Jan/Feb

Good afternoon from Haiti, on my favorite type of afternoon here. I’m on the hammock in my garden, with a view of the ocean and a wonderful breeze. I love these Feb/Mar breezes.

I was reminded the other day that I haven’t blogged since New Year’s. I couldn’t believe it, but since it’s true, I apologize! The older I get, the faster time seems to travel.

And of course it’s hard to remember all the interesting things that have happened this year already! Life never stands still here.

Our clinic construction has kept going. The men are working hard to finish it by April 4^th, the date we’ve set for the inauguration. They’re working on the outside porch right now, while we wait for out containers to get out of customs. That is a frustrating process here, but in the end, I’m sure it’ll work. It just takes time. On it we have the doors, all the furniture, cabinets, etc. so there’s still quite a lot to do before April 4. I’ve moved all my medicine and supplies down already, but still need to find places for it all. The pharmacy is not big enough to be storage as well. So a lot of my mornings get spent there.

Otherwise, the present clinic is going well. We are very pleased with the Haitian doctor the Lord provided for us. That takes a lot of medical responsibility off me. When you have to do something, you do it. But I’m glad there’s someone more knowledgeable now; And that we have a lot of the same values for the patients.

An unusual incident that happened in January was when one day I heard a lot of yelling going on (not so unusual) and investigating, found a man with a machete, threatening to kill another woman. Apparently she had picked up a thread of the man’s baby’s blanket, and he thought she was going to put a voodoo spell on the baby. Found out that he actually is a voodoo priest or something, into all kinds of evil things. He had a bad look in his eyes. I brought him into a room to talk to him but he wouldn’t listen. He did give me his machete. He went for the police, but they ended up not coming. We tried to get both parties seen quickly so they could be on their way. I called Pastor Henri down and he talked with both parties. We kept the lady forawhile, till someone in her family could come because we didn’t want him to be waiting for her somewhere down the road. As far as I know, everything worked out ok, but it was an unusual thing to be dealing with. I couldn’t imagine something like that back home. J

Feeding little babies continues to be a challenge. It seems every week there are more babies that need milk. Milk is such an expensive item here, they just can’t buy it. We have 8 babies under 6 month that we are providing milk for now – several are orphaned, 2 sets of twins, and a few others. They are too young for the Mamba program.

3-4 month old with Kwashiorkor. She looks very different now. All swelling in legs and arms and most in the face is gone. Worth it for $50.00 a month? Mother died soon after birth.

Last week, God blessed us with providing a lot of milk through CAM, the organization that gives us medicines every month. The one problem is that it is for 1-3 yr olds. I’m checking whether it can be given to younger ones by diluting it. If so, a lot of our problems would be over in that respect for this year. I also keep getting asked to take a lot of these babies. It makes me sad when we can’t… but right now we just don’t have room for them at Canaan. We want to build us a nice nursery that will have space for them but making a building is so expensive. Right now the 5 babies we have get moved from place to place. We need a house where they have room to sleep and play, and that has a little kitchenette, etc. It would make life a lot easier for the ones taking care of them. Anybody want to help?? (If so, donations can be sent to Chris Hlavacek at www.canaanchristiancommunity.com)

We’ve been enjoying a lot of people coming and going here. Right now there are 7 of us girls here. That is more long term people than we have ever had since I came 3 years ago. Most of them are in the school. Caroline is doing the Mamba program. Speaking of which, tomorrow we’re going to Rosseau to open up another mobile mamba program. It’s about half hour away, on bad roads.

Caleb is continuing to be a happy and growing baby. In January he started taking his first step and he learned his first word – Aleluya! A wonderful word to start with, eh? And usually when he says it, he raises both arms. And it’s alwayswhen he’s happy. It really does describe his emotions. Clapping is for singing, and sometimes when he hears all the kids come in for meals, he’ll start clapping, expecting them to sing. He’s also started hugging me spontaneously, which is enough to melt anybody’s heart. I thought that was something you teach babies. Not him. It’s just something he started on his own.

He turned a year in February. On his birthday, he took off walking and is quite good at it now. Two weeks ago he came down with pneumonia and pylonephritis (kidney infection) where I had to fight for 3 days to keep his fever under 103 F. Thankfully he has recuperated from that. His teething is keeping him congested though, to the point at night sometimes I’m afraid he’s going to choke himself to death with his coughing and phlegm. Hopefully the nasal lavage we plan to do tonight will help.

This next month is going to be a busy one for Canaan, as we prepare to celebrate it’s 20^th anniversary in April. We are going to set aside the 1^st ten days in April. We plan to have booths of various things, sports competitions, music groups, food to sell, etc.

Sorry this has become a bit general. I’ll try to make it more personal next time, and before 2 months.

Thank you all for your prayers!

Elsie

Christmas

Hello again from Haiti,

Hope this finds you all well. Sometimes I feel like when I write here, it’s just out there to the universe. Then people comment on what I say, and I realize again how many people read this and want to hear from happenings in Haiti. Thank you for that!! And I apologize again (seems I do that a lot; I better stop) for waiting so long to write. I didn’t even want to see how long, but I forgot what I wrote about last!

Yes, Chibelson! So I’ll start with an update on him. He is in Knoxville, TN, with Kendall. He’s had two surgeries to remove the stones in his ureters. The stone in his kidneys is not moving and I think they’re going to leave it (have to trust the doctors – me, I’d say take it out while he’s there). Apparently you can live with it. He’s doing very well – as been gaining weight and is sitting by himself. He turned a year this month, so hopefully he can soon catch up with his age groups. He’s coming back with Kendall on Jan. 5.

My Caleb is growing well and is a continued joy to me, and all of the people here. He’s so active and smiley all the time, which is probably why he also sleeps a lot. He loves rice and beans and is getting strong. He can hold onto fingers and be lifted up completely, and he’ll hold onto the top of the crib and walk up the sides. This week he’s also learned to stand without holding on to something. Guess he will soon be walking. He just turned 10 months old.

Our weather has turned beautiful. I didn’t remember December to be this cold already. (it’s a good time to visit –hint hint). People are looking for blankets at night. And I’m looking for warmer clothes for Caleb. It’s fun to be able to dress him up more – instead of having him go with only a diaper all day and night. Of course, it makes for lots more laundry.

We’ve had different teams here in the last couple months, and have gotten a lot of work done. The new clinic is in it’s last stages of completion. All the floors are tiled. We’re working at finishing the painting. Everything has a couple coats already, but what with tiling and all, it needs it’s final coat. The last team that was here (a team of 27 from Oregon) was able to move my existing pharmacy shelves to the new clinic, (though they pulled them all apart) and rebuilt them. I now have a thousand dollars’ worth of shelves in the new pharmacy – 5 shelves about 40 ft long. It’s getting its last coat of paint this weekend and hopefully next week I can start filling them. That is one ‘looked forward to’ project. Right now I have my meds scattered in so many places. It will be wonderful to have it all in one place and be able to see what we have. Hopefully we can keep the rats out of it, since the doors aren’t in yet. (We have steel doors in already.)

The container with all the furniture for the new clinic is enroute. It also has the wooden doors. Pray that customs won’t take long. Right now there’s a major hold up at customs, and they’ve basically stopped for this year. They say they’ll start again in Feb. That seems a long time to wait since we’re this close to done.

I don’t think I’ve written here about the way God blessed us with the needed clinic stuff. A friend, Dell, from Victoria works with getting stuff together for missions, and she filled a container for us. She had so many ‘Divine provisions’ it is awesome to hear. For example, a 5 room clinic called her up and said they’re remodeling the whole thing, and she has a day or so to come pick up anything she wants; including consultation tables, chairs, cupboards, dental chair, otoscopes, blood pressure machines, etc etc. SO awesome! Even a little used X-ray machine from a cruise ship, where of course you have to have the ultimate and change them every so often.

This has been a very slow month at the clinic, due to all the political unrest and, I imagine, the holidays, and everyone saving up their money. We’ve only had one day with over 60 patients. This isn’t a good month for it to happen, since in Haiti you have to pay your employees and extra month of wages in December for a bonus but God has and always will provide. We have added a guy to our staff that is an x-ray technician. Until we have the x-ray going, he is working in the pharmacy. Our doctor is working out real well too. He is perfect for our needs here. He understands the culture, teaches the nurses, and loves kids, so fits in at Canaan as well.

Yesterday we took the staff out to a little restaurant for a holiday celebration. They enjoyed it, especially after they got their gifts!! J We were blessed with friends that came down from Canada, and who brought good gifts for all of them.

We’re not doing a lot of Christmas celebration this year, but plan a big New Year’s celebration. (New Year is also Haiti’s Independence Day). We have a group coming on the 27^th, and they’re bringing turkey and ham, so it should be good.

Many of you have heard of the political unrest here. Right now things are calm again. The corruptness in the government is incredible. I don’t support the violence that went on but I can’t help applauding the people of Haiti trying to let their voice be heard. How can or should they react to this type of government and foreign control here? They have postponed further elections till after the holidays. Apparently now they’re deciding between 3 people for president. But basically everyone knows who’ll get in – the one that has the current government and foreign people backing him up; the one that put in millions of false ballots before people even started voting. The one that shouldn’t even have entered the top list if everything had been done legally. But, TIH! (This Is Haiti)

This year is almost over. What a year! I can’t believe how many things can happen in a country in one year. This has been such an eventful year in Haiti – the earthquake, which was an unbelievable and surreal happening, the hurricane (which was really scary for Haiti, because it had the potential to kill hundreds of thousands. Thankfully God spared the P au P area, which is where the majority of people in tents are), the cholera which killed over 2,000 people and sickened almost 100,000 thousand and continues in its deadly path, and then the elections, which turned deadly for many. And between all this, people suffering from hunger, loss of everything they had, loss of family, sickness, and discouragement. I know most of you reading this cannot grasp this kind of life. I cannot grasp it, and I drive by it all the time. Once in awhile it really hits me, but the helplessness that I feel in those times is not a “comfortable” feeling and I don’t think I have learned yet how to respond to it. How much do we avoid the “uncomfortableness” of a situation and therefore do not do anything? (just something to reflect on in our lives).

And yet, in spite of all this, the Haitian people still live and survive. The numbers in tents is slowing going down. From July to Dec it went from 1.5 million to 1.0 million. It’s good or rather better than nothing, but imagine a million people still living in a tent.

Let's pray this coming year will be a good year for Haiti. Pray for a better government. Pray for funds and jobs for the people. Pray for the people caring and trying to help. And thank God for His protection.

Hope you all have a good Christmas and a fruitfull and good new year.

Elsie

Cholera

You never know what life will bring here. That’s the interesting part of living here, though not always easy to know what to do.

Monday we had a boy fall outside the clinic. We brought him in. Skinny as can be, probably about 12-13 yrs old. He was dehydrated, and said he hadn’t eaten in 3 days. We gave him IV and some food. He had come with another young girl and her 3 yr old sister.

We had some people visiting from a neighboring mission, and they found it in their heart to take the boy in temporarily. He said his dad had died in the earthquake and his mom had died of cholera. Bless these missionaries! They have great hearts. We warned them about getting it legal, about getting a family member to come sign; I encouraged them to wait till next week. They asked me if I believed him, and I told them the story is to set up. It’s not likely both parents die in tragedies like these.

(He was taken up to his home town today, and low and behold, both his parents were there. The mom had been really mad at him making up such a story. Apparently he’s having “bad habits” problems, which is why he’s so thin.

At 4 p.m., I took our doctor Jean Robert, Nick (a guy that’s here for a week) and a patient and we went to a hospital 3 miles down the road. We wanted to try doing an Ultrasound, though now I know that was just something God used to get us there.

While there, Nick (who had come with teams to volunteer at that hospital several times this year already) wondered over to the public patient area on the other side, which they had open to cholera patients. All the others left cause they don't want to be there with those patients. Judy and Susan, a couple of our visiting nurses were with us, (Judy has been helping both in St Marc with the cholera patients and in PP the week the team was there). They found two men dead from cholera, lying there, and 8 other patients, some with IVs, some not. They talked with the nurse and she showed them her supplies. She had no more LR left and only two 500 ml Sodium Cloride, very few gloves, the limited intracatheters of course, no alcohol, no bleach, and patients vomiting and having diarrhea all over and no buckets for them. It wasn't a pretty picture. We asked her if they really didn't have more stuff or just hadn't given her more. She didn't know, said "maybe" they have more, but that's all she had. By now it's past 5 and no doctors around. So we asked the nurse if it would be ok if we took some patients (the worst ones) to St Marc, and she said that would be no problem; in fact, she looked very relieved

So we took 3 kids, a 3 or 4 yr old boy who was vomiting a lot when we got there, and they weren't able to put an IV in again, but did seem a little more stable later but who's father was one of the two dead men lying there (they had come in together that morning), a teenage girl from that morning who lay barely conscious and very sunken eyes, and a 6-8 yr old girl from a local orphanage in Montrouis that looked like death, and went to St Marc. The sight there was INCREDIBLE! You can't imagine unless you're there. People everywhere. They've built these tarp over wood beams shelters on the lawn and everywhere. They're big. The "triage" where we ended up must have had 100 patients. They have narrow, 3 strips metal benches, maybe 6-8 rows and maybe 60-80 ft long and ALL head to toe with people on IVs. Strings across the room allow you to hang as many as you can. Total at the hospital they figured they had about 400 cholera patients, but I'm sure they didn't have all counted. The 3 we brought in were attended without registering. The leading doctor, from Spain, was very nice, and attentive, right there with the patients, and grateful we had brought them in and said they would turn no cholera patients away. He took one look at our little girl and there were about 4 people trying to get an IV in on each limb, and one putting in an NG tube because it seemed almost impossible. That girl was almost gone. They had to check the heart several times. I was impressed by all they were doing. We could see everyone was busy. They told us where to lay them (squeeze everyone closer!!) and soon Dr Carlos checked the little girl. She looked so bad, I can’t believe she made it, but she did, thanks to the many doctors that worked urgently on getting a vein to take fluids. Meanwhile, other patients’ family members would call us to check their family member’s IV. Because they want to get so much fluid into them, they have the IVs going fast, and so often run dry, and sometimes stop working. So for a long time, I went around, hanging new ones and a few times, starting new IVs. They were so grateful. I can still see both the patients and family members faces relax a little with each new IV bag that was hung. To them, this is life (and for many of them it literally is). (good place to practice IV starts, especially since they’re dehydrated!). Just truly an amazing sight!!! I’ve never seen so many critical patients in one area. At the same time, it can be cured and treated, and quite fast. You would see them bring a patient in that seemed lifeless and an hour later and a few IV solutions, their eyes have stopped the glassy looked and they look more relaxed and less scared.

We told the doctor about the hospital that didn’t have supplies and they ended up giving us 3 boxes of RL and other supplies to take to the hospital for the patients there (which was good because I felt bad leaving anyone behind; but it didn't help to find the nurse sleeping while IVs were dry)

We got home a little before 10 p.m.

Today was another busy day. The eventful thing was a 2 ¼ kg baby that came in (I can’t believe how many preemies have come lately!) This one was brought in by the aunt. Said her dad had died after being shot several months ago. The mom died 3 days ago; she had had a bad vision about the father coming to her as a zombie (real here in Haiti) and attacking and beating her. In the morning she got a fever and died that day. How do you deal with that? This is something they believe in. Anyway, I helped the aunt with some things, and hopefully she’ll come back in a week to see how the baby is.

Whew! These 2 days feel longer than two days!

God's Miraculous day.

Hello from Haiti,

As the possible third tradgedy of the year is arriving, you can sense a lot of fear in the Haitian people. I don't blame them. It's been a devastating year. The Cholera is still going strong. We heard it was slowing down, but apparently it's picking up again. They admitted almost a hundred new patients to the St Marc hospital yesterday. Apparently over 400 deaths yesterday. There are many people that never make it to the hospitals. How I would love to drive and take them there. Judy, our visiting nurse that's helping out there this week says it's awful. The rooms filled from 20 to 40 to 60 in a room now. The families take care of the diarrhea and the nurses are kept busy hanging IVs for hydration. They lose all minerals so fast! A couple IVs can bring a blood pressure up from 60/40 to 130/70 and warm up the ice cold hands due to lack of circulation.

Now Hurricane Tomas is on the horizon. I believe God can still put it on another path if it's his will. Already it looks like it'll hit only the southern tip of Haiti. Still, it'll probably produce a lot of rain, the first of which is just starting here at 4:15. Supposedely the worst is to hit around midnight. We're preparing here by filling all the water tanks so the wind can't blow them over, boarding up some windows, or moving things away from windows. We've bought extra food. Because we're on a hill, I expect we will be fine. You can pray for our safety, but more than ours, pray for the 1.3 million people still living in tents. We heard the government was starting to evacuate them... but where to.... Nobody seems to know. Can't imagine many have a place to go. Even just big rains causes a problem for them. Flash floods have already killed many this year. With so few trees, the ground goes too.

I've continued busy with Chibelson, up until last night. I think God has an awesome plan for him. He’s sure going to a lot of trouble for him. Or maybe it’s not trouble for him but fun! Can you imagine God sitting up there, looking down and thinking, “Hah! Let’s see what the cute little people down there will do with a bitty thing that’s needy. I’ll get a chance to show them a glimpse of me and that’ll be fun.”

So since last blog, we’ve had him at home and the visiting nurses have done the primary care with the rest of us pitching in, especially days when there is no clinic or school. He continued to be very fussy – more than before I think. I can just imagine the ureters hurting with a stone in each.

We’ve been quite concerned about his continued care. I think actually we could have found specialists here, but everything takes time. So we decided to start the process of going to the States.

The first step was finding a Pediatric Urologist. Kendall, who came down to teach, had a friend that was friends with one, so she contacted him to see if he would take care of him for free (for this kind of permit, all medical care has to be free or paid by someone in the US). His response was “I already heard about this baby”. A doctor friend of his (2 actually I think) that he goes to church with had talked to him about Chevy. He said of course he’d take him. Kendall’s family was happy to host him and pay for those expenses, so then we needed to find a hospital that would take him when needed. The hospitals didn’t want to take him without a diagnosis, and the doctors didn’t want to give a diagnosis without seeing him. Then Tuesday morning, the doctor said (and in writing) that he would take responsibility for the full medical costs. Which means if the hospital doesn’t want to do it free, he’s responsible to pay if no one else does. Quite the commitment! Guess he feels pretty sure his relationship with the hospital will get them to give it free. What a doctor, eh?

Monday and Tuesday were National Holidays here - called the day of the dead, which is the start of voodoo season (not a coincidence that it falls the day after Halloween – after all that celebrates and fears the dead spirits as well, ‘put on those masks so the dead spirit won’t recognize you). This meant we couldn't do anything.

Wednesday morning, 5 AM I took Kendall and Chevy to Port. She went prepared to leave with him. Somehow I had peace that it would happen, but how I did not know. Robin, a lady in the US that has coordinated a lot of trips and paperwork for Haitian people since the earthquake, had sent all the US papers to the Embassy already and put us in contact with the the director. She also had a private jet she sent, which was here before noon (what faith). Remember this kid doesn't even have a passport. So we met with the director, explained our situation, presented all our papers. He said he'd see what he could do. It has to be emailed to the US and they give the approval over there whether he can go to the US on an emergency medical parole. He explained with that, he could enter the US but he couldn't do anything about a permit for him to leave Haiti. He said anymore it's impossible for someone to leave the country without a passport. I looked at him and said, "I believe in a God that can do the impossible, so I'd like us to try anyway". He looked at me, and finally said, "Well, I can do my best on our side but I can't do anything about the Haitian side." I'm like that's fine; we appreciate anything he can do. We spent the morning basically waiting at the Embassy and finally about 11:00 he said it's been approved (very strange to be approved that fast). We were elated and hopefull. He slipped us a paper with the name, phone numbers and email of the Minister of the Interior and told us never to tell anyone who gave it (I haven't told you either name so I'm not breaching the confidence, right?)

Oh and I forgot to say that the dad, instead of coming with us, had to go make an ID for himself (didn't have anything!) and get a paper from St Marc which is the opposite direction that would give Kendall the custody of Chevy so she could travel with him. So at noon we met up with him and Sister Gladys and Pastor Henri and we all drove straight to the Ministry of the Interior, thinking it would be pointless to try getting a passport at this stage since it was so late already and we couldn't get a hold of the Minister of the Interioe. So we went to her office. The place had moved and we lost a lot of time searching it, but finally found it only to find she wasn't in. I'm glad Gladys was with us - she can get things done. So after being sent to the third office, we talked with a man who obviously had some power in the place, (Henri says he's an angel) and he got in the vehicle with us and took us to the director of the Immigration - top guy. Nothing like going straight to the top. By then it's past 2:30 and our pilot said they HAVE to leave by 4 p.m. And we haven't started with the passport. So the guy talks a bit. Well we have to have passport photos for Chevy; so we run across the street where they take pictures on the busy streets (indescribably; you have to be there to believe it; and Gladys is trying to hurry everyone and it's wild. Then we find out the ID the dad was to get is useless, so we quickly take photos of him too hoping that with the paper (basically a receipt with his name) will be enough. In the process Gladys finds a paper where he gave custody to Canaan in the beginning, and they decide that's enough. We get back to the director (by now it's past 3) and he says he can't do anything because all his employees have left early because of the hurricane warnings. He said he can't go into the computer and make a passport. He doesn't have that kind of authority, especially since Chevy wasn't even in the system yet. If he had something to print out maybe he could, but now he can't. We keep telling we already have a plane that's waiting and will leave at 4 and we just need a paper with his signature to leave. He's getting frustrated with us too I'm sure. He's like, just like we can't call back a plane when it's already left, so he can't call back his employees. He goes out of the room for what felt like a long time, and meanwhile Gladys tells me when he comes back to just ask again nicely if he couldn't just sign a paper that they would accept at the airport because we don't need a passport to enter the USA. I start asking him when he finally came back and he bruskly just told me to wait. About 2 minutes later he hands me a paper he just signed and calmly says "This should get you through". We were all in a little unbelieving shock because by now it's like 3:40 already. All of a sudden, "Let's go, lets go, grab the baby and go!!!" It was so hilarioius actually. I called the piot and told him we got it, we'll be there as fast as we can. Traffic was bad, but we got there to the small airport and absolutely no problem. I don't know if they even looked at the papers. By 5:15 they were gone. Whew!! What adrenaline!

It was a test all day whether we had faith to really get it. Strangely, I did. I was pretty sure we would, because things looked so impossible. I just felt God wanted this day to show that he can do the impossible and I had a good peace all day. Even when the director said "It's too late" I thought, "I don't think this is the end. It can't be. It's not like God." That's why when he said "this'll get you through' I saw even more clearly "Exactly like God!!!"

It was a full day of miracles. Robin says she's never had the US give parole that fast. Meeting the guy that took us to the director was a miracle. The director's action was a miracle.

What a relief when we saw Chevy's plane lift up. They got to Miami safely, even if it was more than an hour later than what the pilot said was the latest. They arrived in Knoxville before midnight. It's strange to think of him being in the US right now. Kendall is planning to bring him back when she returns in January for school. Meanwhile let's pray he'll get all the treatment he needs and God will guide the surgeon's hands.

Thank you so much for all who have been praying for him. God answered all those prayers in a miraculous way! May that encourage all of you to continue in even more faith!!

Let's use that faith also to pray for Haiti in this time!!

I was going to include pictures but they're not uploading and I want to send this because who knows how long the internet will be on.

God bless and protect us all!!!!

Elsie

Chevy

I wonder how often I’ll be interrupted while writing this blog or how many days it will take. J Maybe I should just set a cut off time. Or just make it quick, eh?

Last Wednesday I flew to Costa Rica to arrange some financial issues for me that came up and I arrived back Monday morning. I feel like I landed having to run and haven’t stopped since.

I got back to Canaan at around 9:30. Only a short time with my baby Caleb, whom I think I missed more than he me, and I dropped him off at the nursery again. He, by the way, got his second cute tooth while I was away. He is developing nicely, basically does whatever babies can do at 8 months – maybe more. He doesn’t walk alone but can walk along his crib and crawls under and into things. And his laughs are a joy to hear, especially if you’re the reason.

Our Haitian doctor, Jean Robert Celicourt (Cuban trained), arrived that morning and was waiting for me to take him down to the clinic. Also having arrived on the weekend while I was away were 3 Canadian nurses, here for 5-8 weeks. So off to the clinic! I worked with the doctor awhile, just to see how he works and to orientate him to our way of doing things. I think he’ll be good. He’s not totally fluent in English but thankfully he is in Spanish, so I actually have a fluent way to communicate with him (and I can talk so the patients or others don’t understand J)

The nurses I think were feeling a little bit like, what will we be doing here – since we don’t really have translators so they can’t actually see patients. Now I think they’re counting the days till Sat when they will take a break. I am so glad they’re here. Not sure what I would have done without them.

Monday night Chibelson got sick. He’s the baby I took in after the family just did not feed him the Mamba correctly. He has been doing great and last week he graduated with sufficient weight (in 6 weeks with what’s calculated to take 8 weeks). He’s had great caretakers. Maira from Canada for 2 weeks, then Ashley from SD came to dedicate a month to him. He has been sick off and on, not unusual for such a malnourished baby (He’s 10 months now, weighing just over 5 kg (11 pounds) which for his height is normal). He still has a lot of catching up to do for his age developmentally though.

Last week while I was gone they took him to a doctor in Port but Monday night he got sick – worse. The 3 nurses have taken over his care, since Ashley left Saturday. They woke me at 3 a.m., and I in turn woke the doctor (what else do we have him living here for? (But quite the start to his life here). He didn’t think it was urgent so we waited till morning to make changes. Basically kept observing him all day Tuesday. His problem was that since about midnight he vomited everything he took in, low-grade fever and didn’t void (pee) or poop. We even feared a partial bowel obstruction, which now I don’t believe was the case.

Wednesday we took him to Port – question is where? Last time the University of Miami field hospital didn’t receive us because they were too busy but I decided to make that our first try again. Sometimes I will use my “blanc” color to my advantage. I walked to the gate, they opened without any questions, and I walked straight into the peds ward, where I had been before and asked for a pediatrician. I knew that wasn’t exactly correct protocol, but I figured I had a better chance of getting attended. And it worked. After a bit, he looked at me and asked “How did you get in here anyway? I told them at the gate to triage everybody.” I guess God knew.

They gave him 400 cc IV fluids, and he still didn’t urinate. They catheterized him and got a little bit but not enough. Basically the doctor said, “Go home, you can do as much at home as we can here if you can contact your doctors for help. If he doesn’t start voiding, you can bring him back and I’ll call around for someone to tell me what to do for him.

Not exactly what we wanted to hear. He didn’t improve yesterday at all. This afternoon, he’s voided a little bit 3 times which is an excellent sign, but not NEARLY enough for what he’s drinking. He is in some kind of renal failure, and that’s not something to play around with. I’m ready to take him back in the morning. Or anyplace where someone can help him. In fact, we heard Mercy Ship is in Haiti, but we don’t have a way to contact them. Anybody know??

So we’re praying and going one day at a time… Please join us in the next few days. This little fellow has gotten into many hearts. His life has been a constant struggle, especially since his mom died at 2 months of age, but I’m imagining even earlier, since she was sick since he was born. I contacted his family today while waiting at the hospital in Pierre Payen for blood work, and 3 of his mom’s cousins came. They seemed to care, but when I asked if they were going to take him, or leave him at Canaan, they said leave him, without even hesitating. I’m a little relieved to tell the truth. I didn’t want to give him back. This ill, or if he has a chronic problem, he’d never make it there.

Well if I want to send this tonight before the power goes off, it means soon. Not much time to write about the last month here, but it has been a hive of activity.

School is in session, and going well. Teri came for a couple weeks in Aug, went home for 5 and is now back, long term. She’s in charge of the school and doing a fantastic job, with all its challenges.

Kendall is doing awesome with teaching reading to the kids. Many kids are learning to read that have been in grade one for a few years. She changed the way of teaching, and we plan to KEEP her here. Her family had better be letting her go. J

Caroline has arrived to take Bobi’s place with the Medika Mamba program, and is learning fast. It can get quite challenging. All 3 are focusing on learning the Creole language.

I was happy to have Wayne, my friend, pastor and mentor here for a few days end of September. He doesn’t come often enough.

First week in October was a busy, interesting week. We had a team of about 40 people come, most from South Carolina. They worked in different groups – nurses at the clinic, dental tech and helper saw and cleaned all the kids and staff and pastors’ teeth, pastors had seminar for 40 Haitian pastors who stayed here for those days, about 5 guys were in the kitchen (they took over the kitchen cooking for everyone), work crew painted the clinic – huge job, among other projects, some had school duties, and I think I’m missing some. Anyway, lots got done. They were a great, organized and refreshing group. Thank you!!!

The trauma and challenge of this week is that someone broke the metal doors that house our water pump and stole it and all that goes with it. So now it means conserving water like never before and what we have gets hauled in. Not fun. Pastor Henri found most supplies in Port; now to buy them. Costs almost $3,000.00. But that’s an essential.

Many of you probably have heard about the deaths in Haiti. Rumor has it that it’s Cholera but don’t know if it’s been confirmed. As of this morning, it wasn’t – I got that straight from the Health meetings that go on weekly in Port. However symptoms and deaths sure sound like it. Though the outbreak is 2 hours north of here, they are being taken to the hospital in St Marc and people there are quarantined which is only about 20 miles north of here. We are not in danger but the whole country needs to take precautions. It can spread so fast. That area is Haiti’s best agricultural area, but the water is awful – often brown. We are starting to teach the kids preventive measures. Pray it doesn’t spread. One report said over 140 people have died. Others put it at lower, but hundreds have already gotten sick. Symptoms are fever, vomiting, and extreme diarrhea. Haiti does NOT need this!

And now I need to end this before the generator ends.

Keep praying! It’s a challenging week.

Elsie

Canaan new kids

And lives continue to be changed.....

Today, life changed for 3 Haitian children. They came to live at Canaan Christian Community, and with it the opportunity of a totally different life to what they would have had before. Not everything will always be glorious for them I'm sure, but they will have the normal future opportunities that all children in the world should have - a chance to be loved, a chance for an education, and a chance for a future. So many Haitian children don't have all three.

Juveterson (nickname Sonson) and Stephania (nickname FaFan) Plaisir are brother and sister - no mom. Sonson is 5 yrs old and Fafan is 3. Mykenly Saintelmy will be 5 months old on the 19th of Sept. I took them down to the clinic for a bit of a physical.

I also took Caleb and Maralucia for weight checks. Caleb is 7 months old today and weighs 16 pounds. Honestly, that's a lot of weight to be carrying around all the time. My shoulder is feeling it (or is it because of my age :( ? I feel this last month he has become a lot more solid weight. Having said that, I guess he's not all that heavy, cause the other babies seem to be passing him. Mykenly (2 months younger) is the same weight (he was breastfed). Taina was only about 300 grams behind him a month ago. I'm not worried. Nobody looking at Caleb thinks he's malnourished. :) I guess I just got what I wished for in the beginning - I said I'd rather not have a baby with all those big rolls (though they make the baby look healthy, I don't want to carry that weight around - selfish, I know). Caleb continues to be such a joy - with a pleasant personality, very quick to laugh, and catching on to things quickly.

This last week, we had a preemie come to the clinic - the baby was born from 7 months and weighs 1.2 kg. (2.6 lbs) The mom needs a breast pump - would anyone have or know of one they'd be able to donate? We have people coming soon that could bring it if you could mail it to them (Both US and Canada). Can't be electric.

So Chibelson, the baby we took in 2 weeks ago is doing so awesome!!! He gained more in 4 days with us than the 10 weeks prior with the family (and we gave them Mamba for him as well). He's becoming more active and happy too, holding his head up well, and alert to what's going on (after all, he's 9 months already. He weighed 4 kg (8.7 lbs) on Tuesday). You can hardly see his ribs anymore. He's also following Maira around with his eyes. She's leaving next Monday - has done such an awesome job with him. This Friday we have Ashley coming to take over for her. Which is just in time. He needs a little more care, since he gets fed Mamba basically every hour. Pray about his future in 2 months. I don't want to give him back (nobody else does either). I think everybody is hoping the family won't come back for him, which is a possibility. They haven't proved they want to take care of a baby.

We have hired another baby caretaker (Asmine), just in time. We now have 5 babies under a year at Canaan. That's interesting, since it's been probably 7 years since they had a baby here. In the mornings the 2 ladies take care of at least 4 of them (Yolene takes care of her own usually, and sometimes helps with the others). They're a little overwhelmed by it today since the new one came, but they'll get the hang of it. First while he may be a little hard because he's used to breastfeeding. The mom just felt she could not take care of him; she has a two year old as well and since the earthquake can't find their father. I can't imagine I guess how difficult that would be - not having anything and losing the one person that might help with the family. He's a cute, chubby baby, as you'll see in the picture if I ever get it uploaded. It's so difficult to upload onto the blog.

OK, gotta go.

P.S.

I gave up with the pictrues. See if this link to my FB works:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1564603&id=1058022139&ref=fbx_album

Benjamin Chivelson

I look at what my life was like 3 years ago and what it is now, and nobody would recognize me by what I do. Before, my life revolved so much around myself - all I did was work 9-5 to make money for myself, read, watch TV and once in awhile visit people. Now it's been weeks since I read a book, don't own TV, and my work doesn't pay. In my free time, I take care of my baby, write blogs, clean my house, talk to people that are visiting here, and to unwind at night, sometimes do suduko. Right now I wouldn't go back to the old life. Yes, it has many advantages, like drop your clothes in the washer at any time, pick them up half an hour later, drop them in the dryer, and voilà - they're done! Or, driving on the road without getting frustrated at the incourteous drivers, or the comfortable weather (if it's hot, switch on the fan or a/c). Instead, I spend all evening doing my laundry in a washing machine where the ONLY thing that works is the washing motor (all the switches and the spinner have stopped working), plus you do it in the evening, it's hot (WHEN will summer be over here?), and I try to figure out what to do with a malnourished baby.

That has been the challenge this week, and I'm left astounded at how God answers prayers!! I'm praising Him! Not 24 hours after posting on Facebook about needing someone to help with this baby, I had someone offer to pay for his care. Not 48 hours later, I had someone actually respond saying she might be able to come do it for a month. Thank you, Ashley!!! I think God has a plan for this child. He's almost 9 months old and weighs 3.9 kg (about 8.5 pounds). He came to us about 10-12 weeks ago and was put in the Mamba program, but he has not been gaining well. There are only 2 reasons why a child does not gain well in the program - one is if they have HIV, it can be very challenging, or some other severe disease (though they can still gain). The other is the more common reason - THE CHILD DOES NOT GET THE MAMBA. This is what I believe is the case with this baby - Chibelson. (HIV is negative) I don't think the family is giving it to him. His mother died, he's brought here by a young aunt, but the sickly grandmother takes care of him at home. He has a dad, but apparently does not take care of him either. He has that unkempt look. I am really looking forward to seeing how he will look in 2 month of taking care of him. I will post a picture of him then.

I asked the family to bring him tomorrow for our decision. Please pray that everything goes well. We always make a paper with the judge, just in case something happens to him while he's in our care. Maira, a nurse that is visiting here from Edmonton, has offered to take care of him till Ashley gets here. That is so good of her, because he will need a lot of care and there goes most of her free time. Kendall, our first grade teacher, has also offered to help when out of school, so "many hands make light work".

School opened here today and most of the kids are excited. They're all walking around in their crisp uniforms, looking good. Kendall came for 3 months to teach the learning to read class. We're hoping she likes it enough to stay the year (I think there's a chance of persuading her :) - if she can just get used to the cockroaches. Teri is here for a couple weeks now, but planning to come back in October long term. Pray for her as she returns and prepares everything. It is a huge commitment, but her heart is here in Haiti, and I think she'll do great. She is overseeing the school, kind of being Gladys' eyes and hands.

Maira, who is a nurse (muslim) and a great person to have around, came for a month. We have lots of fun conversations about the differences in culture and beliefs. She is not Suni, the traditional muslims, so it's not so strange for her. She's leaving the 20th.

Sunday a week ago, we had a baptismal. Kendall had never been baptized and really wanted too, and then two of the other guys requested it too. Estime and Dionel. This was special. These guys came to work with the pigs a couple years ago, and have slowly through their faithfullness, learned to do a lot more. They get to all the odds and ends jobs, many of the difficult ones. Estime has learned construction and does a lot of the building now. It's great to see them opening up slowly, from very shy guys, to participating more in things.

We are in the process of hiring a couple doctors and an RN for our clinic. This will change a lot of how we do things, but it's good. We still Both need to sit down again and decide on the last things. As soon as that's done, they can start work. Both are trained in Cuba, so have a bit better education than locally trained. are Christians and seem to have the desire to help people, rather than make a lot of money.

And Caleb is continuing to grow beautifully, learning things like standing up in his crib, holding his own bottle (it's fun to see him learn to do that. He holds it, then gets distracted and it falls and he quickly grabs it). He still loves people but is becomming a little bit more of a mommy baby. His delight at seeing me is so evident, it's hard to say no. He's eating quite a bit and loves it. Which is good, cause we're running out of formula for our babies. We'll have to see what we do about that, especially if we're getting two more. Besides Chibelson, we have another baby waiting to come. The only reason he hasn't is that we haven't been able to afford hiring someone to take care of him. He was two months when we agreed to take him - now about 4 or 5.

Here's a way to help if someone wants to. We're finding out how much it costs to have babies. The salary here is more for taking care of babies than other jobs (more responsibility, I guess). It's atleast $100.00 a month. Right now Canaan isn't able to add that salary to what they're receiving. We've already got one person offering to pay the salary of one. We'll probably have to hire two people (maybe not right away, since Ashley is coming) but having 4 babies (not counting the one that has a mom here), will take 3 people for when they need time off, etc. So if you have it in your heart to help with the salary or supplies, or to come here for a year, let me know!! :) I take care of Caleb, but still need someone for him when I work.

We're working with getting Canaan's paperwork finished (becoming a Cresh) so adoptions can start. Meanwhile, I'm working at gathering all the things I need myself. Just getting a list of what I need is taking frustratingly long. But, "Patience is a virtue", right?

Well these are the highlights of what's going on around here. Please continue to pray for us, that God will provide all our needs, in His time.

Elsie