haiti update - october 11, 2009

“Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.” Psalm 118:19

Hi! This week I was able to see some of the people here at Coram Deo catch the “community spirit”! It looks like the visit to the paralympics the other weekend touched the hearts of the older guys who are part of the Coram Deo family. On Thursday they came up to me to talk about something. Amos (who helped as an escort for the blind at the paralympics), Fedner and Macdonald (handicapped young adult) presented an idea about starting an adult literacy program here at Coram Deo. They want to offer this program in the late afternoons. There is a high illiteracy rate here in Haiti and not being able to read is a handicap for an adult. They already have an application form in hand and are making plans to start the program. I think it is great that these young adults want to do something to help their community. This idea came from their own hearts. Part of the vision that I have for Coram Deo is to be out in the community. It is not about “me” helping the community but getting the Haitian people who are part of Coram Deo to help the community. It is great to see after the problems that Coram Deo has gone through to see this vision blossoming. Pastor Pierre has always been active in his community and he is now getting the people who live in the mountainous area that I call the “far away church” to mobilize and improve access to their area. The people have formed a “kombit” (Creole word that means “people working together”). Last Wednesday 300 people came together with hoes, picks and shovels to build a better route. They did this on their own because they want their area to have better access. The lack of a road and good trails cause this community to be isolated. Some of their children are suffering from malnutrition. It is their goal to eliminate this isolation. This week they hope to have 400 people helping. Pray for these people as they strive to improve their lives and for the next “kombit” that will be held this Wednesday. Pastor Pierre tried to suggest making smaller groups but they told him that they wanted to do this together as one large entity.
Keziah Furth is an American nurse who went on a visit with us a couple of weeks ago to Bonnette. She saw the living conditions there and offered to go out there on a regular basis to help monitor and treat the children with their medical needs. This was an answer to prayer. She has the community spirit too! Pray that the Lord sends more people into our path to help and work together in the Haitian community. Another American missionary contacted my father about using the “Moringa” tree to help improve nutrition of the people in Bonnette. The leaves, pods and flowers of this tree are edible and are very nutritious. Each ounce of Moringa contains 7 times the Vitamin C found in oranges, 4 times the Vitamin A of carrots, 3 times the iron found in spinach, 4 times as much calcium as a glass of milk and 3 times the potassium contained in a banana. In the United States this tree is known as the Horseradish Tree. Pray we can get the people in this village to grow and eat from this tree and teach them about the health benefits. Malnutrition can be reversed. Pastor Pierre is willing to talk to the people in his area.
The mother of Jonel Colo has really been struggling to care for him. He is the 2-year-old hydrocephalus child with the pressure sores on his head. His head is basically rotting. She was happy when we told her last week that we would visit her at her home to regularly change his dressings on the pressure sores. She lives in the area behind the American Embassy on Tabarre. When we visited there the first time she met us at the corner with a couple of her friends. She is poor but does what she can to look after her family. We were able to meet some of her other children. She has 7 children and lives in an unfinished cement block house. Jonel’s head stank and was oozing green pus. Some of the blackened tissue came off. We change the dressing every couple of days. The challenge right now is to prevent the sores from getting worse. Please pray that these sores can heal. The third time we changed the dressing the smell wasn’t so bad so maybe all the antibiotic cream is helping!
We went out to the village of Bonnette on Friday afternoon with Deedee and the children to make a visit to the families of Samson and Rachel. These children are thriving in Deedee’s care. Rachel weighed just under 5 pounds (at 3 weeks of age) when she first started looking after her and she now has doubled her weight in a couple of months. Rachel’s mother and the neighbors were happy to see how well she is doing. Rachel’s mother has been having trouble with pain in her legs and arm. She remained sitting on the floor of her hut when we were there. Pray that the pain goes away. She is paralyzed on one side from the stroke that she had a couple of years ago but is a very determined woman. Samson’s mother wasn’t in the village while we were there but other family members and friends were at the spring washing clothes. They rejoiced when they saw Samson! Part of the reason they rejoiced was that one of the women had a “revelation” (Creole word for dream) the night before that the “blanc” would be bringing Samson to the village that day. She was surprised that her dream came true! The day that Samson first left the village he was not in good shape. His body was swollen from what I thought was malnutrition. After a week at Deedee’s the swelling was gone and he was well hydrated and starting to drink small amounts at a time. If he wouldn’t have left the village that day a few weeks ago he would not have survived the week. His kidneys were failing. Last week when Samson saw the people at the spring he just stared at them and looked like he was not that happy to see them. All the people who saw him though were rejoicing with smiles on their faces. Pray for Deedee’s efforts in looking after these children. Their families are grateful.
On the way to Bonnette on Friday UN vehicles and ambulances with sirens going came up behind us in the Croix des Bouquets area. We pulled to the side of the road and they went on ahead. On our return trip to Port-au-Prince there was another UN ambulance heading out from the Croix des Bouquets area that passed us in the opposite direction. The UN uses their sirens only in emergency situations and seeing a few ambulances meant that something bad happened involving the UN. When we got home I turned on the computer to see if there was anything on the internet and the news was that a UN plane had crashed. 11 UN soldiers (5 from Jordan and 6 from Uruguay) were on board the plane when it crashed into the side of a mountain in the Ganthier area. The village, which is nearby the crash site, is called “Pays Pourri” (English translation – rotten country). The rescue teams had difficulty accessing the area and the bodies were removed on Saturday. Uruguay is involved in border surveillance. Their boats help patrol the coast of Haiti and the airplane that was involved in the crash was a Uruguayan plane that was used for surveillance of the Dominican/Haitian border area. Pray for the families who are affected and for the UN personnel who are here helping to stabilize and develop Haiti.
This past week another of the ex-presidents of the United States made a visit to Haiti. Jimmy Carter through the Carter Center is focusing on eliminating malaria in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Currently 5% of the Haitian population has malaria. His plan is a 10-year plan at a cost of 200 milllion US$. He is currently launching a $200,000US$ pilot program here in Haiti. The poor political situation of especially the last 25 years has contributed to the malaria problems in Haiti. President Preval said that between 1957 and 1985 Haiti was almost declared free of malaria, but with the political disturbances the situation deteriorated. On the island of Hispaniola, 90% of the cases of malaria are in Haiti. According to the Carter Center, Hispaniola is the last major stronghold in the Western Hemisphere that harbors malaria. Pray for Jimmy Carter’s efforts at eliminating malaria here in Haiti.
My parents and a couple of their friends will be arriving in Haiti on Tuesday. We are trying to spruce up the Coram Deo flophouse to meet Canadian standards. We went hunting through the house with the dog and killed a few mice and found no evidence of any lurking rats (my mother is scared of them). They also don’t have to worry about the roosters crowing too much in the yard. We ate one of them a few weeks ago for an early Thanksgiving dinner. To all the Canadians have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo