian spirit loves with aid to go;
Will not be sought, waits not for want to plead,
But seeks the duty – nay, prevents the need;
Her utmost aid to every ill applies,
And plants relief for coming miseries.
George Crabbe 1754-1832
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