We're Home !

Well, we left Haiti Arise at 5AM and arrived in Regina at 9PM on Wednesday March 16 so needless to say we were pretty tired today but we are home feeling our mission was so worthwhile as we improved the life of many Haitians. We trust that many of these changes will be longlasting for them. Our trip was certainly life changing for each of us. These last pics give you some idea of the school children on the compound, homemade musical instruments that entertained our men as they worked one day, evening chores for the nurses preparing pharmacy needs for the next day and lastly, our Dr Amelia caring for a sweet baby. Thanks to everyone who remembered us and followed our blog. God bless you! Sharon

Mission Accomplished

It is hard to believe our time here has come to an end! This was not a holiday and I think most of us are coming home fairly exhausted but I am sure that we are all coming home with a sense of accomplishment and a thankful heart. Words cannot express the looks on the peoples faces as we were able to provide them with medicine, toothbrushes and paste, soap and baby clothes…the look in their eyes and the smiles on their faces was so touching. Today, an elderly lady had walked or should I better describe it as a shuffle and a limp, to the clinic. I was able to give her a walker with a seat on it so she could sit to rest along the way. She hugged and kissed me, and repeated “mesa, mesa, mesa” with a tear in her eye! The Haitian people are so grateful for anything that we could do for them. Some cases were more difficult, like the 17 yr old girl who walks with such a limp and has so much pain, only to learn she has a very advanced bone tumour…cases like that broke my heart, but we were able to give her pain medication and we prayed for her to have comfort thru this time. She had come to the clinic alone but lives with her parents. What a shock it would be for her parents to learn of her diagnosis when she got home. Overall, we were able to see 842 patients during our time here and I think every one of them got a bar of soap. Today we saw pts in the morning and then packed our ‘clinic’ back into their Rubbermaid containers to be ready for the next Hungry for Life International team to come in May. What a tedious job to count pill by pill for inventory…unless it was Tylenol and tums…we used them all!We had worked closely with our interpreters all week and they had hard time to say good bye to us tonight. Many asked for a commitment that we would come back soon! I think they have all improved their English during our time here and it has been a good experience. So we are packed up and will be heading to bed soon as we have to leave for the airport at 4:30. I can only imagine a white knuckled ride back to Port au Prince in the dark! I truly hope that there is no one else on the road at that hour! See you all soon and thanks for reading our blogs!
Elva B

Our last working day

Hi everyone - our internet service was down for 24 hours but is up and running. We saw 142 patients yesterday and anticipate 70 this morning prior to an afternoon of packing everything up so it is going to be a busy day. We are all back to health and switching the team around a bit today but we are happy and fulfilled and ready to face our last day - if anyone gets a chance we will do some blogging. Everone wants to let our families know we are missing them.. Hi to my grandbabies... Elliot, Kaitlyn and Mackenzie. Hope you meet us at the airport. Sharon

Day of Rest and Reflection

Today has been a true “Day of Rest” for me. I tried to go to church this morning but that lasted about 5 minutes and I realized I needed to be in my room and very close to the bathroom! This afternoon the rest of the team headed for the beach again and I have had some time to reflect on this entire past week. I have so much to be thankful for and often take for granted. These are just a few things I have thought of.
1)My family.
Many children in Haiti are orphaned or abandoned. We have seen many children brought in by their grandmother. What is even worse is that we learned from Pastor Marc, that many children are given away as slaves as the parents can’t provide for them. These children are not treated well and ‘Haiti Arise’ will be rescuing many of them in the future and putting them in their ‘Children’s Village’. They hope to build many homes on some newly purchased land, then putting these kids in the homes with foster parents who will love them.
2)Health care.
There is a small hospital in town that cannot even come close to providing the amount of care needed. The smallest things like a sterile cord clamp and scissors could prevent many babies born at home from dying of Tetanus. This past week every pregnant woman planning to deliver at home (which is most) was given a package with these essentials and a Tetanus shot.
3)Water, Sewer and Electricity.
Water is hauled from wells scattered here and there. Some homes have power but it is not uncommon to see any kind of wire (even barbed wire) strung like a string of Christmas lights to the main city line in order to tap into its system. Hard to believe but it is true! Many people in our clinic did not know how to use a toilet because they had never seen one before.
I could go on and on. I do not understand why I have these things and they do not but this I do know. Our God is their God and He loves us all. By faith we are to trust in Him. I pray that through the small things we have done and will be doing, some can grasp this and hold on tight! Carlene

Youth on our team

Taylor has been a great asset to our team. She also helped in the school and has made many friends. She will write soon..

Much happens under the mango trees

Greeting again from Ruth Bartlett. Part of our program has included ministry to the inner wounds that are in the hearts of these beautiful Haitian people. I have been so honoured and blessed to counsel and pray with individuals referred to me form the main clinic. My counselling office is a school desk and a couple of chairs under a mango tree. I have lots of stories and I will briefly share one highlight. On Tuesday I counselled a beautiful girl age 14 who was very distraught with the teasing she received from school. Other classmates made fun and laughed at her. I gave her some Creole Bible verses and prayed different girl from the one I first saw on Tuesday. This is only one example of what is happening under the mango tree on the grounds of this mission compound. I appreciate your prayers to help both physical and spiritual needs of these people. Ruth Bartlett

Work and play in Haiti!

Well, what a week! I am energized and humbled, amazed and at peace, overawed and confident more than ever before in the Almighty God we serve. Where to begin?
The clinic was a huge success. We have seen 623 patients so far: the quota we prepared for reached already. Our examining room nurses are unbelievable! (At times I have almost felt a little useless) They are so competent that they are able to see and manage the majority of patients independently. The more tricky ones I help with. I also had to do a few procedures and we had one dehydrated pregnant lady on an intravenous. That’s of course not counting poor Annette who earned herself an intravenous by playing host to some unknown intestinal bugs and getting totally dehydrated! We did not have the meds I would have liked to give her so I finally just said we have to pray again and finally she recovered. Just one more faith-building event. Rita and Lynnise did fantastic replacing her in the clinic. Today Carlene is down with something similar and we are keeping a very close eye on her. Please pray she will recover quickly.
A large portion of my day is spent helping with dispensing medicine in the clinic. We have run out of some supplies and are scraping together whatever we have to make do. We are also out of ointment and medicine containers and are down to using smaller pill bottles and our own pill containers! Every time we put our hand in the bag for a container we pray that there will be one more. We have also been using the same 2 bottles of liquid children’s vitamins for the last day and a half. We have probably poured around 1-2 L of vitamin syrup out of the same two 150ml bottles already. You do the math!
Yesterday we went to “The Mall” Imagine an area maybe the size of a standard outdoor children’s park. Put some haphazard tarps over poles some places. Then plant a few hundred vendors there with little footpaths the width of a wheelbarrow to walk in, scatter some donkeys, goats and chickens around and finally add about a thousand shoppers and you have West Ed Mall, Haiti style. The sights and sounds were overwhelming. We did actually buy some vanilla, spices and hats. We were warned Haitian money is dirty and that was an understatement! One of the Haiti Arise Haitian men acted as purchaser and translator and led the single file row of Canadian women. One of the long term missionary ladies from Canada kept up the rear. They warned us in advance that donkeys and wheelbarrows have right of way. Which Canadian man will take 11 Haitian women shopping, buy their stuff for them, translate when needed and do it all with a smile?!
The afternoon was spent at the beach with beautiful blue-green Caribbean water and lots of sun.
We are so refreshed and ready for the last day and a half. We decided to see all the patients who were booked for Tuesday even though we were not originally planning on seeing patients the last day, leaving time to pack up the clinic. This will mean less sleep and more fatigue, but we are committed to the task God gave us and to finishing well.
To all our families and friends: we love you all and see you very soon. Amelia