A Thank you from Pastor Ronel Mesidor

Ronel Mesidor
Dear Shantia I would like to thank you in the name of Haiti  (Haiti Baptist Convention) for your help, your support and mostly your love for Haiti.  More than 500 people had opportunity to see a doctor, received appropriate medecines.   I receive good testimony from  the dean of the school  about improvement of teachers. the therapist was very useful for tutors at touch of hope. Because of your support Concorde Baptist church have a safe place to install a water purification system. We  are so grateful for that.    Please let all members of team know how their presence was a blessing for us.   thank you so much for coming  and we are waiting for you next year.

Rev. Ronel Mesidor

West Executive Ministry

Haiti Baptist Convention

Phone: 509 38538506

Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Psa 41:1

searching skin

For several of these days, I have been screening children to determine whether or not they need to see a medical doctor, or if we can simply give them a fine dose of worm medicine and vitamins - plus the experience of being truly seen and heard.  I ask the children how they are feeling, what they notice in their bodies, what questions they have about their health.  I them search their skin, looking at their dusty legs and feet, their little arms, their empty bellies, and beautiful faces. 
Here are my observations and confusions;
1. I usually can easily get children to engage with me - to giggle at a funny face, to laugh when tickled, to respond to questions with more than a nod.  The children in the mountain village we visited yesterday were blank - no smiles or frowns, few words aside from the ubiquitous complaint of a stomach ache from hunger and headache from dehydration.  Even when tickled, they remained stoic...I had always thought that response to tickles was involuntary!  I wonder why the faces are so devoid od expression - are we new or scary to the children?  Have they been taught to be expressionless or is it a way to cope with the stresses of daily life?
2. In our urban settings, there was scabies all around!  Itching and scratching! Little bugs crawling under skin and nesting!   As one who has had scabies, I know how easy it is to catch, and I also know that without clean sheets, clean clothing, and clean water (plus the powerful scabacide cream) it is difficult to cure.  So many of these families are unable to wash themselves.  They don't have clean water - they have dirty puddles, whatever little pools have formed after the nightly downpour.
3. In the remote village up in the mountain, way up a dirt road with a cliff on one side and grazing goats on the other, I found these wart-like growths on the children, some infected and others dried.  I learned from the doctors that they are a bacterial infection, and many of the children had it on their knees and arms, the exposed places that get dirty.  Again, no clean water is available.
4. Most children complained of stomach aches and reported being hungry.  They all stared at my water bottle and the bold ones asked to drink.  Others asked for food.  One mother asked me for food while nursing a baby and holding a toddler. 

I wish there was a way to offer these medical clinics and serve a big feast to everyone.  It doesn't seem complete to offer vitamins and anti-fungal cream (and prayers and compassion), without the practical - a hearty meal and a clean glass of water. 
I know, I know,  people will come from all over for a big meal and water and it won't be easy to set a limit....but there must be a way to get people all that they hunger for, real food and real love together.

Just a Few Thoughts

Guess I'm seeing my age - so little energy left at night to tell you all I think and see...

BE LIKE BRIT  - an amazing place - and along with what the others have said - I was impressed with their caring for the children's roots...
A volunteer made a scrap book for each child. Photos of aunts and uncles and cousins, information about their family and community of origin, and about them... like we might have a baby book...
Each month the children go for a "home" visit back to their community to see their extended family and run off and play with their friends.  They are accompanied  on this visit by the social worker and a brother or sister from their orphanage family.
Amazing place - amazing people. Thank you so much Len and Cherylann Gengel!

A TYPICAL DAY - up at 6:30 / a hearty breakfast at 7 - always eggs in some style, bread, fresh fruit and often slices of ham/ make sandwiches and prepare to leave / gather for a prayer circle and song / depart about 8:15 for our worksite for the day /  work until done :-) stopping between noon and 1 for our sandwich lunch - for most of our team PB&J, for the translators - ham and cheese, Monday did not end until after 6 and our supper was at 7 - way too much about 180 patients seen - tired and stressed, Tuesday and Wednesday we managed to see well over 100 and still leave before 4 - very civilized... After Monday we made up numbers (1 - 100) to be given out to those waiting (knowing that we "held" another 20 or so for urgent needs... the numbers still climbed up - but it was much more manageable.  Another thing we added in was a triage for children....  Each church has a school.  The children of the school were checked, temps taken, worm meds given and those who had medical needs were referred to the Providers.  In this way we "saw" perhaps another 100 children while keeping the stress down on the providers - Wonderful idea Julie Cedrone!  [This triage will necessitate upping our Children's vitamin count significantly - but what an added blessing that will be.] Thursday we saw over 120 adults and children and probably 75 school children and left around 5 from the gorgeous mountain top of Blanket for our 1 hour ride home. After work we return "home" shower, rest a little and have supper.
After supper we visit the orphanage about 2 blocks down - or we gather to share thoughts of the day and an evening prayer... The group disbands around 9pm.
Amazing group - amazing days!

Theopolitics of Birth Control

Here we are, in a country where 50% of the population is under the age of 15, many of those people living in poverty, introducing many to the idea of sex education. For many, their understanding of Christianity does not permit birth control; they are taught that birth control is a sin in all circumstances. God intends for all life to be given potential. I agree that there is a sacred and persistent force toward life, but I can't make sense of so many babies coming into the world without anyone to care for them, any food or shelter. Does God intend for life to come into such scarcity?

Today, I spent hours testing urine and administering pregnancy tests, and so of the women's desires seemed to match the results! Think about the yearning for a baby and the negative result, or the reluctance (or apathy) towards motherhood, and a positive pregnancy test.

We were all stuck when it came to biblical support and resistance to birth control – the Bible doesn't give any directives about this....but how can we use the Bible a guide around these questions?

The Easy English Club

After wrapping a blood pressure cuff around many arms and unearthing French from the deeper corners of my brain to talk with patients briefly about their maladies, I was invited to The Easy English Club, a group of twentysomethings who met at the church to provide spiritual support to each other...and learn English.  Not only was I enamored by their song, their worship, and their prayers (all in English), and moved by their improvisational challenges to lead prayers here and there, I was delighted by their questions.  They explained that Haitians are "addicted" to worship and wondered about Americans,  if they fell away from their faith because they had jobs and forgot their priorities.  They asked me how I converted people and what it was like to live in a place where people had jobs.  They were confused about people who skipped church on Sunday, confident that they would be sick if they missed worship. 
Isn't it interesting what becomes a priority when all else seems to crumble away?

Bedtime Prayers

 

One of the sweetest ways I've ever concluded my day: 28 orphans all cuddled together in the darkness, clean and scrubbed, braided and snuggly, singing earnestly song after song of praise. We were all together on a third floor balcony of the orphanage, overlooking the hills of Port au Prince, a smattering of lights since electricity is scarce. The breeze before a downpour swirls around us, and the children hold our hands, singing and singing their heartfelt lullabie until it is time to surrender to sleep.

Catching Up

I keep meaning to write about many things that have happened, but then life happens and I don't get to it. But if I don't get it done soon then it will just get harder. So hear goes:

• Last Saturday 3 of our group left for home; Brian, Jenna, Maureen. Each of these people had special gifts and they each made the construction week a joy:
• Brian - has the gift of giving pure joy to children and receiving the same joy in return without actually being aware he is doing it.
• Jenna - has the gift of sharing love and hope with children with special needs. 
• Maureen - has the gift of teaching and advancing education for the children
• Also last Saturday 5 new members of our group came to Haiti to participate in our medical mission trips.
• John - a physician with whom I have worked with in the past in Haiti.
• Rob - John's son and a medical person as well
• Sharon - yet another medical person who help education the young women she works with about themselves
• Julie - associate pastor and a wonder with children
• Liz - niece of Jonathan and Shantia and a medical person in her own right
• Last Sunday we visited Be Like Brit. This is the orphanage established by the parents of Britney, who was on a mission trip in Haiti when the earthquake hit in 2010 and was killed in the collapse of the Montana hotel. The Be Like Brit orphanage was quite impressive, both in terms of the physical building, but also in terms of their policies, practices, and goals. Just very impressive all around. Len and Sherylann, Britney's parents, gave us a tour of the orphanage and their love for the children and commitment to Haiti was obvious. Again, just very impressed.

Now I think we are basically caught up. Today was another medical clinic day. The site for the clinic was open which meant we had a nice breeze, but covered so we were in the shade. A rather nice place to hold the clinic if you could put out of your find the fact the huge and heavy heavy roof (picture a 50x50x3 foot concrete block) was being propped up on one side be floor jacks stretched to their limit and balanced on top of a pile of broken cinder blocks and a piece of rotting wood.

The clinic went well and we were able to see the baby that I wrote about a day ago. She is a live and a small bit better, but still not out of the woods. The mother's sister came today as well with in infant of her own that was about in the same shape and both completely covered with skin infections.

The doctors provided care and training to the mothers. We sent them home with some additional food, baby formula, and a 5 gallon jug of clean water (which cost only $7, but was more than the mothers could afford). Even this additional support doesn't guarantee the babies will survive, but it is what can be done. So please continue to pray.

I spent the day weighing people and managing crowd control. When that was under control I met "Trouble". Don't know his real name, but he was about 2 or 3 years old and tired of waiting, so he expressed this opinion by screaming and crying. I offered to take him from his father so he wasn't stuck in line and we ended up walking hand in hand for maybe an hour or so as the line progressed. I introduced him, as "Trouble", to the other members of our group and he seemed quite content. I guess I should mention he got his name not so much from the screaming, but from continuing to escape from his father and injecting himself between doctors and their patients. It did seem that people got some level of enjoyment watching as simply walk around, not sure why, but it was a good part to my day.

The day ended by visiting the Hotel Oloffson for a little refreshment after the clinic. This is a historic hotel in Port-au-Prince and it was nice to sit on the balcony and relax a bit.

drawing the belly of the whale

After we read Jonah and the Whale, we asked the children to draw a picture to illustrate the story.  The kindergarteners through 2nd graders drew glorious whales with stiff, trapped Jonahs inside.  I asked them to draw God, to somehow depict what it meant for Jonah to pray to God and for God to listen, as well as for the whale to hear God's commands (the children loved it that a whale and God conversed!). My favorite illustration of God was drawn by a sweetheart of a girl, all decked out in her school uniform with ribboned braids; she had drawn three figures in the sky above Jonah, a large-headed God and two smaller faces.  When I asked her who they were, she explained that her God had two sons.  I love the idea that God has a Plan B!  Sometimes, Jesus needs a break.

We visited with 60 children in 2 hours, all children so eager for a wink or a smile, a little squeeze or a mini-exchange in French,  They sang with gusto, hugged as though they knew us forever, and begged for stickers and crayons because their classrooms were bare. 

After Bible school had ended, the children were released and joined the long, long line of people waiting to be seen in the medical clinic.  People waited hours and hours and hours to see a clinician! 

It's not easy to draw the inside of a whale's belly, or to see God in those darkest, trapped places.  I found it interesting that the older children were unable to imagine the whale's belly, asking us to draw examples on the chalkboard.  I would like to think this was because they had never known the sensation of being stuck,or paralyzed by misery, but it is more likely because only the littlest children have the opportunity to imagine. The skills erode but the hope is there. How else can we get out of the belly of a whale?

in the Belly of the Whale

In the Belly of the Whale

I loved falling asleep to the sound of rain blasting the roof. The dusty, dry land here was begging for relief. I love waking up to a rooster, crowing long before dawn, drowning the soft coos of the pigeons gathering for their morning meeting.

I fell asleep thinking about the B like Britt orphanage and I awoke to continue those thoughts, marveling at the Gengel family who transformed their grief into a miracle. After driving through the rubble and poverty of the city, we raced along the coast, noting the tropical waters and palm trees, dotted with bony cows and goats. There were attempts at beach resorts here and there, abandoned and ramshackle places that served as squatting zones and gathering spots, littered with trash and sounding with children.

Then, there is the B Like Britt orphanage – on the crest of a high hill, on a real road built for this purpose, overlooking the ocean and the green mountains. I am not sure what impressed me more, the clean, hopeful structure or the playful children busily roughhousing, building train tracks, and braiding each other's hair, or the Gengles themselves – approachable, hospitable people who spoke of their journey over the past few years with a spirit of gratitude. That is the prayer for the day, creatively changing grief into gratitude over and over.

We begin the medical clinics this morning, and I am not sure what to expect on this first day. It only seemed appropriate to dive into Jonah and the Whale, to reflect on being in the belly of the whale from a place that feels like being in the belly of the whale: sewage and fumes, tent cities and hungry children, and an unstoppable faith to burst through the toughest moments.

An Infant May Die Tonight

An infant may die tonight. She is maybe 5 months old. She, her siblings, her mother are covered from head to toe in skin infections. They have lice. They are dehydrated. The baby hadn't eaten in two days. She did not have energy to cry and when she did, she did not have enough hydration to generate tears. The doctors fear her kidneys are in partial failure.

An infant may die tonight. She and her family were taken to the hospital. The hospital separated the older siblings and the mother from the infant as they had to go to separate hospitals. One of our caregivers stayed with the infant. Waited. Waited.

An infant may die tonight. After waiting two hours a yellow form was needed. The yellow form was two buildings away, but must be filled out.

An infant may die tonight. The doctors would not provide an IV or medicines. Those must be purchased on the street and then the doctors may administer them. The mother must stay with the infant as there are no nurses to provide care. The mother must stay for a month.

An infant may die tonight. The mother cannot stay. She has other sick children. She has a sick sister at home. She leaves with her dying child.

An infant may live tonight. Drops of hydration fluid are given to her as she leaves the hospital. After a while she is drinking some. And she eventually urinates a little.

An infant may live tonight. It is not certain.

Pray.

Pray.

Pray.