WFP

Hi,

Just want to share about my meeting in Port on Wed, so you guys can pray about all this, since some people have been asking for an update. I'm excited about it. I'm seeing us branching off into another area. Or rather, expanding the area we already started. That is focusing even more on the malnourished people, and now more than just the under 5 year olds in the Mamba program. I see it as more a complete Nutrition Center. It won't cover every one, but maybe there's other ways of reaching out. I'm doing one at a time.

So the lady I met was from the UN's World Food Program. They have 3 different programs: 

#1 Children under 5 that have graduated from the Medika Mamba program, Malnourished and anemic pregnant women, and lactating women up to 6 months so the babies will be able to only breastfeed.  

#2 Patients with HIV and TB

#3 Families that meet the criteria

It'll take awhile to get the proposal in and approved but hopefully by the first couple months of the new year we should be able to sign a contract. 

I can see a lot of potential in all this, so please join me to pray for God's will in this. I think it is His will because He's taking it further almost faster than I can follow. 

Thank you all for your interest and support!!!

Elsie

Haiti

Hello,

Hope this finds you all well. I am also, and busy as always. I thought I would have more time now that I'm not seeing patients so much anymore, but I'm still always busy. Yesterday Bobi and I cleaned out our medicine storage place. It's tends to get filled up with boxes and boxes and you end up not even knowing what you have. That and being gone for almost 3 months, it was good to catch up on what we have there. Even found some much needed treasures (meds)for the clinic. That took a big chunk of the day.

Today we had another blessing. Lori, a lady that comes to Haiti 3-4 times a year, came to Canaan this year and is giving two days to check everybody's teeth! Thankfully most of the kids have good teeth, but she pulled 3 and there's about 5 fillings, plus cleaning and polishing a bunch. She's offered to come like twice a year, so I'm glad to have them get regular checkups. That's one thing I'm not very interested in doing, though I was given a quick hands on course in it. It was also good personal timing because I just had a filling fall out this last weekend.

Tomorrow I'm going to Port to meet with a lady from the UN - W0rld Food Program to see if they have a program that could help us help the people. I'm looking for something that we can help poor families with, or families that have kids in the MM program, or kids that are malnourished but too old for our program or older people, etc. You get the picture! There's a lot of need. I want to learn who/what I can tap into in local aids already in the country.

I've been so busy I haven't even started on the other project I was going to do as soon as I got my 3 new people trained - and that's attacking the Creole and French languages. Also setting up the new filing system hasn't gotten off the ground yet.

For those interested in Yoldy, the girl that hurt her eye - She's still in the States. They did an ultrasound but there's so much blood inside the eye that they haven't been able to do anything nor know the extent of injuries. Prognosis is not good, but nothing is impossible with God.

Bobi is leaving tomorrow, "going to get married". Marcus is accompanying her but returning next week. The wedding is Dec.12, in Missouri, and they're returning to Haiti in Jan. She's asked me to stand up with her, so I'm planning to go to the wedding too. I'm excited - it'll be a fun trip. Our friend Leslie here is also going.

Yes, our internet's on again. And the battery/inverter system is on so supposedly we have internet all day. We're so not used to that, we forget to take advantage of it! 

Thanks for your support of Canaan! God bless your life!

Elsie

Happy Thanksgiving - Canadian

Hello, everyone

Life here really never is the same. This has been quite the eventful week (ok, by now it I'm talking about last week).

Thursday I was sick most of the day. 

Friday I felt better and Bobi and I were able to go spend the day at Club Indigo as planned. Bobi took me there for the day for a birthday gift. Then we stayed over with our friend Lorraine there (she's part of the management there) for the night. Had a "girls night out", which was fun. 

Sat. we celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving. Friends that are renting a house from another resort had all of us over, and side benefit is that we could all go enjoy the beach and pools for the morning, before heading back to the house for the usual awesome Thanksgiving meal with all it's trimmings. Got to know more fellow Canadian missionaries here, which was awesome!

Canadians in Haiti!

The not so awesome thing that happened was what I mentioned in my former blog. Yoldy had surgery in her left eye on Friday. Her cornea is torn. The result wasn't good, and she has now been taken to the US to see if more can be done. She is a brave girl!! Please keep praying for this!

Big Yoldy took her to the States, since Gladys and Henri were both there already. That leaves Canaan a bit short on administrative staff. It sure is felt, though people are trying well.

Clinic's going quite well - numbers are down to in the 30s and 40s so it's quite manageable. My new staff is also doing quite well, mostly. The nurse has more education that many, and I just have to start saying something in my broken creole and she can take over and explain it in a language they understand, and I know enough to be happy with what she's saying. That makes training much easier!!! We're really happy with the other nurse too, who's doing the Medika Mamba. We didn't even have to teach her how to convert pounds to kilos!! And she takes initiatives. It's restful to have people like that to work with.

Friday Bobi and I are planning to head to Port. We're meeting with a lady from an organization that we're hoping can help us with food for people. There are many out here - we just need to learn who to ask. Another one of my "jobs' here.

The filing system is the next big project for me to attack (besides French and Creole lessons).

 Thanks for all your prayers for Yoldy. I haven't heard this week how she's doing, since she's in the States, but.....

God bless all of you!!

Elsie, in hot Haiti :(

Hello there,

Just a quickie tonight because I'm sending out a prayer request. One of our little girls, Yoldy, who's about 7, and already handicapped because she was born without kneecaps got hit in the left eye tonight by a piece of a CD cover. Nobody quite knows or says how it happened. I don't like the looks of it. The bleeding has pretty well stopped but the eye is cloudy, can't see the pupil at all. She's on the way to the hospital, (which will cost tons!) so please pray that she won't lose her vision in it.

Our God is powerful, and I want us to take this beyond the usual prayer for her. Let's pray in faith!!! Yesterday Sister Gladys felt God telling her to put all the CDs into our Container. Of course, that caused an uproar (fringing on people's rights??), but was disobeying worth losing an eye? Are we sensitive to God? And obedient? 

The Spirit is in this, so let's pray!!!

Thanks!!

Elsie 

Haiti

Hello 

I have anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hr and 15 minutes before the generator goes off so I'll see how far I get with this.

I've been back almost 2 weeks and things don't look quite the same, which is good. I've been thinking of changing things, so the first week, I hardly saw any patients. I've realized my own sense of responsibility and fairness, mixed with my nurses' way of being causes them to slow down and not work as efficiently as when I'm not there and they can't depend on me. So I determined to set a different pace from the start. The first day I only went there for about an hour. The next day (Monday) I sat and didn't do much else but look around, see what could be changed, watch how they work, and check their work. That's actually harder than it sounds. I've got to see how I can make the place better. - putting up standing room dividers instead of dirty, ripped and pinned together curtains would be a great place to start - if I can find them in Haiti. 

 

Tuesday I worked with MM most of the day, since Bobi and Leslie were both gone. Our friend Leslie down the road has started helping out on Tuesday. It gives her a chance to get away, and work with us on something that's so cool. It's so encouraging to see the changes in kids and being able to admit new ones that need it. We have some pretty sick kiddos in the program! Especially 2 - one is so swollen in the legs and today with a high fever and looks so ill. The other one is gaining a kilo a week, but it's not fat - it's swelling, which is strange because with Mamba it usually does the opposite. I think he has another medical problem. 

I would take pictures but my nice camera got stolen in Romania and I haven't been able to buy another one. Hopefully before too long (in Haiti??? Thank God for internet purchasing capabilities). 

Wednesday, I hired three more ladies - one is a clerk who'll work with our mess of files, and also learn to check in people eventually. She used to be a school administrator. She may even get the job of teaching me French and Creole. The other two are both RNs and I can tell a little more educated than those I've gotten before, so hopefully will work out better. The one has no work experience though and is hesitant to see patients though she wants to learn. We have started her with the MM program and I tell you, she is EXCELLENT. I'm so happy to find a Haitian that I think will do good in the program. We needed on (us North Americans like to take our 'vacations' :) ) We're also looking at sending her to Port to a Doctor who has offered to teach us to do more Lab (blood work) and she's interested in that. The other one I've spent 2 days with training to see patients, and I think she'll do well. Thank you Lord!

 

Thursday I went to the MM program that they started in St Marc while I was gone. Nice set up. Barb is a missionary friend of ours who has lived in the poorest section for years and started a school for the poor that can't afford other schooling. She saw a lot of need in this community, so felt it in her heart to open a place and get the program going there. They've done free radio advertising there too. It's great.

 

Marcus and Bobi came home on Sunday, all excited and planning their wedding for December. And I plan to go for it - she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. That'll be fun!! They do plan to come back in Jan. so I'm happy. Lol! Marcus is teaching school here at Canaan. He came in July, after I left, so the whole thing went a bit fast. But when God says 'this is it', why wait, eh?

 

Tonight, Marcus, Bobi, Chris and Leslie and me were invited to Lauren's place. Lauren is part manager of the resort down the road and we've become friends. Not wanting to cook, we had a nice buffet dinner at the resort, after which we retired to her "air-conditioned' little apartment. 

 

Here's a prayer request: pray for Nickenson. He's about 20 months, his mom died in Jan, and he has HIV. He wait about 3.4 kg when we first saw him, so thin. We got him in the program as soon as he was old enough and he was gaining well, but now all of a sudden, he’s starting to lose weight again. He lost a whole kg in 2-3 weeks, and if he continues, he’ll be down to his original weight next week. His dad, who has been trying hard to take care of him, can get medicines free for him, but it’s an effort taking care of him. Wed. we plan to see if we can pick up 3 months of medicine and taking him to an American run clinic, who have offered to take care of him for a few months and get him better. That will be such a relief. He’ll get good care and the father will get a break and be able to get a job for awhile. Now he has to spend all of his time taking care of his son, because he doesn’t trust anyone else.  We’re going to try to take him Wed. but unless we can take his meds, which they want to give only on Tuesdays, we’ll have to wait another week. I don’t know how long he’d make it. With HIV, any sickness can complicate him.

 

September 30, 2009

OK, the letter didn’t get off last night since I had less than half hour so I get to tell you about my day today. I’ve been pleased at the way different things have been falling into place with me stepping down from seeing patients at the clinic. I’m sure that “sense” came from God.

 

So we were able to take Nickenson to this clinic at least an hour from here, up the mountains a bit. I had met the nurse Lori before and always wanted to go see her clinic. I was impressed. Besides seeing outpatients, they have a program where they keep patients. Out of the 60 +/- , probably 50 were age 3 and younger. Some of these are malnourished kids. They are also using the Medika Mamba (them coming to see how ours works is how I first met them). They’ll keep these kids till they’re well. Then they go back – if someone wants them and comes for them. They have quite a few little ones that have been abandoned. Some have medical issues like burns that they’re taking care of, or other diseases. But many are just unwanted. It wrenched my heart. Such a strange feeling to be in a room with SO MANY little needy ones. Anyway, they’ll keep Nickenson till he’s well, if he recovers. Bless the dad – he’s spent so much time and care taking care of the little one.

After we got him settled, Lori showed me their filing system. That’s a challenging thing here in Haiti, where a last name can change from visit to visit, or they don’t know birthdates, or when they were here before, or they’ll say it’s their first time but it’s not – you get the picture.

 

So….on that note, I have a question for anyone out there – does anyone know someone who’s able and willing to make a computer program for our clinic? I need a program where you can just type in either their first or last name, or their file number and all their info will pop up. Anybody out there that would know how to program such a project? If you do, please let me know! And if you don’t, could you maybe ask around a little? Thanks!!!

 

Thanks for supporting me as a friend, or in prayer, or in whatever way you are a part of my life!!

 

Elsie

Summer break

Hello there

I know it's been awhile. I've covered a lot of miles since I wrote last, and now I'm back in Haiti. Please pray as I settle back in. I came back with a bit of a different mentality than the first time. I'm hoping to do a little more training, making sure the nurses are doing good, and hopefully focus more on community teaching. Still haven't figured out the best way to do this. 

My time away was awesome in many ways, but also struggled a lot. Health wise I wasn't too good - had a lot of unexplained headaches, and respiratory issues. Most of that has gone now, though I'm still dealing with a 5 week  cough. 

I've included some pictures of our 1 month trip to Eastern Europe. Difficult to pick which ones, and also since I'm limited here in Canaan. So there MAY be more, if possible. 

So more later....

Elsie

Mar's Hill

Athens

Patmos Island

Spa in Hungary

The travelers - me and Yolanda

Macedonia - A statue of Mother Theresa

Ohrid, Kososvo

Pristina, Kosovo - the newest country in the world

Leaving Dubrovnik, Croatia

Mountains were surprisingly dry

Canada

Hi,

One of the reasons you haven't heard from me for awhile is because I'm not in Haiti right now - I'm in Canada! So if your interest is Canaan, please wait till middle of September, and Canaan should reappear again. Meanwhile, if you want to hear about my trip, keep checking every so often.
I've spent a busy week here, getting rid of a lot of my stuff, as well as seeing quite a few friends. And now tomorrow, I'm off to Eastern Europe (flight's to Frankfurt, then I'm taking the train) to meet my sister and travel with her for a bit.
God's been good - answering two specific problems for me this week. One was my headaches - They were almost constant for about a week, then one day different people prayed, and next day they were almost all gone. The other answer was the arrival of my eurail tickets. They were suppose to come today but when I called at noon to see if it would, (since I needed to leave early) they said it wouldn't arrive till tomorrow. I almost panicked. After 3 or 4 calls I gave up. Half an hour later a lady from Fedex called back and I realized they were actually trying to help me, to see if the carrier could meet me some place special to deliver it tonight. As I came around to find the cell number of my friend that I'd be with, the guy was at the door!! Today after all!! What a relief.

So blessings to all and till later!
Elsie