“Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:16-20
Hi! This week we caught up with our electrical repairs due to the 220 power surge several weeks ago. The invertor was repaired and now we don’t have to worry about power outages. The washing machine was repaired and the children jumped for joy! We contacted the guy who hooked up our “prise” and had him move it back to the area where it should be. Now we can play basketball again without the line interfering with the trajectory of the ball! EDH has been providing a lot of electricity during the day here in our area lately; more than usual. Part of the $5 million US$ grant that Haiti/EDH got from the World Bank is being used to hire a Spanish organization, Indra to modernize EDH. This project will cost 2.4 million euros. Holland is also helping out with the electricity problems. The Dutch government is providing $20.5 million to E-Power in Cite Soleil. This power generating station will provide 30 megawatts of electricity, which is about 15% of the demand for Port-au-Prince. EDH has a capacity of generating 233 megawatts but only 133 megawatts are used. Of the electricity that is generated 35% is stolen. At the present time only 1 in 5 Haitians have access to electric services. More stable electricity will also encourage investment in the country as well. Maybe one day we won’t even need an invertor anymore!
The Smile Train plastic surgery team performed 50 cleft lip/palate surgeries while at the Baptist Mission Hospital in Fermathe. We give the Lord thanks that these people will no longer have to live with this problem. Cure International came with an orthopedic surgery team led by an American orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Nelson to Hopital Justinien in Cap Haitian. Two children from Christian Light Ministries were able to be seen and Ivona Dessalines had surgery on her wrist to release the ligament. Pray for her recovery and that she will now have more use of her hand and wrist. Pastor Genada of Gonaives brought a clubbed foot child and he had surgery as well. Lovely Nelson who has Potts Disease (caused by tuberculosis of the spine) was seen as well and she may get surgery in November. Dr. Nelson comes 4 times a year to Haiti from the Cure International Hospital in the Dominican Republic and performs the surgeries for free. The only costs are to get up to Cap Haitian and for tests, lab work and medicines. I put a video of one of their surgical visits to Haiti on my blog and it shows them performing surgery in a blackout! We hope to send a few children up to the next surgical process. Pray for the work of this organization and we give thanks for another “open door” to getting help for children with orthopedic problems!
There has been quite a few fevers and sickness going around. Manu, Benson and Cousin Johnny all had fevers, colds and coughs that weren’t getting better and they were all put on antibiotics to help them get over whatever caused the sickness. At the end of the week Manu, Benson and Cousin Johnny were getting over their bug and three more people here at Coram Deo got sick. Veline, Paulna and Herold are now dealing with this bug. We have also been handing out fever medicines to some people in the community who come to our gate. Pray this sickness goes away.
My sister Tanya and my parents went with John to the Shriners Hospital in Montreal for surgery on his other clubbed foot. Unfortunately when he was being registered pre-op at the hospital he had a seizure and the surgery needed to be canceled. His other foot has healed from the surgery well and is straight. Tanya is excited about the possibilities of John being able to stand! Pray for another surgical date for John and that he will one day be able to stand God willing.
An older boy who is mentally handicapped was registered this week into our school program. Steve Auguste looks around 16 years old and is a big kid! He lives with his aunt. He came with his backpack ready to go to school and enjoys the opportunity of attending school for the first time in his life.
We received another donation of Feed My Starving Children rice meals from Love a Child as being a member of OdesO. This helps us in providing meals for the children in our school program. We share this food also with some of the poorer people that we know in the community. A lady from Cite Soleil comes by from time to time when she is not able to provide food for her family. They live in a shack with no mattresses. They spread clothes out on the ground to sleep on. We have had some large downpours lately and when it rains at night the family can’t sleep as the water enters their home. Pray for those who are living in terrible living conditions here in Haiti.
During one of the heavy downpours someone walking downtown here in Port-au-Prince stepped into an open manhole that had the cover missing. With all the water on the street he didn’t see the opening. This man drowned. A father went from his home last weekend to sell bags of water by the soccer stadium downtown. He never came back home. His family looked for him at the police stations, hospitals and morgue and couldn’t find him. They heard about a body that was found in all the garbage that was pushed by the rain waters on Rue Pavee and went down there. They were saddened to find that the body was their father. September is almost finished with no tropical storms or hurricanes hitting Haiti but whenever there is a downpour you usually hear of a couple of people who lose their lives in the rains.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
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