Warehouse

Tuesday

OK, this has been awhile. In a way, it felt like not so much was happening to write about but at the same time, we're always busy doing this and that.

Today was Mamba day, and I like to be at the clinic more, since we have more sick kids come in - often some really malnourished ones. One that was hard to see was a 2 month old baby, 2 days younger than Caleb. He weighs about 1 kg (2 lbs). The mom is breastfeeding but only like once a day. She doesn't eat well enough to feel good herself. She does have milk, and I spent some time encouraging and training her on feeding. The poor baby has been losing a lot of weight since birth, instead of gaining.

More and more, I see the BIG need for a women and children's hospital. We have GOT to start one. This baby should be under constant care. Any partners with me for that??? In the next month I want to go visit 3 places in Haiti. One is 1 1/2 hrs north of us. They have a training program that teaches moms how and what to cook cheaply for their families. They have also trained community midwives. Another one is a mission in Port that does pre and post Delivery care and teachig to ladies. They feed them high protein foods on their weekly visits. The other is farther away from here - half way to Cap Haitian on the other route. Talking with a doctor who has been going there for many years, he was saying the community training that they've done there has resulted in the lowest mortality rate for kids in the whole country. Worth looking at.

Last night we celebrated Gladys Mecklembourg's birthday. Gave the kids a chance to decorate and the women a chance to cook a nice meal for everyone. The kids idea of entertainment was to do parades - kind of like a runway show and dance mixed together. It was hilarious. Funny how inhibitions fly out the window when doing that.

Naomi made a beautiful (and delicious chocolate) basket cake for her. A lot of people really thought the cake was sitting in a basket, so they were a little surprised that when they touched it, it was frosting.

I've been working many hours organizing my medical storage room. Bobi helped me a few days as well.

I'd put Caleb in is basket outside, but the sun moved so fast, he got really sweaty one day, poor thing.

Or he'd help me inside.

A guy named Don built me shelves so that has helped. It's fun looking for stuff now. Of course not everything was quite in it's place and now yesterday I got another truckload full of stuff (actually 3 small truckloads) so now I need a ton of hours again. But I'm so thankful for it, I'm not complaining. Only wanting the job done!

Gladys and Henri are working on getting a certificate or something from the Cult Department (which simly means Religious) and they've had some great contacts. It's something like getting an NGO status without all the paper work and close supervision. We should be able to bring stuff in duty free (not vehicles, though) which would be a great help. So we are now collecting things in West Palm Beach to fill a container. We have a guy that's offered to take the stuff to the warehouse, so he's accepting things in his home for us. Big things though have to be shipped elsewhere. I will include his address.

Besides for Canaan, we are also collecting things to build houses for other people. Many have asked what kind of things they can send. Here are some things, though not nearly exclusive. :) Things don't have to be new, but please, in good shape.

For Canaan:

Wood, tools, fridges, freezer, furniture (couch/chairs, ), nursery outfit (changing table, swing sets, etc), windows,

For Clinic:

Desks, chairs, fans, filing cabinets!!, fold up tables and chairs, wood for cabinets/desks, fridges (staff and Lab),

For others: Wood, tin, nails, household stuff like pots, pans, utensils, sheeets, pillows, etc. The people are starting from scratch.

Friday

OK, this didn't get posted because I gave up on the above list and wanted to talk to Sister Gladys about it. However, she's been either in Port or not feeling well, so haven't had the chance. Bobi and I will try to come up with a list this weekend that should help all of you asking out. Sorry about this! I know many of you have been frustrated!!!! So have we; if you've been to Haiti, remember we're in Haiti :(

I will include the shipping address here but remember it's for smaller items that can go into Jeremy's home till he can transport it to the warehouse. Thanks so much, everyone!!!

Jeremy Hopple/Canaan

1714 17^th Lane

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33418

Phone: 561-317-3355

Kids,,

Time is going so fast - It's two weeks since Maralucia came to join our group. She has gained very well - gone from 3.5 kilos to 4.6 kg. That's about 2 1/2 pounds in 2 weeks. Her ribs aren't showing anymore, and her legs don't have loose skin hanging off. And she's only on normal formula. Amazing what enough of it can do.

Caleb is also doing excellent, gaining well, and tightening his fingers around my heart. Please, nobody think of adopting him because I don't think I'd be able to let him go.

Sat. we went to the resort and I introduced him to the ocean and pool. OK, a bit early (he needed a bath anyway) so I'll wait for the next time till he at least enjoys his baths.

Then today Caleb's aunt, who brought him here, came. I was glad to talk with her. Apparently his mom didn't die the day he was born but a week later. When I asked her why she had died, she said she died from hunger. I think I need a better history. She was happy to see Caleb so well, and also likes the name we gave him. She's a Christian, and knew the story of Caleb in the Bible. She has 20 people living in her house - refugees from Port, so we've been giving her food and stuff for them. She's not from the mountains like we thought, but outside of Montrouis.

Last Tuesday a couple came to the clinic with their twins - in July they'll be 3. I think the boy is one of the worst cases of Kwashiorkor that I've seen. He was swollen from top to bottom. Even the back of his head was cushiony, his eyes almost swollen shut, his genitals huge. His twin sister was swollen from feet to knees, and the rest of her as skinny as can be. I was worried about them, and being they're from 4 hours walking away, I arranged for them to stay at our convalescence dorm so we could keep an eye on them. The dad went home the next day and brought the other two children - a 4 and 6 year old.

This has born in me another vision. Since we're in the middle of getting a "tent village/field hospital" going, we're going to keep some tents for families that have severely malnourished kids or that are from really far away that need it desperately. Or other patients that just need to be kept in observation for a bit. We've quite often gotten kids that I really hate to send home, because who knows what will happen. Or kids that aren't doing well - we can keep them for awhile to see if they're sick, or if others eat it.

On Thursday we went up to Ivoire again. We have to get the malnourish kids there. So far we've mostly seen the sick ones. I think we easily saw 50-70 kids. We have a PA (Physician Assistent) here for almost 2 week, so there were two of us seeing patients. We're going to start going every other week.

This already feels like top of the mountain.

Today we got a visit from someone in Cross International (they're one of Canaan's biggest supporters). He told us about a pastor he knows that came to visit, went home and moved down here two years ago. He's in Gonaive - the city devastated by two hurricanes in the last 8 years or so. People that left after that and went to Port are now returning after the earthquake. (What's that - reversed refugee status?). Anyway, this guy is in the poorest of poor of Haiti. Even the Haitian with him when they went to visit was amazed that that existed in Haiti. So next week the 7th we plan to go visit - they were asking about starting the Mamba program there. It's 2 hours north of here. This pastor apparently is attending to all the needs of the village - medical, starting a school, etc, and he's doing this on his own, without a lot of support in any way. We'll be able to give a better report after having been there, but pray for them there and us to know how best to help. They said even 12 year old boys were running around naked because they don't have clothes.

This week Canaan is busy! It's the week of their 19th anniversary, and they make a 3 day celebration of it. They have a day/meal for the church people. Usually they invite a lot of people from churches. This year for one meal they're inviting the refugees in the area.

Maralucia

I tell you, the last two years of my life don't represent my life of the past at all. Who am I anyway? Sometimes I look at what is happening around me, and I just shake my head. As little as less than 3 years ago, this kind of life wasn't even in my imaginations. What God does to bring one to the place where he wants us! Why do we fight it so much? Reminds me of one of these "forwards" that get sent around. "A Piece of Cake". It was a story of a girl that was complaining of all the bad things happening to her. Her mother, making a cake, responded by saying "Do you like my cakes?" "Yes, of course." "Here, have some oil" the mother said. "Yuck!" Then have some flour". "Gross". Have some baking powder". "That's horrible". Her mom told her that's how God works with us. "Individual circumstances may not be pleasant but the whole becomes a delicious cake!

Today has been an eventful day again. (As always, didn't do what I planned, which was make walking space in my medicine storage!). It was a "baby" day today - good and bad. I went down to the clinic; since it was Mamba day, I did plan to stay longer because we often get other sick ones too, or babies that come for milk, etc. The good thing was, I saw two babies that I had been wondering what was happening to them. One started coming a year ago, weighing 2 kilos (4.4 pounds). I couldn't recall her coming back, so thought maybe she had died. But she was there today, over a year old, with excellent weight. I don't see the kids every time they come. Another baby started coming about 3 or 4 months ago, weighing 1.8 kilos (3.9 pounds). She was in today, beautiful weight, almost chubby. Thanks for all that have donated milk for babies!!! Right now I'm blessed! Don't know where all the milk comes from, but I've had a good supply the last while.

The case that was sad was Maralucia. (They say it more like Malusia). She's 5 months old, born October 11, 2009. They don't know who her dad is. A cousin, Ketia, brought her. She said her mom is "crazy" and can't take care of her. She hasn't been around since birth. Maralucia was VERY dehydrated, VERY malnourished, and VERY feverish (103 F). A sick baby! Almost right away Ketia asked if we could take her. That always kind of pulls on my heart. "Can you please take my kid?" Of course, this was the cousin, not the mother. So we started moving, and one of the guys here took them to the judge to explain the situation and he made up a paper giving Canaan the guardianship. The fever was even higher when they came back, but it finally came down in the afternoon, and is still down. THANKFULLY. I was getting a little concerned. She's a good eater - takes her milk well. In fact, in the beginning she was like a little bird - couldn't swallow fast enough and the tongue was out all the time.

So now we have another baby here at Canaan. She weighs less then Caleb right now - same as he did when he came, and is much taller, so obviously thinner. Caleb looks so nice and healthy compared to her, but I trust it won't be long and she'll be putting on some nice weight. I love watching the pounds come on. I'm going to watch her - maybe both, tonight because of her fever, but we'll now have to decide what to do. Guess we'll need to hire someone just to take care of the babies.

So please pray for Maralucia's health. I did a malaria and HIV test and both are negative.

God bless you!!

Elsie

Our two little ones - almost the same weight. Hopefully Maralucia will soon speed ahead, since she's 4 months older.

Caleb

My favourite outfit - "Born to Explore" - my kind of guy

!

Time at the beach that I wrote about last time.

Medical Team

A quick update, since this is a very busy week. We have 18 people on a medical team here, as well as friend Karen K., and Davey and Lazar (the Jewish soldier who was here last month too).

Yesterday we set up a canopy tent and had 6 doctors seeing patients, with Dr Tony rotating. He brought his Cardio machine, and used it quite a bit. It seemed this time we came across a lot of heart problem people. Good thing he's here.

Today I took a truckload of people up the mountains again - same place I went a few weeks ago. They're really an amazing people. I love their friendliness, and the leaders' hearts for the people. It is such a climb up the mountains. We were 15 people, plus our medicines. It was quite a load and quite a few times going up I had everybody get up and walk a bit because some sections of the road were so bad. It's pretty steep and I think some were a little afraid, but all enjoyed the adventure.

First person we saw was MigaRose' mother - the girl I took down to the hospital last time. She passed away the monday after. Now she there's the 2 month old baby. They want us to take him. I think as soon as we can contact the dad (who doesn't take care of him) we probably will. He is a beautiful baby.

We saw over 100 people today. There were a lot more that came. Some we ended up just quickly seeing and we gave all a worm pill. As we were ready to leave, the leaders begged us to come set up a regular clinic. I can imagine it happening but not for awhile I'm afraid. On the other hand, you never know.

We had some pretty sick people. So many people are coming down with malaria. The sickest patient was a 6 yr old boy Gibson (probably not spelled right). He was very swollen and has a strong heart murmer. We were so full we couldn't even take one more person (we're not Haitian I gues) so we told the dad we'd take the boy down since he could sit on a lap, and the dad could leave before we did, walking and meet us down. We did that. Dr Tony did an Echo on his heart right away and it doesn't look good. We took him to Pierre Payen but he needs more help than they can give him. Please pray for him. He's so cute and young.

This is the second heart patient we sent over this week. The other lady (28 yr old, mother of two) passed away on Tuesday - too late for her heart.

Those of us here last Sat took the day off and spent it at the beach, but I think I'm gonna need another day out after this week.

The good thing is we've had plenty babysitters for Caleb. The bad thing is, he's getting spoiled. But he is so adorable. Nobody can help but love him.

I was gonna post pictures again but it doesn't want to upload, so another time. It's bedtime and Caleb is hungry!

Caleb

Hi

It's not been a week since I wrote, but my life took a little path out of the norm. What a life, living the kind where you never know what will happen. Now I'm a temporary mama ! I want to introduce you to Caleb.

Caleb was born Feb 13, 2010. He never met his dad - he died in the earthquake. His mom left Port au Prince and went up into the mountains, where she had some family. After she gave birth, she too died. His aunt took care of him for almost 2 weeks, but couldn't continue, so after talking to one of my nurses from Montrouis, she came to Canaan, asking them to take the baby.

At 2 weeks he weighs 3.5 kg (about 7.5 lbs.). There was some discussion on who would take care of Caleb (who at the time didn't have a name yet- me and the other missionaries named him. The name just somehow fit). Right now we're a bit short on steady staff for a baby, and I don't like the idea of a baby being taken care of so many people. So now, Naomi and I are taking care of him. Since she is leaving next month, I'm kind of the mama for him. Naomi is able to take care of him a little better during the day, and we share the nights (I'm glad she's here). He's still waking up frequently, although last night he slept for almost 4 hours. Yea!!! During the day, he sleeps. A lot! We try to keep him up sometime so he'll sleep at night. Basically the only time he cries is from 9-12 p.m.

I realize this is going to make me even more busy. I don't see my whole way through yet, but it'll work out. You may hear from me even less.

Chris Hlavecek was Caleb's fairy godmother (or rather godfather). Since he was coming Monday, I had a day to write him and ask him for some baby stuff. He spread some of it around and they brought a lot of stuff, including the above top of the line carrier. That's a better one than I'd probably ever have bought for myself. It was like having a baby shower! Clothes (needed because we had him in girl clothes), diapers and diaper bag, wipes, good baby monitors (that reach 2000 ft), playpen/crib, bottles, etc etc.

This week we have a team of 17 here. There are three nurses in the team. Besides them, there were two nurses that came at the same time that were actually scheduled to go to the hospital, but because of flight changes and all, ended up here (though they might still work out of PP), so the last two days I've had 5 nurses helping at the clinic. Cool! Today we saw 60 patients, plus about 30 Mamba kids. BUSY! But good.

One case that was bad today was a 12 yr with STD. Forced to sleep with another young girl by a neighbor man, and him watching. You can imagine the rest. What do I do with THAT? And his 9 yr old brother had similar symptoms.

Here's a prayer request: Chris Hlavacek was contacted today by a pastor, who apparently is or has people at another orphanage in Montrouis here. They have the rig to dig wells and wondered about doing one for us. We need that SOOOO badly. Pray that things will work out.

And continue praying for me, that in my schedule I won't leave behind things I need to do. Sometimes I feel like there's always something I should be doing that I didn't. And pray that I can learn to be an instant mom :) It's not hard right now - eat, sleep, cuddle, but the teaching later on is a little different.

Think he'll turn into a computer wiz, if he sleeps beside me while I work? He sleeps anywhere....

So while I was at work, Naomi settled him on the counter in the cafeteria, while she did baking class with the kids. I hope he'll be a flexible kid!

OK, time to settle in for the night. It's my night off from babysitting so I should sleep well. I can see my life already rotating around Caleb. I'm a little concerned about getting too attached to him.

Till later!

Elsie

food & patients

OK, so I can’t soak my feet in my foot massager cause it’s in someone else’s room; and just when I thought I’d do it, even if I only have about 10 minutes left on generator power. Oh well, I don’t need it to complete my day, do I? But it was something I had just set my heart on after doing one of the worst jobs I can think of – cleaning up vomit in a carpeted truck! I was bringing home a 12 yr old patient I had taken to the hospital today to get his casts changed, and I wasn’t past the hospital gates when it all came out. Swallow. And go on. I think I must have matured some since I was a teenager cause I didn’t yell at anyone. Lol
This morning, I loaded up 4 patients and their families whom I dropped at Pierre Payen hospital for checkups/cast changes, etc, and about 6 of our teenage girls, some staff and Sister Gladys and headed off to St Marc. The girls went to buy shoes; Second hand shoes. And some of them were still asking $26.00 US.
While they did that, SG and I went to the UN base to see how we can get help in putting up our barbed fence for the tents. We didn’t get that, but we felt God opening doors. We met with the person in charge of the World Food Programs, and they’re looking for more NGOs that can help with food distribution in this area. Between SG and pastors, we’ve got to know 80% of the people or more. That’s the kind of people they’re looking for, who know who has needs. They want to work under a big organization’s coverage though. I understand a little better what they’re doing. I kept thinking these distributions aren’t going to everyone. Right now that’s not their goal. The prices for food have been going up and that’s a problem for everyone, so their goal is to flood the market with so much food that it’ll bring the prices down. We told him we’ve ordered $5,000.00 worth of food from the DR and he’s like why did you do that, we’ll give you. We’ll see (and use this for different locations that they don’t cover, like Leogane).
While sitting there, we met the Major of the Argentina military, who are in charge of the security of the St Marc zone we live in (and loved that I speak Spanish), and we also met the chief of the Canadian police (some of whom live at Club Indigo a few minutes from us) (As soon as they heard I was Canadian, they’re like “you gotta meet him). Both of them as well as the Haitian police, patrol the area past us and they’re willing to help with security as far as making 3 or 4 patrol trips by our place every day. It would be a sense of the presence of armed guards at least. It would be good, but we still need someone to provide us with the barbed fence.
The patients weren’t all done so I ended up making another 2 trips to Pierre Payen after we got back. (THANK GOD for the road they’re making. It’s almost ready for asphalt to PP. You guys just don’t KNOW the blessing that is to us. The bumpy 20 minute trip will soon be done in a smooth 5 minutes or so.)
After we got back, I continued training a new girl I’m trying out. Right now, I’m just going to have her work the Convalescence place. It’ll give them more attention, which will be good, and take a load off me a bit. She’s still in nursing school – was suppose to finish her second last year in March and graduate next year, but now, who knows! So she’ll work for 6 months or so, and see if the school will be running again for fall. We’re trying her out this week to see if it’ll work.
I felt blessed this evening as I was returning from bringing the last boy home around 8:30, when one of the patient’s mom said I must be so tired and she just showered me with blessings from God – not in a religious way but just verbally. That was a new thing for me – that the people of Haiti bless me (other than PH and SG). Made it all feel worthwhile. We have some really sweet people recuperating here.
Around supper time, I got some visitors – Henry Reimer and Elisha Byler. Henry ended up being my second cousin – his mom and my dad are cousins. They’re from Mexico. They’ve been preaching in the tent villages, and apparently it’s been quite good. I’ve often wished there was more preaching going on. The people are quite receptive now – everybody is taking life more serious; And especially now that the aftershocks are still coming.
We’ve had a few, though they’re only 4.7, that really rocked the people. It’s kind of like these heavy balls used to break buildings – they don’t have to hit hard but a swinging steady rhythm will bring it down, especially if there’s one that’s a tad stronger. That’s what’s happening to some of these houses. The constant minor aftershocks are just weakening structures. They say in the Leogane area they’ve had aftershocks every week yet. The people are pretty much back in the streets again for nights.
In my last blog I wrote about Migerose and her sister; they both had Typhoid. I don’t know the reason for it, but a couple days after being at the hospital, they took both girls back home. As far as I know, neither had gotten treatment. I’ve been pretty upset about it, and angry at the non-existing health care system, and wondering how to change the ignorance about health in a country. Did they think it was hopeless anyway? Did they not expect me to continue helping them? Did they think the money I gave them for food would hire them a taptap back up the mountains? We’ve tried calling the leaders of the community, but the phone service up there is sporadic.
Ok, time for bed has long gone by. I better follow.

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!