haiti update - december 6, 2008

“We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us; O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.” Psalm 33:20-22

Hi! This week was a busy one with the medical program and preparing for exam week for the school program. Monday morning the orphanage where John Charles stays, called to say that he had died. He is one of the hydrocephalus babies who was recently operated on. John had spent several months living at Coram Deo with his parents and after they abandoned him, the Food For the Poor orphanage took him in. He had deteriorated over the months and the operation helped to release pressure on his brain but his health never improved. The orphanage held a funeral for him on Thursday afternoon.
Maxon Marcelin now has his passport and we are now waiting for the hospital papers to come in before applying for a visa. Pray for the rest of the papers to come in and for the plans that are being made to send him to the United States to treat his hydrocephalus.
December 3rd was the International Day of the Handicapped around the world and there were a couple of programs that took place here in Haiti. One of the programs was the inauguration of “Maison des Petits Anges” (Home of Little Angels). Maison des Petits Anges is a Rehabilitation facility that is part of the Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs Hospital located on Tabarre Road. This facility will provide a hot meal, physical therapy and schooling for handicapped children. They estimate that they will be able to assist 5,000 children per year through their consultation services. Organizations in Italy sponsored the project. Now we have another place to go to for help with handicapped children!
Smile Train will be working in conjunction with Partners in Health and the Minister of Health in offering cleft lip and palette surgeries at Saint Therese Hospital in Hinche, which is located in the central plateau. A Smile Train team will be doing surgeries from December 8-13th. Pray for all those that will be receiving free operations. They will also hold medical training and seminars during their time there. Cleft lips and cleft palettes occur in 1 per 500-700 births around the world. It is estimated that over 15,000 people in Haiti have this defect that is easily correctible with surgery.
On Friday a large medical and missions team visiting from the United States came to Coram Deo to hold a clinic. 220 people were able to see a doctor and receive medicine for their ailments. This was the biggest clinic yet but the yard was able to accommodate everyone. We borrowed benches from Pastor Octave’s church and from Sherri’s school as well as using our school benches. While awaiting their turn to see the doctors there were activities set up for the children. Games, balloons and crafts with a bible theme were done with non-medical members of the team. The children enjoyed this surprise! Some of the adults did too! The team also provided bags of water and snacks for everyone. Evangelization was done as well. Bible stories were told and a Christmas skit was done with some of the children of Coram Deo participating. Some of the mothers sang Christian songs in Creole to the visitors. The Haitian people really know how to sing. Francois, the gatekeeper handed out evangelical tracts as people left the yard. The clinic finished around 4:00pm. We give the Lord thanks for all those who participated in this clinic. The team plans on doing 6 clinics at different places while here in Haiti. Pray for this team’s efforts for the upcoming week. People came from different areas to come to this clinic. Lukner, Jn. Eddy and Francois went and visited different sections of the neighborhood informing them about the clinic. Pastor Pierre came down with around 40 people from the Kenscoff area. These people set out at 3 in the morning from their homes in order to come to the clinic. One day hopefully a clinic day can be set up in the Kenscoff area as well. One grandmother came in with 3 of her grandchildren who all had bad skin infections. She told the visitors that she couldn’t look after her children. The grandmother can hardly walk. She says that she can’t provide for them and is looking for a helping hand. We are going to try and find orphanages to take them in. The youngest is 10 months old. The oldest is 8 years old. Pray we can find a way to help this family out. One of the members of the team knows of an orthopedic surgeon who may be interested in coming to Haiti to do surgeries. We have a lot of orthopedic cases that could use surgeries. There is also a need for dentists. So many people go without dental care. Pray for God to touch the hearts of dentists and orthopedic surgeons to come to Haiti.
First semester exams start next week for the school program. The teachers submitted their exams to me this week and next week testing begins! At the end of the week report cards will be prepared and handed out to the parents. Pray for a successful exam week!
The transformer on our street has been broken all week and there has been no electricity. One day hopefully it will be fixed. Kiki calls me “mom” when he wants something and “miss” when he is serious. Tuesday afternoon he came to my door and when he called me “miss” I knew he was being serious. He went on to inform me that his clothes were all dirty and he was now out of clean clothes to put on. He didn’t like the idea of learning to wash his clothes with his feet. The generator doesn’t generate enough power to run the washing machine, so I telephoned Chrisno’s mother and she came over the next day to do the laundry. Daphka’s mother is doing the laundry this morning for Kiki! The children are praying for electricity because they are not very willing to wash the clothes by hand!
The evenings are cooler now and we have been sleeping on the roof. Manu and Benson are the only ones who are willing to camp on the roof though. I call it “Hotel des Milles Etoiles” (Thousand Star Hotel). November 30th was the official end of hurricane season and the skies have been clear the last few evenings.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo