Bon Ane Nouvo!

Happy New Year's!

(since I never know if I'll be online on New Year's, I'll just wish it now.)

I always have mixed feelings at the end of a year. Another year gone??? Am I happy about how I lived it or would I change it if I could? It's a good feeling to be able to feel that I wouldn't change anything. (not meaning I was perfect, just in general, where I am). This has been a great year. A year ago I did my last shift in Canada, and that was that. I left a country of ease and went into the unknown. Though life here isn't what you could possibly call 'easy', it has been a year full of blessings: - a new fulfilling job that is way above my league but I'm enjoying because it feels so worthwhile, lots of new friends both N. Americans and Haitians, exploring and getting to know a new country and culture, - I won't go into detail - it would get too long.

I do want to thank all of you who have been a part of my life this year, and the impact that has left on me.

And now I've loaded up some pictures for you to enjoy.

Bobi's brother Kyle and mom Barbara visited her for a week. They helped out tons with all the Christmas preparations. Thanks for visiting! I feel almost like I got a new family myself!


Also visiting us for 10 days over Christmas and New Year's are Tyler and Nick, medical students from South Carolina. They also got roped into helping their first day here. But we did take them to a nice resort the next day. They've helped out with two clinic days and two Medika Mamba days. This is Tyler on our way to our friends Chris and Leslie. He checked out how it felt riding on top of the taptap, on metal bars. Not sure if that was a better place than our jammed full ride standing up.


Graduation day for one Medika Mamba child!

.
Tyler and Nick helping at our Arcahaia Medika Mamba. Since there was no school, Bonnie took the time off to come with us and see how we worked. Her nurturing person even got those little ones to sleep.

Graduation from Middle school to high school for 5 Canaan students
Nancy

Micar

Ismael

Daniel

Zilpa



It was fun for all of us to dress up - Me and Bobi

Pascal, Gerson, and Beno having fun making Mr Robin (after all, what would you do with a lot of grass around the place?

Cadet (our baby)

If you don't have marshmallows, how about candy? Joel thinks it's fun and good!

Bobi and me relaxing at the resort in our new clothes! That was fun!



May the sunset of this year bring you a great sunrise for the new year and may it be good and joyful and fulfilling! Make it so with God's help if the past one wasn't!!!

Elsie

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!



It's kind of strange (and nice) to be away from all the commercialism of Christmas. It didn't feel like Christmas at all till a couple nights ago when Bobi's mom, whose visiting her for Christmas, gave me a piece of fudge. It's interesting how certain things (like foods) can send your feelings down memory lane.

Now this place is humming with preparations. All the decorations came out of storage, and we're trying to see where they can be placed. The Christmas lights stay up all year, but I have yet to see one lighted.

Tomorrow, the 24th, is the big day here. Not just Christmas, but they're also planning a graduation. 5 of the kids are entering high school, so they're having a nice graduation for them. It's to inspire the others to keep working towards the goal. There are also three little girls graduating from preschool. Family members have been invited and lots of food is being prepared.

The program is suppose to start around 3, I heard once, and who knows how long it'll be. They also have a Christmas program, so it's a do-it-all-at-once program. It's going to be interesting to see what the traditions are here. Apparently soup is on the agenda for midnight.

We're blessed to have internet again. It wasn't working for about 5 days. That's hard for us down here. Ha!

I'm being called for a medical need so I better go for now.

Have a great holiday season!!!!

Elsie

Wed, Dec 10

Good evening!

Wow! It really has been 12 days since my last post. Hope you got a good rest! Ha!

It's a challenge to my "emotional well-being" to be without a computer here. Some days it feels quite healthy; others, it should be hospitalized! Tonight, it's the latter. So, I'll try to be brief, since I have only half hour on it now. That just might be good for those that think my blogs are too detailed. That's OK. I sometimes feel that too. It's ok to skim over them. 

My parents have come and gone. It was great to have family here, let them see what I do. It was a busy week though and I wasn't able to take as much time off as I had hoped. The first sunday I took them for a drive to St Marc and a little beyond. We spent one day in Port. We only got to go swimming once!

One of the reasons it was so busy is we spent two days opening a Medika Mamba program in Arcahaia. 

                                                                             Bobi and me taking a "break" 

That's about an hour south of us. Thursday Sister Gladys, Bobi, my mom and I went to "scout" the area. We found 13 children that were malnourished. So Friday Bobi and I went back and entered them all into the program. We didn't have a vehicle to go with so the "10:30" time that we told everyone got extended to about 1:00, keeping all the parents and kids waiting. It allowed me to almost finish my morning clinic, but wasn't very nice for the kids. On that note, I have a request for you. Please join us in praying for a vehicle for the Medika Mamba program. Vehicles are quite expensive, especially since it has to be a strong one - 4 wheel drive, able to do mountains, diesel, 'lockable'. We'd rather not have a new one (it hurts too much when {not if} it gets it's first dents  but it has to have a good motor. Sister Gladys says a Land Rover is perfect and lasts forever almost. Maybe, but the price is scary! The need is everywhere; we have the Mamba, but don't have a way to take it to the little kids. We could "extend our borders" a lot if we had consistent transportation. So we're putting the word out there and if there's any way you can help in that, we would appreciate it. If you've always wanted to learn to do fundraising, or need a cause to do it for, here's an opportunity!   It is so awesome to see the health of the children when they're ending the program. I'm learning to appreciate chubby babies!! Today I had a really chubby one at the clinic, and he just looked SO GOOD! 

  

Things are feeling very quiet here right now. Yesterday we said goodbye to Lydia, Kristie, and Bethany. They were here for 2 months. Steve and my parents left the same time. And today Bobi's two friends visiting left as well. That leaves Bobi, Bonnie and me for foreigners. Sister Gladys and Pastor Henri also left today for a week in the States. 

One answer to prayer is we've hired a new nurse. She's Haitian, her name is MarieElise. Please pray for her as she learns the ropes, and me as I teach her. It will still take a lot of training, but she's already helping and I think will work out real well. After my difficult experience in the beginning, I'm happy to expect something different. She's staying here at Canaan, and therefore will be able to help in the Medika Mamba as well, which we really want her to be able to help us with. She knows very little English, so it's a challenge to my Kreyol, but good for it. Teaching everything through a translator is not the easiest thing. Thankfully she's quick to catch on and can go from there. 

Despite the new nurse, we are in need of some trained ones, either short term or longer term. If there's any nurses, doctors, etc that want to come help at the clinic,  please contact me. I would like to take some time off: 

1) to teach the nurses that I have (it's becoming so busy I don't have time to do teachings) 

2) to do some traveling in other towns (to see about starting the Medika Mamba program), 

3) in the summer I want to take a month or two off to go to North America. I'm looking for someone to come work while I'm gone. 

OK, time's up, gotta go.

Elsie

Bobi Bender

Hi,

Well my mom and dad got here, so I won't promise you that you'll hear a lot from me directly. But hey, I've found a way for you to keep up with some of my doings and even to see some pictures from here. Bobi here managed to get her blog up with pictures, so check that out. We do almost everything together, so a lot of her activities include me. OK, so maybe it doesn't tell you what I think but it tells you what I'm doing and involved in. Her link is on my list.

Elsie  

Friends

Sunday, Nov. 23, 08

Hi everybody,

Seems like awhile since I've written on here. Is it really not a week? I guess a lot has happened. Sister Gladys came home while we were gone last weekend, sister Boni is back till May (she's the children's hero and advocate and playmate and teacher and friend and mother all in one, plus all the things I haven't mentioned.) It's good to see her around again.

On Wednesday, a team of 31 arrived. It has kept everyone busy preparing. The girls working in the kitchen are LOVING making food for this quantity. It's a challenge they are meeting wonderfully - very organized and great tasting!! The team is also getting lots of work done - they finished pouring the cement for the roof of the little kids' dorm - across from our cafeteria. They have also made and set up a pingpong table, and they brought a net and balls. I think that will be an everlasting need here now - new balls! They love banging them with the paddles, which at least 4 are bare now. They don't understand the balls work better. One young boy just started ripping it off - I think for him it was in the way or something. But they're enjoying it.

Saturday afternoon, all of us and the older kids packed up and went to spend some time at a beach house owned by P. Henry's brother-in-law. It was a great place!! We had a bonfire, though it was too windy to sit around it - grilled hot dogs and chicken and a time of singing and testimonies and reflexion.

This evening, Bobi and I went with our friend from down the road - Matt, and his two visiting friends to hang out at the hotel where they're staying for the weekend. It was a wonderful relaxing time. We hung out on the roof of a 4 story hotel, watching the stars, chatting, and getting a massage from Renee, who is a massage therapist. There was a wind, and everything felt wonderful! 

Monday

Well the generator was cut off unexpectedly last night, so hope to finish this tonight. It's been a busy day at the clinic again. That's becoming the norm nowadays, it seems. It's to the point where one person can hardly do it alone anymore, which means it's difficult for me to take a day off. Malaria was the most common ailment today I think. Funny how it seems people come in in spurts with the same things.

This week is looking just as busy, but pleasantly so. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to Port again, this time with two patients. The one from last week, that we didn't get to a doctor with and also Maikel. His dad finally showed up last week, and we're needing to do an Echocardiogram on him - see if he really has a big hole in his heart. I put the fear of death into the dad when he was here - after all, that's what will happen if he doesn't bring his son regularly. The said thing is, I realize it is very difficult for him. It takes him 3 hours to get here on the taptap, and he works in Port, which is the other side. If he quits the job, where's the money???

We're celebrating Thanksgiving here on Wed (we're not in the US - who says we have to abide by their days???). This way we can serve it with the team. I haven't been here for one so we'll see what it's like but sounds like it'll be a feast. In past years, all the kids, including the youngest, get one whole turkey leg. They almost fall asleep eating it. So this will be fun for everyone!!

Then on Friday - back to Port. This time for a very special reason. My parents are coming to visit for 2 weeks! It's their first time (actually my first visitors here). They're from Costa Rica, so used to third world cultures, but I think they're still gonna be a little surprised.

OK, nothing is getting cleaned in my room tonight so I better close my ramblings here. Thanks for reading and keeping us here in mind. God's blessings to each of you!!!

Elsie

Jacmel

After a wonderful long weekend, I was back at the clinic full swing again today. After 20+ patients, we still had the Mamba clinic. We had a great turnout today. Our little marasmus child, who looked like skin and bones had gained a whole kilo!!!! Amazing! Especially since his mom is a bit mentally handicapped and we didn't know how much she was getting what we were telling her. But we drilled the "12 tablespoons, 8 times a day" into her so much, she was answering that for other questions as well. She was really in a good mood, and we made a huge happy deal about him gaining so well. You could just literally see the difference in one week. I looked at him before weighing him and thought "wow, there's some fat on him - I bet he'll have gained".

Another good but kind of heart wrenching patient was Matiana. She's the one who's little brother we buried a couple weeks ago. She graduated today, which is awesome, but it means we won't see her sweet smile anymore, now that her brother isn't coming either. She didn't want to leave. The mom's like "you could just keep her". We get that so much. The sad patient we had today was a little 4 yr old that looks like two. He is SOOO thin but he's been in the program only a couple weeks. Now the mom said she has to go up in the mountains and won't come back till January. I don't think he can survive that. He came to us swollen, which means his heart is having a hard time. The swelling has gone down pretty much, but he's still so thin. Keeping him here is also such a responsibility! If anything happened.... or if the mom didn't come back.....



So I'll talk about my weekend. Last Friday I took a 5 yr old patient to Port that has been having throat problems. His airway was almost obstructed a few weeks ago. I gave him enough medicine that that cleared up and he was able to breathe ok again, but now he can't talk out loud, so I want to take him to a specialist. Though I didn't get much done, it was good to get out.

Then Sat. morning, Bobi and I went with our friends, Chris, Leslie and Matt to Jacmel. Jacmel is a city about 1 1/2 hours over the mountains south of Port. The area hardly felt like Haiti. The city is much cleaner than what I've been used to here, and the people seemed more relaxed. It's an old city, used to be a port city, so maybe a little more well-to-do.

We had lunch at a nice resort but decided not to stay there. We went on to a different area and had a fun couple hours in the water, floating on tubes, after which we checked into an old hotel that used to be a home for a rich family in the 1800s. It was all kind of victorian. It was about 2 1/2 blocks from the ocean, which we again enjoyed Sunday afternoon. The waves there reminded me of home - about 5 foot waves, and tubes didn't really work.

The most fun part of the weekend: Sunday morning we rented 4 motorcycles with drivers, and they took us about an hour or more up the mountains - through a wide river where our feet of course got wet and some of us had to walk across, up and down such steep hills they asked us to walk them :( , pass all the Haitian people staring out wondering how many bikes there would be I'm sure. And finally after getting to the top - a 10 minute hike down to 3 wonderfully blue swimming holes, which came from a waterfall into the last one. It was absolutely beautiful and oh, so refreshing. I've never seen such blue, almost aqua colored fresh water pools!! There were some jumping off spots too, for the "high jumpers". The water was like 75 ft deep.

We took a different route back since the first one was really washed out by the hurricanes. It was still really steep at times. One hill was even wet, with slippery clay. My driver was in the front and by the time he realized it, it was some ways down the hill before he was able to stop, and in the process I got a nice muffler burn on my leg (ouch!). I was so grateful to stop our sideways descent, I hardly minded. WoW!

What fun it all was! On the way back, we stop in Port for some errands and culminated the trip at Epidore - the Haitian version of American fast foods place. We even had ice cream!

I'm going to post this without pictures since I don't know when that will get accomplished. Hopefully by this weekend!

We are all very busy getting ready for a team of 32 coming in tomorrow. They've never had one that big, so it's a bit overwhelming for everybody. Please pray that everything goes well, and that everyone can be blessed.

I'm praying that God will touch your heart with a special touch right now! He loves you, you know!

Elsie

Beach day

Bobi, Olivia and me relaxing on the hammock at Chris and Leslie's

We had a fun day at the beach. The waves were much bigger than normal and at first the kids were a bit scared - then they discovered the fun of waves!!

Exerson

Thursday

This evening I'm just going to let my mind wonder and see what comes out (the good thing is the delete button on this computer works, though you may not think so).

How am I? Not sure. Maybe I'll know by the end of this blog.

I've been dealing with Roseland, Exerson's mother. Exerson has been in our Medika Mamba program since sometime in the summer. He came to us very dehydrated, and extremely malnourished. On top of that, I saw immediately there was something wrong with his development but at the moment that was a minor concern. The urgent one was keeping him alive. We immediately took him to the St Marc hospital and he was admitted for dehydration and pneumonia and stayed for a week. (if you've followed my emails, you may remember the baby that died that we took to the hospital. It was the same week Exerson was discharged) so the two were always linked in my mind - same problem, one survived, one didn't)

He has been in the MM program ever since and it's been a struggle for me, because I don't think there were more than about 2 or 3 weeks when the mother did not report that he had a fever. And sometimes she'd bring him in between and he'd have a fever of 103, 104. I did tests, had doctors check him, a couple times she went to other doctors, and it would go on. He would have seizures.... 

I'd look at him and wonder how the mom does it. She's really poor, yet she faithfully fed her 15 month handicapped, malnourished child. I must say though, physically, he was looking much better. He had gained quite a bit of weight. A few weeks ago she brought another daughter who was starting with kwashiokor (severe malnutrition) and we admitted her into the program too. There are 3 more but not all live with her I believe.

Then on monday she came to tell us Exerson passed away at the hospital from a high fever and seizure. The number she said isn't possible so I won't repeat it. 

Here's where my heart started getting more involved. She has nothing and was wondering if we could help her with a coffin. Funerals are so different here - guess it depends how much money you have. They like to go all out and do it as well as their neighbors. People will go into debt that takes them years to pay. Roseland didn't seem that kind, but she looked so dejected about it. When you don't have money for food for your living children, how do you bury your baby? We ended up paying the grave diggers, the morgue, the coffin, the clothes for the coffin. She said she had nobody to help her.

This afternoon Jamil, our driver, got the baby from the morgue and one of the girls and me went along to the grave. I wasn't sure what to expect. The mom wasn't there. They unloaded the coffin and took it straight into the hole. They looked around, wondering if the mom was there. Somebody said she wasn't, so they started closing it. Probably the whole thing didn't take more than 10 minutes. No prayer, nothing. There were about 13 people there, including some onlookers and 4 from Canaan and the hired grave diggers. 

I left wondering about life. What's in a funeral? Is it all for the living? Does it make a difference? Why does it seem so wrong to put someone in a hole without some kind of "dedication"? There are times here when people are so poor they won't even take a body out of the morgue. (thankfully that doesn't happen a lot) 

What's the worth of a life that would never have been normal? Because I can't help thinking life will be much easier for the mom. Maybe the sister has a better chance now.

"God clothes the lilies of the fields.. will he not much more care for "one of his little ones"? I'm glad God doesn't base his love on how intelligent we are, or how cute, or how useful. This little soul had God's complete love. God loves... beautiful flowers, bright sunsets, powerful waves of the ocean.. and little innocent souls.  I'm glad I was able to help and once in a while make the last 4 or 5 months of Exerson's life more comfortable.

   

Mother Roseland, sister Matiana and Exerson

  

Sunday Nov 2

OK, I'm giving up sending my last week's blog so you'll miss out on last week, which was a very interesting one, what with the medical team being here all week and then us having a sleep over at Chris and Leslie's. The most tiring weekend since I came I think. At least that I realized. It took more than a weekend to


Thursday

We've almost made it through another week!!! Actually, God gave strength, and it wasn't so bad. I just have some more resting up to do.

We had a cool thing happen today. Cenofa our computer tech here, set up the wireless so that we have it in our house now!!! I'm actually sitting on my bed relaxing!!! That doesn't mean no interruptions though. They come at anytime. Like this afternoon I was walking out the lane to do my exercises to/at/from the beach, and I hear a young voice 'Sister Elsie, I have a cough'. Sometimes they're at my door before I'm up and the other day I was even awakened from sleep in the evening. Mind you it was earlier than I usually go to bed, but I was SOOOO tired. I thought seeing as how my house was dark, they wouldn't wake me.


It's kind of cool when walking off of Canaan, I get people calling me by my name. Even if I don't understand what else they're saying. My Creole is picking up but not as fast as I'd like. I had two different people call to me on my walk to the beach.


The 3.3 kg 15 month old that we admitted to our Mamba program last week did real well this first week (picture on last blog). He gained half a kilo - that's one pound!! In one week!! Love it! The one negative was Maikel didn't show up and we were suppose to arrange to do his Echocardiogram in Port. Now it will have to wait another week, and we won't be able to send the tape of it to the Cardiologist in the States. If he has a hole in his heart, they'll be flying him up for the surgery. Pray he'll come next week.

Another challenge this week was a 5 yr old boy, whose mother brought him because of asthma. He had obvious breathing difficulty. Last month a doctor had told her it was asthma. I thought 'great, I've got a generator, I'll give him a nebulizing treatment and he'll be fine.' Not so. After consulting with my "American doctors" I think he has an airway obstruction. Mom says in Aug another boy choked him on the throat. He could have gotten injured, and now with a little inflammation from a cold or something, it could give him difficulty. Pray the meds will help, cause there's really nothing else I can do from my clinic. I may need to take him to an ENT (ears, nose, throat doctor) in Port. He was such a sweet kid. Reminded me of my nephew Aidan, his age, only different color :) He'd squint up his face when breathing seemed to get more difficult - no complaints. He could only whisper, so didn't say much.

Sunday night..

Sorry for the delay in this post. Internet has been very sporadic.

Pray for us this week if you think of us. P.Henri and S. Gladys are at a training center in the States, and things always run a bit differently when they're gone.

This weekend has been good. We spent yesterday afternoon with our friends in Pierre Payen and this afternoon, we took all the younger kids to the beach. It was windy and the waves were huge for here - some even 6 ft high. The beach wasn't very good but the boys esp. loved the challenge, and change of beach I think. A little dangerous for the little ones, so I was glad I got them back home safe and sound. I'm not used to driving the big truck either.

So much for this week!!!
Thanks for all your support and prayers!!
Elsie

Medical team pictures

the blog for this week has been written. Just need to figure out how to get it posted. My laptop wants to give up on me (it's not even a year old yet!) - for some reason doesn't want to open up on me. I'll post this now and get the letter later. 

As you'll see from the pictures, we had a medical team here and everybody had a busy week! I was more tired than I realized since the weekend before was spent working too. 24 hours at Leslie's house was great, but I still went to bed at 7:30 last night, and with Bobi's special coffee this morning, the day wasn't so bad! 

Maikel - the child with heart problems as well as malnourished and kidney problems

Looking out over our future new clinic

Working late!!

Mandy (nurse), Tony (MD), Ryan (PA) working on a sick child

Dr Ric

This is "Marasmus". He was fed only diluted cows milk, so into the Medika Mamba program he goes!! Bobi did an excellent job all by herself with all the Mamba patients, with Fabiola has her translator. 

Izralinda graduated!! She was such a tiny, listless 10 month old when she entered our program. Now she absolutely sparkled with laughter and playfullness.

427 patients seen in 3 days (not including the mamba patients!) Good job, team!!

Working weekend

Sunday/Monday - Oct 20, 08
It is 1:20 a.m. and for some unknown reason, I can’t sleep. Considering the weekend I’ve had, I don’t know why I didn’t drop off the minute my head hit the pillow instead of 3 hours later, and counting. Was it the coke I had tonight? But I often have that for supper. I don’t think it’s because of the medical team that came tonight, though I’m very happy to have them here, and the next few days are going to be interesting. I’m not specifically worried about anything.... I guess everyone has these nights once in awhile. Thankfully they don’t come around very often for me.
So back to you... I haven’t been very steady on my blogs here lately but to tell you the truth, I’ve been busy; with a lot of things, if you want to know. This week it was preparation for the team that was coming.
Awhile back when we had the break-in at the clinic, they put re-bars through the concrete wall to hold the bars at the window. Since then they have been sticking out on the inside. Seeing as this week I’m expecting to have around 15 people in a room about 12X10, working all day, I thought that might cause some hazards with re-bars everywhere, so on Thursday and Friday some men here went down, and sawed them to about 3 inches, cut holes into the concrete big enough to hammer the re-bars in and then re-cemented everything. Now that’s not very nice to look at, so we decided to give everything a coat of paint – so off to the depot we go to see what colors are available. We ended up with white and a purple, which later we couldn’t figure out what colors we had mixed to come up with that. However the doors and rebars, which were a green before needed oil paint and we ended up with blue – not exactly a modern choice, but.... hey, we’re not necessarily very modern here in our trends. So Sat morning Bobi and I headed down to the clinic with 6 other boys and started working. It took ALL day! And we almost finished. Too bad we couldn’t start earlier in the week. Now we had to return Sunday afternoon to put everything back in place!!! And the hour or two I anticipated turned into 4. Not the way I wanted to spend a Sunday, especially considering the day before was also so busy. But what has to be done, has to be done! Not all the paint was dry yet, so Monday morning means going early to put back the rest and make sure the place gets cleaned better.
Oh yes, and sat was laundry day for me too, including sheets in case they were needed and cleaning my own house (finally got a mop to clean) so it was 10 p.m. by the time I could relax.

Having said all this about my weekend I need to share the best part yet. This morning, we (the missionaries, as we’re called here) were practicing a song to sing in church (we had promised them last week) when we were told the leaders weren’t going to be there, so me and the others were to lead the service. Hmmm... Of course all kinds of excuses come up at the moment. I can’t do that; not today, I don’t feel spiritual enough; somebody else can preach; I don’t have anything to say. Finally I’m like, what are we here for anyway? If we’re missionaries, we should be able to lead a meeting where routine is totally excepted! Anyway we don’t have to preach, we can do other things. So we sang the song “Take my life”. Bobi shared a little, then I shared about the song, challenging people to get back to the time where they were consecrated and committed to God, if they weren’t there now. After the service, P. Joel brought an eight month pregnant 17 yr old girl up to me, she wanted me to pray for her to become a Christian. I was quite amazed!! The first time I “led” a church service, and a girl became a Christian. Her name is Erline Delicate, if you want to pray for her. She lives here in ‘Sou Boy’. Pregnant by a boy who just wanted to show the family he could get her pregnant, then abandoned her, she’s got a poor, hard life ahead of her. She seemed very sweet and sincere.
So we have a team of 11 here now, Sunday to Friday. Mon – Wed are clinic days, then they have one day off here. 2 are doctors, who have been an immense support to me, since I got to know them on their last visit in March, 2 are PAs (Physicians Assistants), one nurse and many willing hands. We’ve handed out 100 tickets for each day, so we’ll see how many patients come. For the Haitian people it’s medical care; for me it’s a time to learn.
Earlier this week, we received 3 new members to our team here, Kristy, Bethany, and Lydia. They’ll be helping out at the school, giving special attention to the ‘learning to read’ program. They’ll be here 2 months.
OK, it’s past two a.m. so I’m going to try sleeping again.
God bless!

abandonment

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Loveline. At age one, her mother died. Her dad took her with him and went to the Capital, leaving behind two stepdaughters. At some point Dad decided he could not take care of her, and she was taken to an orphanage – too young to remember any of her former life.
One day, when Loveline was about 11 yrs old, a lady came to the clinic at the orphanage. She said her two year old daughter was Loveline’s sister and that her dad had died awhile ago. It came as a bitter shock; she felt very alone – alone, with no family; alone because her father had made a life without her. Gone was the dream that someday, her dad would come and say “you’re my daughter; come to me!”
A few months later, Loveline got sick and had to go to the clinic herself. After she was called by name, a lady comes to her, asking for her full name; What was your dad’s name?? What was your mom’s name? Then the ultimatum “I’m your sister! I’ve been searching for you for a long time. Someone told me you were here, so instead of going to a hospital in my hometown, I brought my sick daughter to be seen here at this clinic, almost an hour from my home, in the hopes of maybe finding you!! And here you are!! Can I come visit you on Saturday?”

This made this girl very happy.

The end. (not for her)

This is a true story. The clinic is my clinic. Can you imagine how it feels to have this saga unfold in your own clinic? It was pretty amazing for me to realize!! Some felt sad – it is sad to have all that sad past, but for me it seemed so ‘happy’ that they found each other!

Life continues busy, busy.

Sunday, we met again at Chris and Leslie’s, and I met some interesting people. They’re with AMURT, which I didn’t know either, so don’t feel bad, and I’m not sure I know well enough yet to explain to you. A non-religious (I think) organization, they work with rebuilding after disasters. I met Amber, who’s a lawyer, and she’s deciding at the moment whether she’ll be here long term. She’s working in Gonaives, sleeping without a roof over their heads, she was SO happy for some table and chairs they just got – now they can have an office. AMURT is working on getting a model out – kind of like a compound (my impression) for around 20 families, and they’d have their agricultural areas, their private and public places, water systems, etc. Basically everything they need. They’re building the first there now, hoping to get it done quick so they can show it works and start working on more. They’re combining a lot of systems into one area. The individual systems are all in use in some part of Haiti, but not together in one place. Their goal is not to just get the people of Gonaives back to their barely bearable state of living like before but to have something better, something higher up, out of the low areas where it’s bound to flood again.

Monday I got us a small generator for the Clinic!! My goal is to have it there for when I need to use some things like a nebulizer for asthma patients, but also just for fans – it gets so warm sometimes and just zaps your energy right out of you. I don’t know the price of gas, and being the frugal person that I am, I don’t know how much I’ll run it just for fans, but I’ll see. It’s a good time to buy it (actually this is why I thought about it) because next week with the coming of the doctors, we’ll be like 15 people in one little room, and it gets quite uncomfortable!! I think nights are starting to cool off, thankfully. Still, I don’t think I’m ready to switch weather with the people of my Canadian hometown – not ready for freezing weather yet!!

I have a question for one person.....

Baby Lucivens Paul came to my clinic for the third time today. He's almost 3 months old. First time he came was because of stomach pain and diarrhea. Probing a little deeper, I find the mother has abandoned him; the father brought him to his sister and left him there and has gone back to Port and his sister has no money for food. They're feeding him cookies!! I happened to have a couple cans of infant formula donated by Christian Aid Ministries, and I gave him one of the last ones today. I don't know what they plan to do - continue with cookies I guess. I told the aunt last time to call the dad and tell him to provide milk. She did, and says when she said what I had told her, that he needs to buy milk, he hung up on her. And now, he won't answer the phone when he calls.

My question is: would anyone want to take on this baby and feed him with milk for a year or whatever time you feel able? I'm not sure what the price of formula is but I think it's similar to North America. (I tried to post a picture but I can't from here)

Let me know if you do!!

OK, I better go. We're trying to get a room ready for 3 more girls coming tomorrow and we conned Mark into helping us move in a couple bunk beds by promising to share our rare treat (apple crisp) with him. And it's already 9:20. If I wait much longer, they'll be done without me.

Till next time!! Please remember us in prayer!
Elsie

Birthday Pictures

Hi! Got some pictures uploaded finally. Couldn't do more, with our slow internet service.

We're kept real busy as always. Thanks to many of you giving money, this week we've been able to prepare more food for a lot of people - both in Cabaret and in our surrounding areas. People keep coming begging for help. How do we respond????

This week has been busy for me because I finished moving into my apartment. Doesn't mean I've found a spot for everything yet! Thankfully I've got suitcases because I sure don't have a lot of furniture. My furniture consists of one desk (with two small rusted drawers), one dresser, and my bed. Oh, and I can't forget.. P.Henri gave me a birthday gift yesterday - a 2-burner propane hotplate. Once they set it up, I'll be able to heat water, if I get something to heat it in. One of these days, which I can't see happening for another 2-5 weeks, I plan to go furniture scouting. Next Sat. is Canadian Thanksgving and I've been invited by friends to go celebrate it with friends of theirs who are Canadians, whom I've never met. Sounds interesting, right? Especially since there's a pool....

I better go. Just wanted to share a few more photos!



Bobi (doctor's assistant as she calls herself) with a little two month old that came in with a high fever


Bobi and me chatting (and working) at the clinic :)


The neighborhood goats love to sleep under our porch. This little kid got too adventurous and couldn't get back out through the bars.


Bobi, Mark, me, Sister Gladys and Pastor Henri at Club Indigo, taking me out for dinner. Imagine the Carribean ocean in the back.


Officially Canaanite now, per Pastor Henri

Birthday

Happy Birthday to me it was! I had a great day Tuesday, from start to finish. Made me feel very blessed to have so many friends.


When I got to work, my Haitian nurse had a song, scripture, and a nice prayer for me, as well as flowers. (Real flowers in Haiti is rare based on my experience).

Then when I came home for lunch, everybody was waiting for me in the cafeteria with cake and cookies and candy and pop, balloons everywhere, and cards and some gifts!! It's interesting how they can make a celebration fun without having the abundance we're used to. They love to celebrate, and made me feel very special.


In the afternoon, Bobi decided she was comfortable enough doing the Mamba clinic that I didn't have to go down. We made sure our 'walkie talkie worked and off she went. Meanwhile, I moved into my new bachelor apartment! Yes, I actually did! and it was fun. It's right beside the other place, attached to it, but separate. It really feels separate. Except Bobi and I kind of miss each other (we're close!)


Then for dinner, Pastor Henri, Sister Gladys, Mark, and Bobi took me to Club Indigo (the nicest place in the area) for a wonderful buffet dinner. And after that, we went to our friends Chris and Leslie for cake and homemade ice cream.


A call from home and 16 email birthday messages finished my day.

OK, I was hoping to add photos, but since I don't know when that will happen, I better post this now.

God bless you all!!

Elsie

Ti Goave

Thursday dawned with anticipation for me. Breaks from routine are usually welcome for me. Pastor Henri offered to take us to the southern part of Haiti to see the flood devastation. So we left at 10:45 and we soon realized we needed this time out. Bobi and I found every little thing hilarious, which made it a fun trip. Bobi, Matt (from Clean Water for Haiti) and I went. One of the special things about the trip was driving in an air-conditioned vehicle.




In Cabaret, we saw the tents that are set up for the ones that lost their homes. Now if you think of going camping, they look wonderful. If you think of living there, I think of "hot".





We went about 1 1/2 hrs West of Port au Prince. That's a very pretty, green area of Haiti.

We stopped at a small, new lake that got formed with these waters. No place to drain.



Past Petit Goave a ways is where the existing lake expanded it's borders by about 100 feet or so, now covering the Highway #2 by about 5 feet. Some trucks kept trying to get through. A gasoline semi truck got stuck and somehow spilled it's gas into the lake. It's still sitting there.


They have now barricaded the road with a couple loads of gravel to keep other daring drivers making the attempt. It's a zoo there. Everybody traveling there has to cross on canoes - I saw one speed boat. All the cargoes - vegetables, charcoal, beds, suitcases, etc has to be hauled to the canoes, crossed, and then hauled on the backs of people to the waiting trucks and buses. Can you try to imagine that? Next time you drive, imagine what the vehicles you see have in them and imagine hauling that on someone's back. Of course the situation with our bridge is similar, only we're very thankful not to have to use boats yet. I looked at these people, and just felt nobody should have to work so hard!! But they do what they have to do.



There's a path that we took that is right in front of people's houses. In fact, it ran between their house and their gate; and right outside their gate is the water, with people there constantly. What a sad place to live right now!!





They're talking of making a complete new road higher up the mountains that are running right beside it so who knows how much longer this will be. The water doesn't look like it'll go anywhere any time soon.

One past time that we find hilarious while driving is looking at all the art on vehicles. Pastor Henri was a wonderful tour guide pointing out this and that. Then: "and here we have Abram killing Isaac". At first we're like, What? Then we looked at the following bus in front of us:

On the way back P. Henri took us 10 minutes up the mountains to give us a beautiful view of Haiti.



This has taken awhile to send because I've been waiting to send it with pictures and I'm unable to post pictures from Canaan. Internet is too slow. So I managed to get some uploaded at Chris and Leslie's today. We had our bimonthly meeting again today. It's good to get out and meet other people.

The temporary bridge in Mont-rouis is now passable and we have all our vehicles back at Canaan. How nice that feels. Now we need to pray that that bridge will hold all the traffic. I haven't seen it yet but I understand they put culverts in the river and covered them with gravel. Our other broken bridge seems more fragile than ever. There's talk of it breaking more. Hopefully it won't, cause that would really be bad for foot traffic, etc. And dangerous.

Yesterday, Bobi, Mark and I were able to take the afternoon off and spend some time in the ocean. We needed that time. I had tried to relax in the morning too - Saturdays are our times of relaxing, but if there, there are always all kinds of interruptions. They're preparing a "bachelor apartment" for me and doing the last minute painting. Maybe by next weekend I can move in. Yea!!! Now to go shopping for some curtains and furniture. Will see if/when that will happen.

I hope you all have a great week! Touch someone's life in a personal way!!
Elsie Kornelsen

Phone Number

OK, I’ve bought me a new phone (palm treo actually – didn’t trust Iphones to work here) so here’s my new number if anyone ever feels God telling you to call me! Ha! It’s with a different Haitian company, so I should have better service coverage now. I can actually receive calls from any part of my bedroom; before it was only by my window. 509-3859-9716 To call from another country you would have to add your country code to call out, i.e. 011, or 001.

Last night Bobi and I went to a birthday party in St Marc. We asked Matt from ‘Clean water for Haiti mission’ to go too, and he drove. It was a most entertaining evening, the ride being almost the funniest. Nothing like it in North America so I won’t even start to compare it to something. Needless to say, my head touched the truck ceiling several times, and I wasn’t sure if all the contents of my purse were still in the purse. Bobi had met Shekina on the plane on her way here. She’s with YWAM, so I was glad to get to know that place in St Marc too. I won’t say they’re 25 minutes from here, but I will say that’s what it took us to come home.

The town of Cabaret, spoken of before, is still being bombarded with water. Incredible how one town keeps getting it. You’d think the hurricanes are gone now.... but apparently there’s been a tropical storm somewhere, and that area’s been getting some rain again, especially on the mountains. It must be the new “paths” the river created, but yesterday the town was covered in water and mud again (this is the same town we went to visit, where we saw the dead baby). Sister Gladys said as they were driving through it, she saw people just standing there crying; didn’t even seem to have the energy to shovel out the mud again.

Here’s another thing to pray about. We heard of this baby from Gonaives that lost both of her parents in the flood – waters apparently washed them away. The baby had been with this other lady. She is now asking if we can take this baby girl of 2 months. So we’ll see what happens next week. Sometimes the desperation causes people to make up stories, so we have to try to verify what they say. If this did happen, this may become my baby (in Canaan). They tell me of this boy that was trying to get to the States and he had to prove both his parents were dead. Guess who helped him get all the documents – his own dad! Imagine the desperation when you forge your own death certificate!

Ok, this was just suppose to be a quick one to let those of you who have been asking for my phone number know what it is, so I better quit.

God bless you all, right where you are!
Elsie

Hi, me again.

I'm writing tonight mostly by Sister Gladys' request to let you all know things are still very difficult here. In a way it seems to be getting worse, especially for Canaan. Though a lot of the water has receded, the difficulty of living in Haiti is now worse. Food is hard to get, or very expensive. With the bridge still out for who knows how much longer... it's making it very difficult.

We continually have to borrow other people's trucks. With constant trips to the bridge for people to catch our vehicles on the other side, what we really need is a small 4 wheeler or something that is good on diesel. Ha! Gas and diesel are also going up continually with the prices.

Drinking water is becoming an issue for us and Haiti. The water pipes that we have been getting our drinking water from don't have enough water now so we have to find other ways. Our friend Chris from 'Clean Water for Haiti' has been generous and is allowing us to fill all our drums from his well, but so do a lot of other people. We even have to ask to use his truck for it!

With hosting people from Gonaives, it's also putting strain on Canaan. It's difficult to buy all the food so many people need, what with the food prices. To buy only spaghetti for everybody for one meal costs close to $50.00 USD, and that used to be one of the cheaper meals, which here by the way is often a breakfast food as well (you can imagine the cost of food for a month). Everything has gone up. Pastor Henri and Sister Gladys were in Port, checking prices and trying to find the best prices and they came back pretty stressed.

If anyone would wish to donate food to Canaan for the orphanage and to share, we have an address that you could ship food or anything else to, i.e. clothes (no winter clothes please!!). We are preparing a container to be shipped here. We especially need canned vegetables - any kind really.

If you want to send something, please call the lady in charge in Miami before shipping something so she can expect it. Her name and phone numbers are:

Sandra
H – 561-540-8784
C – 561-667-1731

Miami address for container:

Gull Atlantic
c/o TIC (Togetherness In Christ)
3200 NW 125 ST
N. Miami, FL, 33167

Thank you so much for continuing to remember us and the Haitian people who are suffering. It's good to be able to help them - a lot of people came today from the mountains, who's houses got washed away, to pick up the clothes we've collected so far from Canaan here, and for some of the food we got ready for them. Thank you so much for all who sent money to make it possible for us to help them.

Keeping on,
Elsie Kornelsen

Suturing

Hi everybody,



This is going to be short, because I am extremely tired and I only have about 20 minutes before the power goes off. I feel like I've been going all day. Morning clinic took till after 1 p.m., then malnutrition clinic at 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. Right after supper, I was called to see one of the young boys, Wendy. He's six or seven. Why do boys play so rough?? He got kicked in the cheek by the shoe of another young 'un, and had a one inch gash on the inside of his cheek, behind the upper teeth. What a horrible place to have to suture!!! Hard to get to, especially with no equipment to hold it open. I debated for awhile if it was within my scope of 'daring to do', and decided I'd give it a try. OK, it was definitely not my choice of location for my "first ever" suturing! He lost two teeth in the hit also. Blood in the mouth galore. So I spread him out in the dining room table (best lighting) and took a deep breath and a quick prayer, and recruited my new helper, Bobi (who was ever so good, considering she doesn't handle blood very well and had to leave the room for an IV at the clinic). On top of the regular light, I had to have someone hold the flashlight. Anyway, I got it done and hope it'll hold and not get infected. Please pray for little Wendy. He was more brave than any patient I can imagine, including adults. I couldn't believe him. I was very impressed!!! So now I feel like if I can suture that, I can suture anywhere. I wondered what my first would be like. So there, Doctor Ric!


So this week another tropical storm is hitting Haiti. We don't have a lot of rain here, but in Port and Cabaret it's been raining, and is suppose to continue for a couple days. Cabaret is now flooded again. The poor people! They're still shoveling the mud out of their houses and ditches from the last storm!! Pray for them!

Please continue to pray for the work here, especially the leaders. Sister Gladys is struggling with the pain of the passing of a very close cousin of hers, and she can't go spend time with her family. Plus other difficult issues here and the burden of the Haitian people suffering. It's a lot for one person. This week we brought some of the people from Gonaives here - they're staying awhile. They lost everything but their lives there from the flood. They tell stories of watching people float by in the water, and they helpless. One heart-renching story is of a mother with two children. Losing the grasp of one she had to make a quick decision of which to let go. Sad thing, they probably all lost their lives.

God bless you all as you serve him in the spot where you are! Make life count!!

ELSIE KORNELSEN

Pictures

Beautiful Haiti



Our bridge that's down - what a bunch of problems this is giving the whole area and further north







The river split and came on both sides of this house, washing the ground away















Broken houses





Laundry - Everything had to be washed and dried. This water is actually dirtier than it looks.






This is where they took me to see the body they found.