“By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.” Proverbs 29:4
Hi! This week was a busy week with the medical program. Naphtalie Bazile came back from the United States on Saturday and now is with her family once again. We are going to organize sending her to Healing Hands for physical therapy. Pray she continues to be healthy and for patience for her family. Development goes slower for a hydrocephalus baby, as the body needs to grow in size before the head can be supported. We brought another hydrocephalus baby, Chrisno Jeudi to see a pediatrician at Bernard Mevs this week. He has had a fever for the last 3 weeks. We got some lab work done and hopefully the medicine will improve his health. He is on our wait list for medical care in the United States and needs to be in good health before he will be considered. Dieuna Philippe is a hydrocephalus baby who is currently in the United States. She has not made good progress. She was near death when she traveled to the United States and is now finally out of hospital but she has a feeding tube in place. Pray she will be able to eat normally as one day she will need to come back to Haiti and to her family who live in Cite Soleil. Several new medical cases came to the house this week. Octavio Jean is a 9-month-old baby who has a cleft lip/palette. Hopefully he will be able to participate in the next round of plastic surgeries that will be done in October or November. A young mother came to the house with her hydrocephalus baby. Marcensly Pierre is 6 months old and his head started to enlarge starting at 2 months of age. The mother is a widow. The baby was born on January 16th and the father died one day later after being shot and killed in the Petionville area. We registered Marcensly at Healing Hands and hopefully he will be able to get surgery in October when the neurosurgery team from the University of Miami returns to Haiti. This upcoming week will be busy showing the regional director of Smile Train around to different hospitals. Smile Train is an organization that is working around the world providing medical care for cleft lips and palettes. Their goal for Haiti is to make it possible for every person born with a cleft lip/palette to be able to get plastic surgery to correct this congenital defect. Angel Missions is coordinating with Smile Train in these efforts. Pray for open doors at hospitals here in Haiti to make this goal possible. A mother came with her malnourished child to Coram Deo this week and he was in bad shape. Stevenson is 16 months old and he was dehydrated and limp. We brought him to the hospital at Bernard Mevs where they immediately admitted him to the pediatrics room and started him on iv’s to rehydrate him. He was also put on oxygen. After tests were done he was found to have pneumonia in both of his lungs. Pray that the medical treatment that is being given will be able to help him. It is difficult for a malnourished child to overcome illnesses sometimes as they are already in a weakened state. The mother as well is malnourished.
The UN World Food Program is increasing its efforts to feed more people here in Haiti. It is preparing to feed 2.3 million people or around 25% of the population of Haiti. This figure gives an idea as to how the high food prices are affecting this country. Currently the UN World Food Program feeds 800,000 people.
In Haiti, 1 out of 8 children die before reaching 5 years of age and 1 out of 14 children die before reaching 1 year of age. Some of these deaths are caused by malaria. Out of 100,000 cases of fevers treated at health centers here in Haiti, 30,000 or 30%, are diagnosed and treated as malaria. The government is encouraging malaria education to combat these high rates.
Haiti is also dealing with higher fuel costs, which is causing some difficulties. More people have decided to walk greater distances to save money. Some families are reducing the quantity of food eaten in a day in order to pay for the increased transportation costs. Out of frustration passengers sometimes fight with the drivers of the tap-taps over the increased fares. ¾ of the population live on less than $2 per day. The $2 can only go so far and when food and fuel prices go up life gets more difficult.
Willy and Joel will be starting a summer camp for about 500 children in Cite Soleil starting on Monday. Pray things go well for this camp. Cite Soleil is calm. The guns are still there but they are hidden because of the presence of the UN.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
photos - hydrocephalus surgeries
Juniya Lyra was only 1 week old in this picture. She was born with a large head and was delivered caesarean section. Her father came to Coram Deo looking for help.
This is Juniya one week later, the day after surgery. It is amazing how things fall into place. We give the Lord thanks that the team from Miami Childrens' Hospital led by Dr. John Ragheb could again perform 18 hydrocephalus surgeries in May 2008.
Here are proud parents of this young hydrocephalus baby.
We bring food to the hospital for both the child and parent while they are there. In Haiti the hospital provides no meals. We supply a meal in the morning and another in the evening.
This young boy with hydrocephalus looks well after surgery.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
haiti update - july 5, 2008
“ He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” Proverbs 14:31
Hi! It’s great to be back in Haiti again after visiting Canada for the last few weeks! We made a few presentations on the work here at Coram Deo and were able to do some fundraising. Thank you for your prayers and support of the work done here. Our monthly budgetary needs are $6,000 US per month and for the past year we were $19,000 under budget for the year. We look forward to the upcoming year as we are planning to start our school program again. We will be introducing a child sponsorship program. Anyone interested in sponsoring a child can contact me at my email address listed below. We hope to have 2 classes for poor children living in the neighborhood as well as 1 deaf class. I look forward to having the yard full of children again! The Haitians living in the community have been supportive and an elderly lady who sits out front all day long selling cookies and candies gave a welcome back gift of a marmite of beans. Things at the house went well while I was gone and the last couple of days I have been catching up on things that have happened. First I had to buy another battery for the pickup truck because the other one was no good and wouldn’t hold a charge anymore. While we were hauling food yesterday the steel bumper started to fall off but we tied it up with rope and partially fixed it when we got home. Just before I went to Canada in June the truck got rear-ended by a van while we were driving downtown. The bumper seemed sturdy at the time though. The van ended up with some front-end damage. The driver apologized and said that he had trouble with the gas pedal. I figured it was either that or trouble with the brakes. We have had about 12 minor accidents in the last couple of years and the pickup truck has been holding up well!
“Frank”, one of the members of the Judas Gang who stole my computer in October is now living in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. His thieving in the Delmas 31 neighborhood was starting to catch up to him. He stole from someone near the mayor’s office on Delmas 31 and was pursued by some people. He ran for his life and was able to escape getting caught. Since he is now recognized as a thief by the people in this area he has fled all the way to the Dominican Republic! “Mack” another member of this gang has now sold his motorcycle that was purchased with the proceeds of my stolen solar panels and is preparing to join his uncle in crime in the Dominican Republic as well. It seems that Frank has found some “work” in Santo Domingo. I am not sure though what type of “work” this is.
Phara Simeon, a hydrocephalus baby returned from the United States while I was gone and is now back with her mother. She had a successful surgery and now I will keep contact with her and encourage her in raising her daughter. Phara is doing very good neurologically but it will be a few years before she will be able to sit and do other things due to the size of her head. Her body needs to grow and catch up to the size of her head. Keep this family in prayer and that Phara continues to make strides in her development. While I was in Canada there were a few families that came to the gate asking about help for their children who had hydrocephalus. Lukner visited their homes and we’ll follow up with these families in the next couple of weeks. One of these mothers was told by the father of the baby to throw it away but she didn’t want to do this and instead went searching for help. Another mother that we met with was told by the father of the baby that it couldn’t be his child because he wouldn’t father a hydrocephalus child. A week ago a hydrocephalus baby was abandoned in a cornfield. Somebody walking nearby heard a baby crying and went to look. The Haitian Red Cross came and removed the baby. We went downtown to the abandoned children’s ward at the state hospital to see if the baby was there this morning but it wasn’t. This ward is very full right now. A few of the beds were holding 3 children to a bed. All of the children in the abandoned ward are handicapped. The abandonment of children here in Haiti happens a lot. Some people living in the Arcachon 32 area of Carrefour heard a baby crying throughout the night one evening last week. In the morning people found a dead baby in front of the gate of the state hospital there. Pray that one day the practice of abandoning children stops.
Benson Junius is recovering well from his plastic surgery. His hand looks good. We will need to do some physical therapy with him on his knee but he is healing well. He is a special kid. When he was a baby his 3-year-old brother at the time was playing with matches and set the bed on fire, which caused Benson to be badly burned. The plastic surgeon that did Benson’s recent surgery told me that children who are burned that severely usually end up dying but I know that Benson had a strong spirit and God had a plan for him. Benson thinks that his brother was jealous and that is the reason he set the bed on fire but he told me that he is not angry with him because he is his brother. I promised Benson that in August we would visit his brother and his aunt. It was his aunt who brought Benson here to Coram Deo. She knew that we had helped Benson as a baby after he was burned and knew that he would have a good home here at Coram Deo. She did this to remove him from the care of his mother who was crazy and living with Benson on the streets of Port-au-Prince. Keep praying for Benson as he continues his recovery from surgery and that he would get full mobility in his knee.
Lukner’s nephew was shot and killed during a robbery attempt in the downtown area of Port-au-Prince last Friday. He had gone on his motorcycle to make a deposit for someone at a downtown bank. When he left the bank he didn’t know that he was being followed. A couple of thieves riding a motorcycle followed him and when his nephew made a stop at a downtown park to buy something they confronted him with their guns. He tried to escape on his motorcycle but they shot him several times in the head and neck and he died. A couple of motorcycle policemen heard the shooting and came quickly but the gunmen left their motorcycle behind and fled on foot merging into a crowd of people. Lukner’s 25-year-old nephew left behind a wife and a young child. Keep this family in prayer.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Hi! It’s great to be back in Haiti again after visiting Canada for the last few weeks! We made a few presentations on the work here at Coram Deo and were able to do some fundraising. Thank you for your prayers and support of the work done here. Our monthly budgetary needs are $6,000 US per month and for the past year we were $19,000 under budget for the year. We look forward to the upcoming year as we are planning to start our school program again. We will be introducing a child sponsorship program. Anyone interested in sponsoring a child can contact me at my email address listed below. We hope to have 2 classes for poor children living in the neighborhood as well as 1 deaf class. I look forward to having the yard full of children again! The Haitians living in the community have been supportive and an elderly lady who sits out front all day long selling cookies and candies gave a welcome back gift of a marmite of beans. Things at the house went well while I was gone and the last couple of days I have been catching up on things that have happened. First I had to buy another battery for the pickup truck because the other one was no good and wouldn’t hold a charge anymore. While we were hauling food yesterday the steel bumper started to fall off but we tied it up with rope and partially fixed it when we got home. Just before I went to Canada in June the truck got rear-ended by a van while we were driving downtown. The bumper seemed sturdy at the time though. The van ended up with some front-end damage. The driver apologized and said that he had trouble with the gas pedal. I figured it was either that or trouble with the brakes. We have had about 12 minor accidents in the last couple of years and the pickup truck has been holding up well!
“Frank”, one of the members of the Judas Gang who stole my computer in October is now living in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. His thieving in the Delmas 31 neighborhood was starting to catch up to him. He stole from someone near the mayor’s office on Delmas 31 and was pursued by some people. He ran for his life and was able to escape getting caught. Since he is now recognized as a thief by the people in this area he has fled all the way to the Dominican Republic! “Mack” another member of this gang has now sold his motorcycle that was purchased with the proceeds of my stolen solar panels and is preparing to join his uncle in crime in the Dominican Republic as well. It seems that Frank has found some “work” in Santo Domingo. I am not sure though what type of “work” this is.
Phara Simeon, a hydrocephalus baby returned from the United States while I was gone and is now back with her mother. She had a successful surgery and now I will keep contact with her and encourage her in raising her daughter. Phara is doing very good neurologically but it will be a few years before she will be able to sit and do other things due to the size of her head. Her body needs to grow and catch up to the size of her head. Keep this family in prayer and that Phara continues to make strides in her development. While I was in Canada there were a few families that came to the gate asking about help for their children who had hydrocephalus. Lukner visited their homes and we’ll follow up with these families in the next couple of weeks. One of these mothers was told by the father of the baby to throw it away but she didn’t want to do this and instead went searching for help. Another mother that we met with was told by the father of the baby that it couldn’t be his child because he wouldn’t father a hydrocephalus child. A week ago a hydrocephalus baby was abandoned in a cornfield. Somebody walking nearby heard a baby crying and went to look. The Haitian Red Cross came and removed the baby. We went downtown to the abandoned children’s ward at the state hospital to see if the baby was there this morning but it wasn’t. This ward is very full right now. A few of the beds were holding 3 children to a bed. All of the children in the abandoned ward are handicapped. The abandonment of children here in Haiti happens a lot. Some people living in the Arcachon 32 area of Carrefour heard a baby crying throughout the night one evening last week. In the morning people found a dead baby in front of the gate of the state hospital there. Pray that one day the practice of abandoning children stops.
Benson Junius is recovering well from his plastic surgery. His hand looks good. We will need to do some physical therapy with him on his knee but he is healing well. He is a special kid. When he was a baby his 3-year-old brother at the time was playing with matches and set the bed on fire, which caused Benson to be badly burned. The plastic surgeon that did Benson’s recent surgery told me that children who are burned that severely usually end up dying but I know that Benson had a strong spirit and God had a plan for him. Benson thinks that his brother was jealous and that is the reason he set the bed on fire but he told me that he is not angry with him because he is his brother. I promised Benson that in August we would visit his brother and his aunt. It was his aunt who brought Benson here to Coram Deo. She knew that we had helped Benson as a baby after he was burned and knew that he would have a good home here at Coram Deo. She did this to remove him from the care of his mother who was crazy and living with Benson on the streets of Port-au-Prince. Keep praying for Benson as he continues his recovery from surgery and that he would get full mobility in his knee.
Lukner’s nephew was shot and killed during a robbery attempt in the downtown area of Port-au-Prince last Friday. He had gone on his motorcycle to make a deposit for someone at a downtown bank. When he left the bank he didn’t know that he was being followed. A couple of thieves riding a motorcycle followed him and when his nephew made a stop at a downtown park to buy something they confronted him with their guns. He tried to escape on his motorcycle but they shot him several times in the head and neck and he died. A couple of motorcycle policemen heard the shooting and came quickly but the gunmen left their motorcycle behind and fled on foot merging into a crowd of people. Lukner’s 25-year-old nephew left behind a wife and a young child. Keep this family in prayer.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
photos - malnutrition, hydrocephalus children
Emmanuel Oreus is now out of hospital. We give the Lord thanks for His healing mercies. His family is now part of our feeding program. Hopefully this gift of USAID food will help prevent him from falling back into his malnutrition state. He now is starting to smile as his health improves.
Lina Cloutier visited Haiti for the first time since traveling to the United States for medical care to treat her hydrocephalus when she was a baby. She has been a member of the Cloutier family since that time. Lina was the first hydrocephalus baby I saw in Haiti 12 years ago. Here she is showing off her reading skills!
Lina is holding onto John Charles a hydrocephalus baby who will be traveling to the United States for hydrocephalus surgery after I get back to Haiti in July. It goes to show how a child can develop after receiving hydrocephalus surgery.
John is my nephew. This past weekend my family got together at my sister's house for a barbecue. John is doing well and is a happy boy. He sure has grown!
John is officially a resident of Canada now. It was a long process for my sister Tanya's family but worth it! Continue to keep John in prayer as he still suffers seizures from time to time. He will also hopefully be getting surgery in July on his clubbed feet at the Shriners Hospital in Montreal.
haiti update - june 17, 2008
“God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 82 1-4
Hi! On June 10th I traveled to Canada to visit my family for three weeks and will be staying until July 2nd. We will be doing some presentations to do some fundraising for the projects here at Coram Deo. Pray for these efforts.
In the week before coming to Canada it was a busy time with the medical program. We were able to get 3 medical visas done at the US Consulate. Sometimes I help other missions obtain medical visas. Mario Colin, a boy with a heart problem was approved for a medical visa and traveled with Carole Stufflebeam to the United States the same day I left for Canada. His heart is in bad shape and he needs an operation on his mitral valve. Love a Child is the mission that arranged everything for Mario. It is located in Fond Parisien. Pray for Mario and the medical staff looking after him.
Angelo Lafortune and his mother both had visa interviews and were approved for medical visas. They should be on their way to the United States by now. This is Angelo’s second visit to the United States. Last year he had brain surgery to remove a brain tumor and also had radiation therapy as well. While in the United States he will be getting an MRI done. Angelo and his mother will be staying with an aunt. It is encouraging to hear from people who are supportive of the work that we do. After the medical visa was approved I received a phone call from the United States from Angelo’s aunt. She thanked me for helping him and also for helping children in Haiti. She expressed interest in providing financial support for the work of Coram Deo. Pray for Angelo as he gets his MRI done and that the tumor does not grow back.
The US Consulate has recently moved to a new building located in the Tabarre area of Port-au-Prince. It is a beautiful building. One of the new improvements made was everyone going inside the visa area gets a number that starts with a letter. When your turn comes up the number is announced as well as being displayed on an overhead screen. It is like sitting in a Bingo hall. When your number is called (eg. B130) you get up and go to the desk. If you don’t get up fast enough the Haitian security guards working inside will embarrass you and ask why you weren’t listening. I always tell the parents who are sitting with me that they better listen closely for the number so that we don’t get told to remove the wax from our ears by the security guards. It is fun watching the guards tell off the people who aren’t listening for their number.
When I go back to Haiti, hopefully one of the first things that I do will be going after a medical visa for John Charles, a hydrocephalus baby (12 months old). Dr. Wharf, the neurosurgeon at Dupont Children’s Hospital is interested in operating on him after he gets back from a mission trip to Uganda where he will be going in June to perform neurosurgeries.
I have heard from Haiti that Benson now has his cast off his leg. Jn. Eddy sat with him all day Wednesday at the state hospital on Delmas 33 and the doctors didn’t do anything. He called me here in Canada and I told him to go back the next day and the doctors there eventually helped them. Continue to pray for his recovery.
Manu and Jacob finished school the day I traveled to Haiti and now are hopefully helping to make briquettes out of scrap paper and sawdust. We use these as a cooking fuel. Manu will be starting Grade 4 and Jacob will be going to Grade 3 when they start school again sometime near the end of August. They had a school program just before I left where every class sang Christian music for the parents. They all sang well. Benson really wanted to attend the program. When I came to the house in the afternoon Benson said that he wanted to go. I told him that it would be difficult with the cast on his arm and leg and he jumped up and said it wouldn’t. I asked him how he was going to get there and he started to hop on one leg down the driveway and said he would hop all the way to the school. We ended up taking him to the program in the car and he enjoyed the outing. Benson is a very determined boy! Paulna Maczil, a girl living at Coram Deo will hopefully be getting corrective surgery to straighten the femur in her other leg this summer. Dr. Nau, an orthopedic surgeon from Healing Hands will be doing the surgery. He operated on her other leg last summer and now it is straight. Hopefully after this second surgery she will have 2 straight legs again.
Emmanuel Oreus and his mother also came by the house just before I left to go back to Canada. Once he had his blood transfusion he did well and was discharged from the hospital. He is one of the children that we are helping in our feeding program. We get food assistance from USAID and with this food we are also able to help some of those who are suffering in the community. The photo on the blog shows a smiling Emmanuel! Hopefully with this food assistance he doesn’t tumble back into malnutrition again. His family lives in Wharf Jeremie, which is along the coast beside Cite Soleil. It is not a very good area and a lot of families there struggle to provide for their families. Continue to pray for Emmanuel and his family.
Part of the problem of hunger in Haiti is due to an increasing dependency on food imports. In 1985 Haiti produced 163,296 metric tonnes of rice and imported only 7,337 metric tonnes of rice for a total consumption of 170,633 metric tonnes. In 2007 Haiti produced only 90,000 metric tonnes and imported 251,100 metric tonnes for a total consumption of 341,100 metric tonnes. The cheaper imported rice discouraged farmers from planting rice within Haiti. Now that food prices are higher Haitians are forced to pay the higher prices. The government now wants to encourage more local production by providing fertilizer subsidies to farmers.
There was an Anti-Kidnapping Protest March held on June 4th. Several thousand people representing over 119 civic organizations walked through the streets of the downtown area urging the police and judiciary officials to assume their responsibilities. The walk started at the Sacre Coeur church and then to the offices of the Minister of Justice, Commissariat of Port-au-Prince, as well as the Palais de Justice and the Palais National. The head of the police department, Mario Andresol made the statement that most of the individuals arrested for kidnapping are released soon after without being judged and this sends a clear signal to encourage kidnappers and not to deter them. Between May 2006 and May 2008, 400 prisoners were freed under suspicious circumstances while their dossiers were still being processed. Pray for the reform of the justice system and the work of the police against kidnapping.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Hi! On June 10th I traveled to Canada to visit my family for three weeks and will be staying until July 2nd. We will be doing some presentations to do some fundraising for the projects here at Coram Deo. Pray for these efforts.
In the week before coming to Canada it was a busy time with the medical program. We were able to get 3 medical visas done at the US Consulate. Sometimes I help other missions obtain medical visas. Mario Colin, a boy with a heart problem was approved for a medical visa and traveled with Carole Stufflebeam to the United States the same day I left for Canada. His heart is in bad shape and he needs an operation on his mitral valve. Love a Child is the mission that arranged everything for Mario. It is located in Fond Parisien. Pray for Mario and the medical staff looking after him.
Angelo Lafortune and his mother both had visa interviews and were approved for medical visas. They should be on their way to the United States by now. This is Angelo’s second visit to the United States. Last year he had brain surgery to remove a brain tumor and also had radiation therapy as well. While in the United States he will be getting an MRI done. Angelo and his mother will be staying with an aunt. It is encouraging to hear from people who are supportive of the work that we do. After the medical visa was approved I received a phone call from the United States from Angelo’s aunt. She thanked me for helping him and also for helping children in Haiti. She expressed interest in providing financial support for the work of Coram Deo. Pray for Angelo as he gets his MRI done and that the tumor does not grow back.
The US Consulate has recently moved to a new building located in the Tabarre area of Port-au-Prince. It is a beautiful building. One of the new improvements made was everyone going inside the visa area gets a number that starts with a letter. When your turn comes up the number is announced as well as being displayed on an overhead screen. It is like sitting in a Bingo hall. When your number is called (eg. B130) you get up and go to the desk. If you don’t get up fast enough the Haitian security guards working inside will embarrass you and ask why you weren’t listening. I always tell the parents who are sitting with me that they better listen closely for the number so that we don’t get told to remove the wax from our ears by the security guards. It is fun watching the guards tell off the people who aren’t listening for their number.
When I go back to Haiti, hopefully one of the first things that I do will be going after a medical visa for John Charles, a hydrocephalus baby (12 months old). Dr. Wharf, the neurosurgeon at Dupont Children’s Hospital is interested in operating on him after he gets back from a mission trip to Uganda where he will be going in June to perform neurosurgeries.
I have heard from Haiti that Benson now has his cast off his leg. Jn. Eddy sat with him all day Wednesday at the state hospital on Delmas 33 and the doctors didn’t do anything. He called me here in Canada and I told him to go back the next day and the doctors there eventually helped them. Continue to pray for his recovery.
Manu and Jacob finished school the day I traveled to Haiti and now are hopefully helping to make briquettes out of scrap paper and sawdust. We use these as a cooking fuel. Manu will be starting Grade 4 and Jacob will be going to Grade 3 when they start school again sometime near the end of August. They had a school program just before I left where every class sang Christian music for the parents. They all sang well. Benson really wanted to attend the program. When I came to the house in the afternoon Benson said that he wanted to go. I told him that it would be difficult with the cast on his arm and leg and he jumped up and said it wouldn’t. I asked him how he was going to get there and he started to hop on one leg down the driveway and said he would hop all the way to the school. We ended up taking him to the program in the car and he enjoyed the outing. Benson is a very determined boy! Paulna Maczil, a girl living at Coram Deo will hopefully be getting corrective surgery to straighten the femur in her other leg this summer. Dr. Nau, an orthopedic surgeon from Healing Hands will be doing the surgery. He operated on her other leg last summer and now it is straight. Hopefully after this second surgery she will have 2 straight legs again.
Emmanuel Oreus and his mother also came by the house just before I left to go back to Canada. Once he had his blood transfusion he did well and was discharged from the hospital. He is one of the children that we are helping in our feeding program. We get food assistance from USAID and with this food we are also able to help some of those who are suffering in the community. The photo on the blog shows a smiling Emmanuel! Hopefully with this food assistance he doesn’t tumble back into malnutrition again. His family lives in Wharf Jeremie, which is along the coast beside Cite Soleil. It is not a very good area and a lot of families there struggle to provide for their families. Continue to pray for Emmanuel and his family.
Part of the problem of hunger in Haiti is due to an increasing dependency on food imports. In 1985 Haiti produced 163,296 metric tonnes of rice and imported only 7,337 metric tonnes of rice for a total consumption of 170,633 metric tonnes. In 2007 Haiti produced only 90,000 metric tonnes and imported 251,100 metric tonnes for a total consumption of 341,100 metric tonnes. The cheaper imported rice discouraged farmers from planting rice within Haiti. Now that food prices are higher Haitians are forced to pay the higher prices. The government now wants to encourage more local production by providing fertilizer subsidies to farmers.
There was an Anti-Kidnapping Protest March held on June 4th. Several thousand people representing over 119 civic organizations walked through the streets of the downtown area urging the police and judiciary officials to assume their responsibilities. The walk started at the Sacre Coeur church and then to the offices of the Minister of Justice, Commissariat of Port-au-Prince, as well as the Palais de Justice and the Palais National. The head of the police department, Mario Andresol made the statement that most of the individuals arrested for kidnapping are released soon after without being judged and this sends a clear signal to encourage kidnappers and not to deter them. Between May 2006 and May 2008, 400 prisoners were freed under suspicious circumstances while their dossiers were still being processed. Pray for the reform of the justice system and the work of the police against kidnapping.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
photos - Benson's surgery
Benson was badly burned when the bed he was sleeping in was set on fire by his older brother when he was a baby. The plastic surgeon did some work on his hand particularly on his pinky finger. The burn contracture doesn't allow him to straighten his pinky finger.
Benson also had some surgery on the tendon and skin behind his knee. The tightness will be reduced with this surgery.
His foot was also damaged and the surgeon operated on a couple of his toes better positioning them. This will make it easier for Benson to wear shoes.
Here is Benson recovering from the surgeries in his hospital bed. He spent only the one day in hospital and was released the next morning.
Here is Benson lounging around playing checkers with Manu. He is a happy kid and is enjoying all the extra attention!
haiti update - june 4, 2008
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12
Hi! It has been a busy time with the medical program and starting to prepare for going away for 3 weeks in June to visit my family in Canada. The owner of the house behind us put a couple of cement blocks in the hole of his house wall which now blocks the easy access to the tin roof of the briquette shelter. We planned to remove the dirt hill behind his side of the wall but don’t want to effect their outhouse which is off to the side. The hill isn’t all just dirt but also lots of “poop” too so we decided to let the dirt/poop mound stay and will just put another layer of barbed wire up on the roof of the outside toilets. There have been no break-in attempts in the last couple of weeks. We got a photo of “Mack” from the mission that sponsored him for school. We’ll enlarge the identity photo and then pass this on to the police. Angela Caseneve also stopped by. She is one of the students who used to be in our school sponsorship program. She is the girl that Mack threatened. She says she no longer lives in the Cite Jeremie area since the day that the threat was made against her. She lives with family in another part of the city. We are trying to now contact the family to find out about a possible police report made against “Mack”. Because we don’t have a working invertor/generator or electricity during the day at the house I have been doing computer work at Bob’s Internet Services in the neighborhood. It works out good and I can sit under a shady tree while I work. I was speaking to my family on Skype and talking about getting a photo of “Mack” to hand to the police. A Haitian welder I know from the community here was working inside at a computer. The next day “Welderman” was seen driving in the Cite Jeremie area. Manu was walking back home from school and saw “Welderman” drive by in his Isuzu Trooper. The passenger sitting beside him was “Mack”. I think he told “Mack” about what I had said to my parents but maybe he was just being neighborly and giving a thief a ride. The next project planned for security upgrades is to install a security camera system in the house to monitor the grounds. A business in Canada has donated this system and we already have the monitor here in Haiti. Pray that a way is found to get the rest of the system here to Haiti and installed. With this system people with “sticky fingers” won’t be able to walk away with things easily. We are also planning to get an additional dog when I get back from Canada. The dog I have now is good at catching rats and mice but doesn’t do a good job at catching thieves. Because the dog knows the thieves he doesn’t chase after them. The new dog won’t have this problem. Pray that “Mack” changes his heart.
A plastic surgery team from the University of Miami did surgeries this weekend at Hopital La Paix on Delmas 33. 22 surgeries were done on such things as cleft lip/palettes and burn contractures. Benson, a 7-year-old boy who lives at Coram Deo was able to get surgeries on his burn contractures. He had some work done on his hand to help him to straighten out his pinky finger. This will give him better function in his hand. He also had surgery done on the tendon behind the knee. He will now be able to straighten his knee better. He complained before about the tightness but managed it well. I told him that now he will be able to run faster. His foot was also operated on and 2 of his toes were especially worked on. The surgeon at first thought that it would be best to amputate them but he was able to do something to help position his toes better. Benson did well and now has a cast on his leg and foot and a soft cast on his arm. They also took a skin graft from his groin area so he has stitches there as well. I go to Canada on Tuesday and he gets the casts removed on Wednesday so I will not be able to see how his leg, foot and hand looks until I get back from Canada. Pray that he recovers well and doesn’t have any problems while I am gone. He is enjoying the special treatment he is getting now. The plastic surgery team plans to come back in November to do surgeries again. Emmanuel Oreus is also doing better now this week. He had to have a blood transfusion last week after he developed breathing problems due to his low hemoglobin levels. It’s amazing the difference some extra blood makes. Now he may be discharged from the hospital soon. His family is poor and lives in the Wharf Jeremie area. Maudlin Thomas, a hydrocephalus child was discharged this week from the hospital. Widmay Nervil another hydrocephalus child with a shunt from the May surgeries is the only hydrocephalus child left in hospital. She has a suspected case of meningitis. Keep her and her mother in prayer. We got an x-ray done of Daphka Theodore’s leg and sent it along with somebody returning to the United States. There is a doctor in the United States interested in doing surgery on the leg deformity she has had since birth.
We have started a tire garden on the roof and are harvesting spinach right now. It is good to have fresh vegetables growing on the roof.
USAID is providing 45 million dollars of emergency food aid to Haiti. 25 million is being given through the World Food Program of the UN (PAM – Programme Alimentaire Mondiale) The aid will be distributed to vulnerable people (sick, aged, orphans, mothers and children), feeding programs for children in schools (UN will be continuing the feeding programs through the school summer vacation months for the first time this year), and also Food for Work programs where workers will repair irrigation systems, road work, farming in exchange for assistance. The Canadian government is going to finance 15 projects in places such as Cite Soleil to create 35,000 jobs.
The Canadian who worked with Medecins du Monde that was kidnapped has now been released. She was released unharmed after one week of negotiations with her kidnappers. The starting ransom demand was $100,000 and a non-confirmed ransom of $8,500 was eventually paid for her release. The police and UN are trying to capture some of these kidnapping gangs that are operating and recently conducted 3 operations that resulted in the arrests of 20 kidnapping and murder suspects. In one operation in the Thomassin and Laboule area 12 suspected kidnappers were arrested. $10,000 US in cash was found as well as bankbooks, and stolen items taken from kidnap victims. Bank transactions coincided with ransom payments of 3 recent kidnappings from the period of March to May 2008 in the Fermathe and Thomassin area. The Canadian that was kidnapped lived in the Thomassin area, so most likely these people were involved in her kidnapping. It is good to hear that these operations were successful. People in Haiti are frustrated with the increase in kidnapping. There were around 25 kidnaps officially reported but unofficially it is much more than this for the month of May. Unofficially at least 40 people were kidnapped for the month of May. Recently there were a couple of kidnappings that resulted in death for the victim even after a ransom was paid by the families. A student of 16 years of age was killed and his body was found on Delmas 18 by Carrefour Pean. There is a protest walk being planned for today against kidnapping and requesting authorities to take action.That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Hi! It has been a busy time with the medical program and starting to prepare for going away for 3 weeks in June to visit my family in Canada. The owner of the house behind us put a couple of cement blocks in the hole of his house wall which now blocks the easy access to the tin roof of the briquette shelter. We planned to remove the dirt hill behind his side of the wall but don’t want to effect their outhouse which is off to the side. The hill isn’t all just dirt but also lots of “poop” too so we decided to let the dirt/poop mound stay and will just put another layer of barbed wire up on the roof of the outside toilets. There have been no break-in attempts in the last couple of weeks. We got a photo of “Mack” from the mission that sponsored him for school. We’ll enlarge the identity photo and then pass this on to the police. Angela Caseneve also stopped by. She is one of the students who used to be in our school sponsorship program. She is the girl that Mack threatened. She says she no longer lives in the Cite Jeremie area since the day that the threat was made against her. She lives with family in another part of the city. We are trying to now contact the family to find out about a possible police report made against “Mack”. Because we don’t have a working invertor/generator or electricity during the day at the house I have been doing computer work at Bob’s Internet Services in the neighborhood. It works out good and I can sit under a shady tree while I work. I was speaking to my family on Skype and talking about getting a photo of “Mack” to hand to the police. A Haitian welder I know from the community here was working inside at a computer. The next day “Welderman” was seen driving in the Cite Jeremie area. Manu was walking back home from school and saw “Welderman” drive by in his Isuzu Trooper. The passenger sitting beside him was “Mack”. I think he told “Mack” about what I had said to my parents but maybe he was just being neighborly and giving a thief a ride. The next project planned for security upgrades is to install a security camera system in the house to monitor the grounds. A business in Canada has donated this system and we already have the monitor here in Haiti. Pray that a way is found to get the rest of the system here to Haiti and installed. With this system people with “sticky fingers” won’t be able to walk away with things easily. We are also planning to get an additional dog when I get back from Canada. The dog I have now is good at catching rats and mice but doesn’t do a good job at catching thieves. Because the dog knows the thieves he doesn’t chase after them. The new dog won’t have this problem. Pray that “Mack” changes his heart.
A plastic surgery team from the University of Miami did surgeries this weekend at Hopital La Paix on Delmas 33. 22 surgeries were done on such things as cleft lip/palettes and burn contractures. Benson, a 7-year-old boy who lives at Coram Deo was able to get surgeries on his burn contractures. He had some work done on his hand to help him to straighten out his pinky finger. This will give him better function in his hand. He also had surgery done on the tendon behind the knee. He will now be able to straighten his knee better. He complained before about the tightness but managed it well. I told him that now he will be able to run faster. His foot was also operated on and 2 of his toes were especially worked on. The surgeon at first thought that it would be best to amputate them but he was able to do something to help position his toes better. Benson did well and now has a cast on his leg and foot and a soft cast on his arm. They also took a skin graft from his groin area so he has stitches there as well. I go to Canada on Tuesday and he gets the casts removed on Wednesday so I will not be able to see how his leg, foot and hand looks until I get back from Canada. Pray that he recovers well and doesn’t have any problems while I am gone. He is enjoying the special treatment he is getting now. The plastic surgery team plans to come back in November to do surgeries again. Emmanuel Oreus is also doing better now this week. He had to have a blood transfusion last week after he developed breathing problems due to his low hemoglobin levels. It’s amazing the difference some extra blood makes. Now he may be discharged from the hospital soon. His family is poor and lives in the Wharf Jeremie area. Maudlin Thomas, a hydrocephalus child was discharged this week from the hospital. Widmay Nervil another hydrocephalus child with a shunt from the May surgeries is the only hydrocephalus child left in hospital. She has a suspected case of meningitis. Keep her and her mother in prayer. We got an x-ray done of Daphka Theodore’s leg and sent it along with somebody returning to the United States. There is a doctor in the United States interested in doing surgery on the leg deformity she has had since birth.
We have started a tire garden on the roof and are harvesting spinach right now. It is good to have fresh vegetables growing on the roof.
USAID is providing 45 million dollars of emergency food aid to Haiti. 25 million is being given through the World Food Program of the UN (PAM – Programme Alimentaire Mondiale) The aid will be distributed to vulnerable people (sick, aged, orphans, mothers and children), feeding programs for children in schools (UN will be continuing the feeding programs through the school summer vacation months for the first time this year), and also Food for Work programs where workers will repair irrigation systems, road work, farming in exchange for assistance. The Canadian government is going to finance 15 projects in places such as Cite Soleil to create 35,000 jobs.
The Canadian who worked with Medecins du Monde that was kidnapped has now been released. She was released unharmed after one week of negotiations with her kidnappers. The starting ransom demand was $100,000 and a non-confirmed ransom of $8,500 was eventually paid for her release. The police and UN are trying to capture some of these kidnapping gangs that are operating and recently conducted 3 operations that resulted in the arrests of 20 kidnapping and murder suspects. In one operation in the Thomassin and Laboule area 12 suspected kidnappers were arrested. $10,000 US in cash was found as well as bankbooks, and stolen items taken from kidnap victims. Bank transactions coincided with ransom payments of 3 recent kidnappings from the period of March to May 2008 in the Fermathe and Thomassin area. The Canadian that was kidnapped lived in the Thomassin area, so most likely these people were involved in her kidnapping. It is good to hear that these operations were successful. People in Haiti are frustrated with the increase in kidnapping. There were around 25 kidnaps officially reported but unofficially it is much more than this for the month of May. Unofficially at least 40 people were kidnapped for the month of May. Recently there were a couple of kidnappings that resulted in death for the victim even after a ransom was paid by the families. A student of 16 years of age was killed and his body was found on Delmas 18 by Carrefour Pean. There is a protest walk being planned for today against kidnapping and requesting authorities to take action.That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
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