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

New Canaanites

This is kind of an exciting week for me because it’s my last in a while. Next Wednesday I’m heading for the North – I guess it still exists? Sometimes you wonder here – it tends to feel kind of isolated, and narrow focused. The other night we went to Club Indigo for internet, and their’s was down too, so we sat and watched TV for a bit. It felt so strange! Guess it’s not a bad vice to not have here.
Canaan news:
We have 5 new children here. They’re siblings. The dad died a little over a year ago in a gravel pit accident. Years ago he worked at Canaan, and S. Gladys really felt called to take the children. The mom died more or less in January. The oldest two are boys, and then 3 girls. So Canaan finally has a baby. That child will have problems learning to walk. Everybody wants to hold her. Actually, they’re doing very well; she even gets to crawl sometimes.

Rolancia (11 months)

Mackenson (13) Diuner (10)

Jolette (8) Lina (4)

An interesting challenge for me this week has been Louinel. He is 4 months old and weighs 2.5 kg (about 5 pounds). I’ve had him come for about 2 weeks, giving the mom milk to take. His little feet are all swollen from malnutrition and he was barely peeing all day. Well, he just wasn’t gaining. So Tuesday, when I saw he would gag every time he drank something, I decided something else had to be done. I put an NG tube into his stomach and now we’re feeding him by tube. The mom comes and spends all day. WE NEED A HOSPITAL! He actually gained weight today. One of the girls on the nutrition team is a huge help with that. The mom isn’t feeling comfortable doing it, so I think this is going to be a working weekend! When clinic is closed, we bring her up to Canaan. Please pray he’ll do OK. Little ones like that you have to be careful of not overfeeding him, and I’m not too sure where the balance is (Stephanie???). At least now he’s peeing ok finally. Amazing how much better that makes me feel!

St Mark MM

Why am “I” in Haiti?
I often ask that question. First, I know there are so many people that could do the job better, sometimes it frightens me. Sometimes I feel the reason He has me here is because He loves me so much - there are so many blessings. Then at other times I feel like God has me here for punishment – it’s not an easy life. At other times, I think it’s because there are so many lessons that I still need to learn about life that He plunked me down where I’d have to learn or else...
Whatever the reason, I am often (usually) grateful. After all, those are all valid reasons. In knowing others could do things better, it keeps me humble. In experiencing God’s love, it’s worth it all. In punishment, it’s probably needed then. In other lessons, well that’s the purpose of life, right? Learn what you need to learn. For me, relationships is probably the top of the list there. It’s what you can pray for me personally the most if you want to pray for me. Living here, you can’t avoid it. It’s always around you – the Canaan kids, the Canaan staff, the clinic staff, patients, teams coming through – short or longer term, friends; And then the people of Haiti...
I often pray that God would give me a passion for the people – after all, that’s who I work with. After a day like today, I feel a bit lost in that area. I’m not sure where my place is, or what I’m to do, because I feel so helpless. There is such a big need, and I have to turn my head the other way. Is that really God’s way, or do I not see something I need to be doing?
We went to St Marc, where a pastor said he had a village of 60 malnourished kids. A team of 9 of us (incl. translators) went. It was an interesting place, seeing how to get to the place we basically walked up a mountain of rocks. About the width of a narrow road, it was solid rock – probably 200 feet or more steeply up, with houses all around. Pictures don’t show depth very well.

The walk up

Starting down

Pastor Galile

Almost down



Something close to a fight broke out over tracts.

It was a wonderful view, since the ocean is right there. When we got there, they handed us a list of 120 people waiting. What makes that difficult is that the majority of those don’t qualify for our program – either they don’t fall into the age bracket that we have, or they’re not malnourished enough to admit.

Getting ready to weigh and measure

I had the difficult job of initial screening.

It didn’t take them long to notice one of the first things I do is check their upper arm circumference. I had a dozen moms shove the arms of their little ones to me – some even grabbing my hand and putting it on their child’s arms. Honestly, that hurts because I can at a glance see that their child is too old for the program. Then they say, I’ll give my child to you. One actually pushed her thin 10 yr old to me and stepped back, begging for me to take her; many of them saying ‘this one has no dad, or no mom and dad’. And all I can do is look at them and be sorry. Is that really all I can do????
In two weeks (July 1) I’m taking a break and going back to Canada, and some other traveling for 2 ½ months. I’m hoping the time away will renew my energy, and give me some wisdom to see what my place here is.

Till next time!

Elsie

A day for me.

This has been an intereting day! My first patient was our friend Chris, who cut his finger and needed 5 stitches. Maybe after a little bit I'll actually become good at this! Then while getting ready to see another patient, I hear a commotion outside and a 4 yr old boy is having a seizure. I brought him in. I must admit, I'm not too comfortable with seizure patients yet. I did a malaria test and it was positive, but I still sent him to a hospital. His fever went from 101 to 104.5 F in about half and hour. I kept thinking "cerebral malaria", so better safe than sorry. I gave them money and sent them off. Then I got a little 4 month old baby boy - heartwrenching. He weighs 2.6 kilos (about 5 pounds). His poor feet were SO swollen, and I think his face too, though mom said that was normal for him. So we're starting him on a milk routine. He's too young for our Medika Mamba. He's from the mountains so hopefully mom will bring him every week. Made me want to just take him home with me! So cute and small! A75 yr old lady came in - had a stroke on Thursday; left side is paralyzed. Don't thing this is it for her! A lady I had once was in church 2 months after her stroke. Pray this one will recover. Thankfully I had a wheelchair given to me by Christian Aid Ministries, which will make this easier for the family. And then of course, others: teaching them to take blood pressure meds correctly, etc etc.
Well, I thought I had more time to finish this but I have to stop - go home. I'm at Club Indigo, since our internet wasn't working. Probably due to the nice storm we had tonight.
Thanks for praying! Please continue.....

Estrella

Hello everyone,
So not all that much has happened this week but I want to remind you I’m here, so here’s a little note. Ha!
Thursday afternoon, Bobi and I took Sister Gladys to the airport (after being here two days after a 2 week absence), along with two of the older guys. We barely made it, we had such a hard time getting sister Gladys away from everyone here, and then ran into the worst traffic jam close to the airport I’ve seen). They’re on their way to Convention. The boys are training to become leaders in the ACE school, have worked hard this year, so it was good they were able to go. This is the first year in many that none of the students went. It seemed time to make the kids realize going to the States every year isn’t something they can take for granted. It is a privilege for working hard in school, and since very few seemed to make that effort it was decided to not take the kids this year.
Friday Bobi and I went to Port again. With Jamil traving, I sat in the driver’s seat of a car being towed to Port. Now that was a challenge for me, but it went very well, I must say. I kept having these visions of ramming into the back of the truck, so my breaks got a good workout, as well as my leg muscles. Since we had to wait till 4 p.m. to pick up Lydia (a girl that was here for 2 months last fall), we were able to use Jamil to drive us around Port. We went to different car dealers. Yes, we’re still looking for a vehicle and feel (in faith) the money will be there when we find the right one. Man, but they’re expensive! We want to try getting it before I leave end of June. Pray the money will be there, and we’ll find the right one. It takes time, so we have to go back again, but we covered quite a few places. Then we also looked around for some patio furniture/plants. Shopping is definitely more challenging here. Don’t for a minute envision yourself shopping in North America for these things. This took from 10 to 4 p.m., rushing it.
The guys of the team got a huge blessing today. You should see how they work! One of their projects they’ve been given this week is levelling the ground in front of the new boy’s dorm, across from the cafeteria. It’s the closest to discouraged I’ve seen them. They’re dealing with TOUGH ground – the normal rocky, then also where they’ve done a lot of cementing, so it’s also got concrete in the ground. Well, after church they were watching the ESTRELLA road construction people drop off one of their huge machines (sorry don’t know the name of it, but it has the thing that goes into the ground to break it up and can lift out dirt). They’re like “wouldn’t it be cool to use that thing!”. One of them’s like, “would it be okay to go ask them if we can?”. I said they speak Spanish, if you can and want to, all they can do is say No. So off they go. About two minutes later they come back saying, Yea! They just went up and asked and the guy said yes, he’ll be back in 20 minutes, they can have it that long. Tyler, one of the guys, knows how to drive it, so they quickly started working; saved them at least half a week’s worth of HARD labour for the three, if not more. The road is becoming SO nice. Those of you who have been here, you’d be amazed. They are almost to Canaan with building it up, which alone smoothes it tremendously. The pavement is almost to the detour already. They’re going through Montrouis, even if the bridge isn’t fixed, but they’ve also smoothed and tarred the detour, so it’s more bearable. Now’s the time to pray!!! We want to ask them to fix, possibly pave our whole entrance too. God can do it, right? I think He loves to do special things for us, if we ask Him. Just look at my little story of the rain! So please pray for that this week!!!!
God bless you all!
Elsie