A Hospital in Les Cayes - Thursday 3/12

Monday, March 30, 2009

She looks like a child herself, doesn't she? This mother is very proud of her beautiful child. The moms were happy when I would ask to take a picture of them and their baby. Some children were so very sick that I couldn't bring myself to ask for a photo. This photo doesn't even come close to telling the story of health care in Haiti.

We often criticize our always rising health care costs. In Haiti you can stay in the hospital for $2. Sounds crazy doesn't it? What I realized is that the families give the care. They bring the food the patient eats. If the patient needs an x-ray, the family has to take them outside the hospital to a place where x-rays are taken. It's the same situation for medicine. The patient gets dressed and the family takes them to a local pharmacy for the medicine they need. You can't even compare our health care system to ours. We pay a great deal of money but look at what we get.

I toured the pediatric unit first and found an intake area followed by a smaller area where healthier children were being cared for. Here I saw three babies that had been abandoned. Because the families are expected to care for their children, the abandoned children were laying or sitting in soiled sheets. Their blessing is that there are health care workers who care enough to give them what they need. One baby layed in a diaper that was overflowing with feces. I wanted so much to grab a diaper and change this beautiful baby. You are tempted to take the children and hug and cuddle them. Given the looks I was getting I felt like an intruder and didn't want to appear critical. In my heart I know that the staff are doing the best they can with what they have. I don't doubt that they care greatly for their patients. They would probably be amazed at what we have here and would wish they had it for their patients. How different their patients' lives would be.

Another section of the peds unit was for children that are malnourished. I felt most uncomfortable in this area of the unit. Here you saw children that looked like they were at death's door. They very well may have been. So many lifeless looking bodies. As beautiful as Haiti is the true story is in what is lacking for these people. When I left the peds unit I didn't want to continue the tour. But if I wanted to get a better sense health care I needed to keep going.

Another unit we went through housed women. One women was happy to show off her newborn twins. A few beds down from her were two women attempting to transfer a young woman from a wheelchair to the bed and failing miserably. One had her ankles and one had her shoulders. The patient was moaning with pain as she was rolled onto the bed. My fear was that in trying to help their family member into bed they could very well have been doing her more harm than good. Again - her family was doing the best they could for her.

There were several buildings on the hospital compound. The buildings are made of cinder blocks and stucco. There aren't windows that keep out dirt or dust. I went in the morning and there were many family members outside looking in at their loved ones. My ride home was a quiet one and it left me with a better understanding of the struggles Haiti has with providing adequate care for the sick.

Paper Bead Project - Thursday 3/12/09

While my fellow missionaries went to Ile a Vache I stayed behind to spend the day in Les Cayes. Knowing they would be climbing up the side of a mountain made me think twice about attempting that with two bad knees. My plans for the day included a trip to the hospital in Les Cayes, spending the afternoon with the girls from the orphanage teaching them to make paper beads and then late afternoon with the boys at the orphanage doing an art project.

The paper bead project is one I had been planning for a very long time. One problem I encountered, which didn't surprise me was that the television was on in the administrative dining room and the "Bee Movie" was on. While I was trying to get the girls to focus on the technique their eyes often wandered to the television. What I found fun was that Babbout (my translator) loved art projects and while he was to explain the process - he did so while working on the beads himself. While it was fun there were moments when I wished so much that I could speak Creole. The language barrier was so very obvious.

The girls were mindful of each other and happily waited their turn to use a glue stick or brush.

Later that evening some of the girls wandered up to the dining area. We had finished dinner and I was enjoying a Coke made with sugar cane sugar (yum!). The beads had dried and I began trimming them so they would have the finished beads for the next day. With the television being off several girls crowded around and they began helping by pulling the plastic center stick out. They were tickled with the finished product. I would love to have had another afternoon to do it again.

Sunday, March 15 - A Special Time

Sunday, March 15, 2009 we experienced the joy and fellowship that comes when you can look into the eyes of fellow Christians and see the Holy Spirit shining from their souls. That's what I saw in the eyes of our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ.

I was able to understand on a spiritual level what Pastor Ahlmeyer has often taught us about - "the Holy Christian Church" and the "Communion of Saints." What a joy it was to pray the Nicene Creed and the Lord's Prayer with them. Different people from very different parts of the world praying in different languages came together in one voice to praise and worship our God.

To stand with this congregation as Pastor Marky Kessa distributed Holy Communion made me feel honored and so blessed to share this precious sacrament with them. At that moment we were all the same - children of God, each one shaped and molded by His hands, every soul created for His purpose - to bring him glory. No doubt our heavenly Father was pleased to have His children from Peace communing with his children in Haiti. I know he felt the joy that each one of us felt to be there.

The choir was exceptional. Their voices were strong and trust me the poor quality of the video above doesn't do their voices justice. Nor can you see the joy on their faces. What you can see are the choir robes that Peace donated to Pastor Marky's church. That is one thing I've had members of Peace ask me since I've returned. It obviously means a lot to them knowing those robes are being worn each Sunday as the choir in Jacmel raises their voices to God.

This was a special Sunday for the church is Jacmel. It was their anniversary and a special meal was prepared for everyone in attendance. A line of people was started from a large table outside the kitchen (a separate building from the church) and containers with food was passed to everyone inside the church. When that was finished another line was made from the kitchen building and drinks were passed until everyone was served. We had a wonderful meal of beef, rice and beans, plantain and potato salad made with beets. You could tell by the smiles on the women's faces that they were delighted to be able to serve everyone this very special meal.