“Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Hi! This week was a week of blessings with finding medical care for people! Last Saturday we helped Sheri pick up a medical team from the airport. Dr. Karen told us about a general surgery team that was operating this week at Kings Hospital doing hernia surgeries. Kings Hospital is a privately run hospital that is run by Dr. Morquette and his wife who is also a doctor. They organized the surgery team. Early Tuesday morning we brought some people to Kings Hospital to be seen by the team. 4 of the hernia patients on our medical search list were selected as well as a young man who had a cyst on the side of his face. 3 of the hernia patients come from the mountain areas of Kenscoff and the people were thankful for this opportunity. We spent the rest of the week making trips to the hospital for lab testing and appointments for surgery. Pastor Pierre helped to look after his people at the hospital. The mountain people were a little lost here in Port-au-Prince! A couple of the patients are staying here at Coram Deo until they can move around better and make the long walk back home. The surgery team had a busy week doing hernia surgeries. Pray that other teams come to Haiti to do hernia surgeries and for those who are now recovering from these surgeries. There are a lot of cases of hernias here in Haiti! We give the Lord thanks for this bountiful harvest of surgeries!
Dr. Karen McCarthy and her medical team came on Thursday to do a medical clinic here at Coram Deo. Kez helped out too in seeing patients. They worked quickly and were able to see about 150 patients. They brought with them medicines too to treat the patients who were seen. We give the Lord thanks for their help. From this clinic more cases were added to our medical search list. One boy, Silvin came with his father from Cite Soleil. He had a large abscess on his side. Dr. Karen referred him to the surgery team at Kings Hospital and he was hospitalized that same afternoon. He had surgery Friday morning and is now starting his recovery. Pray he has no complications. His father was surprised and happy that an open door was found so quickly. I was too! Lesita, is a 43-year-old woman who looks very pregnant; except she isn’t. In 2007 she had a baby and the size of her abdomen never went to normal. It continued to grow over the last couple of years. She looks like she is carrying at least 4 children. We are going to get a sonogram for her this week to find out what is causing her problems and then try to find someone to help her. She has been going to prayer services and praying for help over the last couple of years for a solution to be found. She doesn’t know why her belly is so big because until Thursday she had never gone to a doctor because of her financial situation. An elderly man that was there has cataracts in both eyes and we will make contacts at a couple of places to see about finding care for him. We had some troubles at the gate when we were first letting people into the yard. Before the clinic day we always go through the neighborhood and talk with the people finding out who is sick and then providing them with a ticket to present at the gate on the clinic day. This time around we had a lot of people that came to the gate without a ticket who had heard about the clinic from others and were hoping to be let in. It is a good thing that there is a medical team coming in from Canada holding clinics at Adoration Christian School on Monday and Tuesday. We informed these people that they could go there on those days and maybe get some medical care. Pray for the Adoration medical team’s efforts and that they see lots of patients while they are here in Haiti.
My nephew John recently returned to Montreal to have his other clubbed foot operated on. John is a happy child and likes to joke around. When the doctor came into the pre-op area to hook somebody up to a pain pump he went up to John and told him “You’re here for the pain pump”. Before my sister Tanya could respond, John looked at the doctor and told him “No. I am here for candies!” The doctor didn’t know what to say. Going into the operating room before surgery, Tanya promised John that he could have candies after he was feeling better. As soon as he woke up from surgery, he looked at Tanya and told her “I want my candies”. He wasn’t impressed with her when she told him that he had to wait He told her that he wanted to see the doctor to ask for the candies and that she was in big trouble. Pray for John as he heals from surgery and for the next step in the process, which will be physical therapy to get him on his feet. Please pray that one day he will be able to stand and then maybe walk!
On Tuesday morning I went downtown with Carole while she was buying medical supplies for her clinic. We passed the end of a demonstration that was in the bicentenaire area. Some people were holding tree branches. The mayor of Port-au-Prince is trying to control where the street vendors sell. A few days earlier during the middle of the night, workers from the mayor’s office removed the vendors’ stalls in front of the Cathedral church. The people on Tuesday were protesting that a place be given for them to sell from. Jn. Eddy’s mother is one of the vendors who is affected by this ruling. The vendors are determined though and Jn. Eddy’s mother is still trying to sell there. Thursday afternoon the mayor’s workers came and started knocking over everyone’s wares and the vendors got angry and started to throw rocks. They also set up burning tires in front of the Cathedral. The police came by later and then the situation got under control. The mayor’s office says that all citizens are not allowed to buy, sell or install shops in the areas of hospitals, schools, and churches. Jn. Eddy’s mother and the rest of the people just want a place to sell from and want the mayor to give them another location to sell at. It will be a difficult task for the mayor to control the street vendors that are downtown.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
photos - children
"Magui" is a 1-month-old baby boy who was born with a cleft lip and without an anus. He had emergency surgery to do a colostomy. His mother abandoned him the same day he was born at the emergency department in General Hospital. He has been in the pediatric surgery area of the hospital where nurses and parents of other patients are looking after him. He is small and is not thriving.
Chris Nungester is trying to get him released from the hospital to her care at His Home for Children. He only weighs about 3-4 pounds.
"Marvens" is a 2-month-old baby boy whose mother also abandoned him in the emergency room at General Hospital. He has been on the pediatric surgery floor for 2 months. He has a colostomy as well. Pray we can find an orphanage that will help him. Nurses and parents of other patients are helping to look after him as well.
This child was hospitalized in the pediatrics department of the hospital with meningitis. He is starting to develop hydrocephalus which is often a complication of meningitis. He has family who is at his side in the hospital lovingly looking after him.
Jonel's mother has a difficult task looking after Jonel and her other children. We are helping her with food assistance from the Feed My Starving Children rice meals that we receive through Love a Child. His pressure sores are not getting any worse and are starting to heal. Pray that they heal completely so that he will one day be able to get surgery to treat his hydrocephalus.photos - "jour des morts - part 1
This publicity vehicle and street preacher accompanied a group of christians through the street near the park.
These women were carrying the sign corresponding to their group.
They walked with determination through the Champ Mars public square.
They were heading to the band shell grounds.
Here they joined up with other christians from other churches for a worship service.photos - "jour des morts" - part 2
This was a large publicity vehicle with large speakers too! The evangelist is sitting in the passenger seat and speaking into the microphone. He was saying "Haiti for Christ! Christ for Haiti!"
This christian group was carrying a banner with the bible reference to Hebrews 9:27 on it.
They joined up with the other groups on the stage. The banner on the left refers to a "Group of Protestant Churches for the Deliverance of Haiti" The banner on the right says "The Trumpet for the Deliverance of the Country is Sounding; Haiti must be Liberated; Down with Satan"
These people were proud of what they were doing and praising the Lord!
Some spectators were seated and listening to the worship service.photos - various
This is what the middle of the Champ Mars public park looks like. Port-au-Prince needs more large public space areas like this one.
This publicity vehicle is circling the park playing christian music. The man in the white suit is a "street preacher".
Benson is very superstitious. He comes from a voudoo influenced family. He is scared of the "Day of the Dead" holiday. He was told by his uncle when he was younger that the dead walk around on this day. He didn't want them to see him! Manu is just playing. Pray that the christian influence in his life will take away all his superstitions as he grows in the faith.
A truck jacknifing on Delmas 31 happens every so often. This happened while my parents were here.
My dad is practicing carry a pan on his head. He looks comfortable!VIDEO - MY REDEEMER LIVES
The father in this video ran a triathlon with his cerebral palsy son who is also an adult. The Ironman Triathlon is very difficult. This father swam, bicycled and ran with his son and finished the race. To see this amazing video follow the link to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJMbk9dtpdY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJMbk9dtpdY
haiti update - november 2, 2009
“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:27, 28
Hi! The above bible passage I saw written on a banner that people were carrying through the streets around the Champs Mars public park in downtown Port-au-Prince on the morning of Monday November 2nd. November is the month of a few Haitian national holidays. The first 2 took place on November 1st (All-Saints/Reformation Day) and November 2nd (Jour des Morts --- Day of the Dead). Day of the Dead is one of the biggest voudou holidays of the year. People will bring offerings to the graveyards so that the spirits will be satisfied and won’t bother them (hungry people will wait and eat the offerings once the people go away). Driving around Monday we saw voudou celebrants heading to where they were going. Here in Haiti November 2nd is a significant spiritual battle day and churches across the city had special prayer services to counteract the voudou ceremonies that were occurring. One of the activities that the protestant churches organized was having a large service in the outdoor band shell of the Champ Mars public park. Groups of Christians walked around the Champ Mars accompanied by a public announcement truck that blared Christian music over the speakers and an evangelist was preaching. What was being repeated often over the speakers was “Christ for Haiti, Haiti for Christ!” as the publicity truck circled around the streets. When the groups reached the park they entered the band shell where they were welcomed and joined up with the others who had arrived before them for a worship service. Pray for the work of the Haitian churches as they strive to bring the nation to Christ.
We made 3 visits to General Hospital that day. The first visit was to check up on the 2 abandoned babies we had seen the previous week in the pediatric surgery area of the hospital. The condition of the cleft lip baby deteriorated over the week. He was thinner and you could tell that he hadn’t been fed enough. He also has a colostomy. We found out more about the histories of these 2 babies. The cleft lip baby was born in the mountains of Fond Verrettes, which is near the Dominican Republic border. The family brought him to the emergency room the same day he was born. The mother then left the room during the evening and never came back. His name is “Mangui” and he is now 1 month old. Even though his mother abandoned him the medical staff in the emergency room saw that he got care and he received an emergency colostomy surgery as he was born without an anus. They transferred him to the pediatric surgery ward. Since that time nursing staff and parents of other patients have been caring for him but he has not been receiving the amount of nutrition that he needs to thrive. He only weighs about 3-4 pounds and is malnourished and anemic. The other baby has a colostomy only and his name is Marvens. He was born in Petit Goave and was also brought shortly after birth to the emergency room. His mother also abandoned him during the evening in the emergency room. The medical staff went ahead and did the surgery and transferred him up to the pediatric surgery ward as well. He has been up there for 2 months now and the nurses and parents of other patients are helping him out too. It is good that the medical staff cared for these babies. They could have just let them die and not performed the surgeries that they needed because there was no family present and they also could have sent them into the abandoned room after surgery but they are delaying doing so. We talked with Chris Nungester and went and picked her up and returned back to the hospital for a second visit. She examined the children and we were surprised to find out that the nurse who had just finished feeding the cleft lip baby was the pastor’s wife of the church where one of her employees attends. The cleft lip baby needs a lot of care and Chris mentioned that in December she would need someone else to help look after the baby while she was in the United States. When I dropped off Chris at her place I contacted Dorothy and told her about the situation and we made a 3rd trip to the hospital. Dorothy is willing to help Chris out for December. Mangui will now have the opportunity to join Hal and Chris Nungester at His Home for Children once Bien Etre Social allows him to be released from the hospital. Pray for their efforts and for those who God has placed in the path of Mangui to keep him alive. He was abandoned by his mother but he is not alone. Pray that we can find another orphanage to take in the other abandoned colostomy baby.
The baby boy who we saw in the abandoned children’s room the other week that was not in good shape died. He is now in heaven and suffers no more. The abandoned room is very full. We saw 4 children to a bed again. When we were leaving we saw a worker carrying a young child who was around 2 years old. I asked her if this was an abandoned child and she said yes. This child had been abandoned near the Archaie area in a place called Williamson and had just been delivered to the hospital. He wasn’t handicapped and the workers in the abandoned room will have no choice but to cram him into a bed shared by several children. Keep the children of this ward in prayer and that homes could be found for them.
In the pediatrics ward one of the parents there called me over to talk with another parent. She knew me from the Delmas 31 area and knew that we worked with hydrocephalus children. The other parent had a baby who was hospitalized with meningitis and had a developing hydrocephalus. Once the baby is discharged we will get him registered over at Healing Hands for the next hydrocephalus surgical team to evaluate.
We continue to go every 2 days to the Tabarre area to change the dressings on Jonel Colo’s head. The pressure sores are not getting any bigger and they are starting to heal. Tim Bos is coming to Haiti on November 20th. If anyone would like to donate antibiotic cream we could use it for Jonel’s head. It will be awhile before these sores will finish healing. I have been using “Equate Triple Antibiotic Ointment”, which can be found at Wal-Mart and it is working well! You can contact my parents or Tim if you can help out. Jonel’s mother had a difficult time last week. She had lent a neighbor $20H ($2.50US$). She asked for it back and the neighbor sent someone over to beat her up. When I showed up to change Jonel’s dressing last Tuesday her beating had just been finished. I encouraged her to file a report with the police and she did so. Her eye is still causing her pain from being hit by a rock. The person who beat her up is in hiding. They found out the police were contacted. We are also bringing her some Feed My Starving Children rice meals once a week. We got another donation of these meals from Love a Child last week. We give the Lord thanks that we are able to help out other people as well with food assistance.
The first quarter exams were written by the students here at Coram Deo last week. We give the Lord thanks for the opportunity to have a school program here on the grounds of Coram Deo.
It was a difficult week for Haiti last week. The senators called Prime Minister Michele Pierre Louis to appear before them. They accused her of not doing enough to create employment in the country and not spending the emergency assistance funds well enough that the government had received after last years’ floods. The funny thing is that the political party of the President; Lespwa, were the ones who led the no-confidence vote and because they have the majority they won. The minority parties came to the defense of the prime minister but the majority vote won. It is ironic that her own party overthrew her. She only lasted one year as prime minister. This past summer she gave an interview with a journalist, Michael Deibert and in the article that he wrote she told him that “chaos is good for a few sectors” here in Haiti and that Haiti’s political system would reject anyone who would not allow themselves to be corrupted. A new prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive will be presented for approval of the senate and parliament. Pray for stability in Haiti. It is difficult for new investment to take place here if there is no confidence in stability.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Hi! The above bible passage I saw written on a banner that people were carrying through the streets around the Champs Mars public park in downtown Port-au-Prince on the morning of Monday November 2nd. November is the month of a few Haitian national holidays. The first 2 took place on November 1st (All-Saints/Reformation Day) and November 2nd (Jour des Morts --- Day of the Dead). Day of the Dead is one of the biggest voudou holidays of the year. People will bring offerings to the graveyards so that the spirits will be satisfied and won’t bother them (hungry people will wait and eat the offerings once the people go away). Driving around Monday we saw voudou celebrants heading to where they were going. Here in Haiti November 2nd is a significant spiritual battle day and churches across the city had special prayer services to counteract the voudou ceremonies that were occurring. One of the activities that the protestant churches organized was having a large service in the outdoor band shell of the Champ Mars public park. Groups of Christians walked around the Champ Mars accompanied by a public announcement truck that blared Christian music over the speakers and an evangelist was preaching. What was being repeated often over the speakers was “Christ for Haiti, Haiti for Christ!” as the publicity truck circled around the streets. When the groups reached the park they entered the band shell where they were welcomed and joined up with the others who had arrived before them for a worship service. Pray for the work of the Haitian churches as they strive to bring the nation to Christ.
We made 3 visits to General Hospital that day. The first visit was to check up on the 2 abandoned babies we had seen the previous week in the pediatric surgery area of the hospital. The condition of the cleft lip baby deteriorated over the week. He was thinner and you could tell that he hadn’t been fed enough. He also has a colostomy. We found out more about the histories of these 2 babies. The cleft lip baby was born in the mountains of Fond Verrettes, which is near the Dominican Republic border. The family brought him to the emergency room the same day he was born. The mother then left the room during the evening and never came back. His name is “Mangui” and he is now 1 month old. Even though his mother abandoned him the medical staff in the emergency room saw that he got care and he received an emergency colostomy surgery as he was born without an anus. They transferred him to the pediatric surgery ward. Since that time nursing staff and parents of other patients have been caring for him but he has not been receiving the amount of nutrition that he needs to thrive. He only weighs about 3-4 pounds and is malnourished and anemic. The other baby has a colostomy only and his name is Marvens. He was born in Petit Goave and was also brought shortly after birth to the emergency room. His mother also abandoned him during the evening in the emergency room. The medical staff went ahead and did the surgery and transferred him up to the pediatric surgery ward as well. He has been up there for 2 months now and the nurses and parents of other patients are helping him out too. It is good that the medical staff cared for these babies. They could have just let them die and not performed the surgeries that they needed because there was no family present and they also could have sent them into the abandoned room after surgery but they are delaying doing so. We talked with Chris Nungester and went and picked her up and returned back to the hospital for a second visit. She examined the children and we were surprised to find out that the nurse who had just finished feeding the cleft lip baby was the pastor’s wife of the church where one of her employees attends. The cleft lip baby needs a lot of care and Chris mentioned that in December she would need someone else to help look after the baby while she was in the United States. When I dropped off Chris at her place I contacted Dorothy and told her about the situation and we made a 3rd trip to the hospital. Dorothy is willing to help Chris out for December. Mangui will now have the opportunity to join Hal and Chris Nungester at His Home for Children once Bien Etre Social allows him to be released from the hospital. Pray for their efforts and for those who God has placed in the path of Mangui to keep him alive. He was abandoned by his mother but he is not alone. Pray that we can find another orphanage to take in the other abandoned colostomy baby.
The baby boy who we saw in the abandoned children’s room the other week that was not in good shape died. He is now in heaven and suffers no more. The abandoned room is very full. We saw 4 children to a bed again. When we were leaving we saw a worker carrying a young child who was around 2 years old. I asked her if this was an abandoned child and she said yes. This child had been abandoned near the Archaie area in a place called Williamson and had just been delivered to the hospital. He wasn’t handicapped and the workers in the abandoned room will have no choice but to cram him into a bed shared by several children. Keep the children of this ward in prayer and that homes could be found for them.
In the pediatrics ward one of the parents there called me over to talk with another parent. She knew me from the Delmas 31 area and knew that we worked with hydrocephalus children. The other parent had a baby who was hospitalized with meningitis and had a developing hydrocephalus. Once the baby is discharged we will get him registered over at Healing Hands for the next hydrocephalus surgical team to evaluate.
We continue to go every 2 days to the Tabarre area to change the dressings on Jonel Colo’s head. The pressure sores are not getting any bigger and they are starting to heal. Tim Bos is coming to Haiti on November 20th. If anyone would like to donate antibiotic cream we could use it for Jonel’s head. It will be awhile before these sores will finish healing. I have been using “Equate Triple Antibiotic Ointment”, which can be found at Wal-Mart and it is working well! You can contact my parents or Tim if you can help out. Jonel’s mother had a difficult time last week. She had lent a neighbor $20H ($2.50US$). She asked for it back and the neighbor sent someone over to beat her up. When I showed up to change Jonel’s dressing last Tuesday her beating had just been finished. I encouraged her to file a report with the police and she did so. Her eye is still causing her pain from being hit by a rock. The person who beat her up is in hiding. They found out the police were contacted. We are also bringing her some Feed My Starving Children rice meals once a week. We got another donation of these meals from Love a Child last week. We give the Lord thanks that we are able to help out other people as well with food assistance.
The first quarter exams were written by the students here at Coram Deo last week. We give the Lord thanks for the opportunity to have a school program here on the grounds of Coram Deo.
It was a difficult week for Haiti last week. The senators called Prime Minister Michele Pierre Louis to appear before them. They accused her of not doing enough to create employment in the country and not spending the emergency assistance funds well enough that the government had received after last years’ floods. The funny thing is that the political party of the President; Lespwa, were the ones who led the no-confidence vote and because they have the majority they won. The minority parties came to the defense of the prime minister but the majority vote won. It is ironic that her own party overthrew her. She only lasted one year as prime minister. This past summer she gave an interview with a journalist, Michael Deibert and in the article that he wrote she told him that “chaos is good for a few sectors” here in Haiti and that Haiti’s political system would reject anyone who would not allow themselves to be corrupted. A new prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive will be presented for approval of the senate and parliament. Pray for stability in Haiti. It is difficult for new investment to take place here if there is no confidence in stability.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
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