Ivoir

How do I describe a day like today? Remember reading about people that go way into the boondocks to do some kind of medical mission or something? Well, that felt like me today, just instead of doing it by foot or donkey, I drove a pickup truck that's new. But for some reason that didn't really bother me more than if it hadn't been new. Yes the road was awful, and I probably scraped the bottom a few times, and branches might have left some marks on it, but that's what we got the truck for. I even got to use the 4H. But wow, the road was bad. Took one hour to go 11 km.(about 6 miles). 1st gear was the norm. Parts had been washed away, probably from the 2008 hurricanes. Other parts looked like the bottom rocks of the ocean. It was a puzzle finding spots to not scrape on. I was really glad to get there, which wasn't Font Baptiste like I had thought, but a village only half way there.

I had quite a few hitchhikers too. I mean, think about starting a climb straight up the mountain, walking who knows how long, with a big load on top of your head? The first two I picked up were 2 older women, and I think I was almost as glad as they were, to be able to give them a ride. I kept thinking how grateful I would be if it were me.

This was the good spot

The scenery was beautiful and the closer we got the greener it became. They can grow a lot more up there. And the weather is nice too. I imagine it gets quite cold sometimes. It really felt like we were at the top of the mountains, though they said it keeps going up. Not sure where, since I couldn't really see more mountains.

I met 3 of the leaders of that community/organizations and they seemed very nice - intelligent and caring. I was impressed. Of course the usual - more sick people than malnourished ones. In fact, other than the girl in our program already, there were none. However, they didn't expect me to be checking them today, thought I just came to find the place (on that road??), so I spent some time just seeing the sick that were there, though I hadn't brought a lot of meds. The kids all needed worm meds. The leaders figured they could find more than 20-30 really malnourished kids there.

This 16 yr old seemed really sick. I'm pretty sure he had malaria. That's what I treated him for anyway. I was glad I had taken that medicine a long.

There was one 2 month old baby that came for milk. When asked why the mom wasn't feeding her, I got the common "she's sick". So asking further, I found she'd been sick since last Thursday (1 week) and she couldn't talk. It seemed strange. The biggest complaint was she couldn't talk. I asked them to bring her and they said "no, she's too sick, but if you could go see her, we'd show you". So we went (I had taken Joran, my mamba nurse, and Stephanson with me). I wasn't quite prepared to find her so sick, and VERY dehydrated. That was probably her main and biggest problem. She hadn't eaten since Thurs. and drank very little since Sunday, when she became non-responsive. She'd move around restlessly, and look around, but with unseeing eyes, and not responding. Her name is MigeRose.

Walking up to MigeRose's house

MigeRose

She is 18 yrs old, no husband, with a two month old. She lives with her mom, who is the typical older woman taking care of everyone. Beside her on the bed lay her 11 yr old sister with a high fever. They said she got sick the same day but she wasn't as bad. I invited the mom to drive down with me with her daughters and the baby and I'd take her to the hospital. She said no. I found out it was because she had no money. (They're a sweet, proud people) I told her she really needed to go, or she would die here, and when I told her she would get seen even if she had no money (after all there's enough foreign doctors here now giving free care) she finally agreed. So we packed up the sick 2 sisters, the mother, the baby, and another family member to take care of the baby and I brought them down to the hospital. They'll do tests tomorrow, but meanwhile they both got IVs in and are being hydrated. I hope MigeRose hasn't got something serious.

By the time I got home it was past 6 pm, another long day, that didn't end there, since I had to go do the dressing changes for the patients in our dorm. I've been wishing a lot lately that I had a nurse to help me here these days. Some days aren't bad but 2 long ones in a row is a bit much. So finally at 9:30 I was ready to start my evening, which of course to me means checking my emails. HA! You guys are important to me! Actually what I'm really doing is using you as my journal. lol

It's been a good day. I feel humbled. Awhile ago some of us "blancs" were talking about how being here in Haiti separates us from the distraction that life in North America is. It's a little easier to focus on God - we don't have quite as many "desires" that we need to be busy fulfilling. Today I was thinking living up there in the mountains would be another level of separation. How often would you walk to the next town if it took 3 hours walking, coming back all uphill? For me it wouldn't be very often. And yet, God felt close there. It was greener, and beautiful. The people were beautiful.

Please say a prayer for MigeRose, that she'll become responsive again, and her sister, who's a bit scared to be in the hospital. I feel like I should have stayed with them, at least a little longer, and made sure they were settled, but I was so tired by then, and hungry, having had only like a cup of water since morning. It wasn't bad all day, but when I get tired, I just want to stop. It's those times when I don't feel like it that I need more wisdom, and joy. This is a great teaching time for me from God. How important are my physical needs? (I'm not ignoring them, don't worry anyone. Ha!) And having said that, I better listen cause it's already 11:30 - bedtime!