Monday, March 16 - Medical Clinic in Orneau

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Monday would be our last medical clinic. Each one has been so different. This clinic was held at the Lutheran Church of Orneau.


This was a much smaller church and space was limited. As in all things the Lord provides what we need and in a short period of time things were set up and we were ready to roll.


The people here suffer from many of the same things they did in Les Cayes and Jacmel. We had one hydrocephalic child present. There was also a man with a large tumor on his leg. With special cases like this we made sure that Pastor Marky and Nora met with them so further care could be coordinated. (It was fascinating after returning home the questions that go out to physicians in America to try and understand what these cases could be. It impressed upon me that they would do everything they could to help people.) I was so grateful to have been a part of this extraordinary project.


After the clinic I was able to walk around the area and just enjoy the beauty of the trees and flowers. Some may look at this and wonder why would you bother. I look at the people and the land and feel like God has blessed them in so many ways. Yes, they live a very difficult life and soon will have the threat of hurricanes, flooding and mud slides to deal with. The strength of the people in Haiti is amazing.

The drive to and from Orneau was through an area where you could see the damage done by the flooding, heavy rains and hurricanes. Our vehicle drove over washed out roads and there were times when I thought we might not get through. Gary (our driver) did an great job. Often the bottom of the bus would scrape.

One question someone had on the ride home that day was about all the animals we saw tied up with no one watching them. In America the animals would probably be stolen or harmed. "Bob" one of the lay pastors from Jacmel explained that people won't steal them because they are threatened with curses or being turned into a zombie if they steal them. What an amazing thing! Vodoo is so strong there that fear of it curbs crime.