HAUNTED

Whenever we participate in Medical Trips to Haiti we are struck by the illnesses that would not be debilitating or life-threatening in the US but are traumatic in the poverty and lack of resources in Haiti.
We are haunted by the deprivation and the need of the sick and those with no resources.
We pray and we listen to dreams and we reach out as we can....

~ A woman with breast cancer and no resources to get a mammogram and determine possible treatment.  After we arranged with her pastor for her to get the needed tests she invited us to her humble home where we were sad to share our concerns with her husband and 3 of her 5 children - the youngest a babe in arms.

~ A woman in her early twenties with probable AIDS.  She came with her beautiful baby girl - chubby and sweet.  She talked of nursing her baby about 5 times a day - taking as good care of her baby as she could even in the face of illness and exhaustion.  We arranged for mom and baby and partner to be tested but left with such heartbreak.

~ A man blinded by the earthquake - with little hope for ongoing resources and support.


~ In the mountains - babies and small children with the visible symptom of blond hair - a sure sign of malnutrition, living in a rocky mountain area with little hope of a better life.



~ A young mother of a premature infant who is failing to thrive...  Where and how can they get support for finding new ways to live together?


~ Young children - who lost families in the earthquake or are victims of abuse or whose families cannot feed and care for them - in an orphanage.  We visit with songs and stories and crafts and they are snuggling, hugging and kissing inhaling love and attention and needing so much more...

Their stories and their faces haunt us.  God bless them and wrap them in your love.
Their need inspires us to seek resources and hope and ways to bring dreams to fruition.  

 

 

A FRANCISCAN BLESSING

May God bless you with discomfort...  at easy answers, hard hearts, half-truths ,and superficial relationships.

May God bless you so that you may live from deep within your heart where God’s Spirit dwells.

May God bless you with anger… at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people.

May God bless you so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears...  to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war.

May God bless you so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, in your neighborhood,       so that you will courageously try what you don't think you can do, but, in Jesus Christ you'll have all the strength necessary.

May God bless you to fearlessly speak out about injustice, unjust laws, corrupt politicians, unjust and cruel treatment of prisoners, and senseless wars, genocides, starvations, and poverty that is so pervasive. 

May God bless you that you remember we are all called to continue God’s redemptive work of love and healing in God’s place, in and through God’s name, in God’s Spirit, continually creating and breathing new life and grace into everything and everyone we touch.