haiti update - march 1, 2008

“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8

Hi! This has been a busy week with the medical program. Dr. Ed has a medical team from New Hampshire in-country and they did a clinic at Willy and Joel’s school in Cite Soleil on Monday. The 3 doctors saw a lot of patients and dental patients were also seen by a dental surgeon and Dr. Ed. We give the Lord thanks that these people could be helped. The UN and Haitian police provided security for the medical team. I stayed at the entrance of the school with some of the guys from Coram Deo and spoke with people on the street and to people requesting medical care. There were a few cases of children who had seizures that came to the entrance and we are planning to get them assessed at CES (Centre Education Special). If their seizures are under control they can lead more normal lives. There was a young girl there who has a heart problem that we need to get an echographie for to determine what type of problem she has. There was also a man who needs another wheelchair that came by. He is paralyzed now because of a bullet to the back that he received in 2005. The period from 2004 to early 2007 was a tough time for people living in Cite Soleil. A lot of innocent people got in the way of stray bullets in shooting involving the UN and gangs. Now the situation is more stable.
Widline Pierre (colostomy surgery) and Skyline Michel (cleft palate surgery) both traveled to the United States on Wednesday and arrived safely. Pray for the doctor’s efforts as they help them. Naphtalie Bazile (hydrocephalus) will be traveling soon for her surgery.
This week we completed the paperwork for Chrisno Jeudi’s passport. Hopefully, we will be getting the passport on Monday.
Iliodor Noel (right lower leg amputated) is now back in the hospital with an infection. On Tuesday the stitches on his stump opened up and the stump didn’t look very good. He is in the surgery ward in a bed next to Austin Fontus, the man who is waiting to get his leg amputated. Hopefully, Austin will get his leg amputated next week. Keep both of these men in prayer.
Benson, who lives here at the house, will be traveling to Hinche this coming week for surgery on the burn contractures of his leg. Jameson Glezile will travel with him as well to get surgery for his cleft lip. A plastic surgeon from the United States is coming to Hinche to do these surgeries. We give the Lord thanks for this opportunity for these 2 kids.
Dieunette Dumus is a young baby who has an encephalocele growing from the back of her head. Medical care has been found for her in the United States. Next week we will need to work on her passport paperwork. The mother is from Gonaives.
Yesterday a hydrocephalus baby from the last round of surgeries came to the house with his parents. Her name is Magdaline Bazile and she is 14 months old. They come from a place called Thomazeau. She had a seizure that lasted 5 hours on Thursday, which was treated at the clinic in Thomazeau. The doctor there told them to come into Port-au-Prince for follow-up care. Yesterday afternoon we brought them to General Hospital downtown and they admitted her to the pediatrics room. She had a fever, so I don’t know if that was the cause of her seizures . I got a call from the mother this morning and they will be discharging her today. We’ll pick her up and drop them at the tap-tap station in Croix–de-Bouquet for their trip back to Thomazeau. Pray that Magdaline’s seizures can be controlled.
This morning as I was starting to type this update there was a knock at the gate and 3 women were there with a 6-month-old baby. I went to talk with them and they explained that they were looking for someone to help them. The story they gave was that the mother was crazy and abandoned the child at 2 months of age. The aunt has been looking after the baby since that time. The baby was very sick. The eyes were glassy and the breathing wasn’t good. We brought them right away to the children’s hospital on Tabarre called Nos Petits Frere/Soeur. Pray for this baby and the medical staff’s efforts in treating it. I am not sure that it will survive. I told the family to keep in touch.
This week was a politically charged week for the Haitian government. The members of parliament called Prime Minister Alexis to stand before the members for questioning. A non-confidence motion was presented and was defeated by a vote of 63 to 8. This was done on Thursday. We drove behind a small protest group that was walking in the downtown area. They were walking in support of the prime minister. With these protests you can either turn around and find another route or just be patient and wait for the people to move out of the area. There was also a large amount of people in front of the parliament itself. On Friday February 29th was the 4th anniversary of the departure of Jean Bertrand Aristide as president. Several thousand people (estimated to be 5,000) were walking to show support for him and to request his return from exile. Part of this protest was in the lower Delmas area. The people denounced the UN, United States, Canada and France as being responsible for his departure.
When people here protest a lot of graffiti will be written on walls and buildings. Driving around you see a lot of “Aba la vi che (down with an expensive life)”. People are getting frustrated with the rising cost of living. The inflation rate is now at 11%.
In the north-west part of the country people have really been struggling. The parents of a hydrocephalus child, John Wilson Charles, are staying here at Coram Deo. They are from Bombardopolis, which is in the north-west part of Haiti. The past hurricane season did a lot of damage in this area. Hurricane Dean damaged a lot of the crops and plantations in August 2007. John Charles home was damaged by that storm. One of the sides of the house sits unrepaired since then. They lost all 6 of their goats to the storm. As a result of crops being damaged or destroyed and the current dry season with little or no rainfall, hunger is appearing. The last time the father went home there was a funeral for 2 people who died because of the effects of hunger. These 2 people were a father and his young son. In August their house was destroyed by the storm and since then they were staying with another family. Other people helped them out with food from time to time but often they went without. As a result they got weak, sick and then died. There are stories of children who are not going to school because they are too weak to make the walk because of not eating properly. Pray for the north-west part of Haiti as they deal with the dry season and damaged and destroyed crops.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo