Haiti Mission 2005

2011-09-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

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Thursday and Friday Report from Mississippi

2007-05-12T05:33:00.000-07:00

Thursday
Today was only a half day. We left early in the morning so we could get more time in. Our mission today was to get the ceilings finished.

Because we are remodeling a trailer, we are running into many querks. The wall frames are no completely square and the door frames are exceptionally small. Before we put up drywall we have to pull out staples that were used to put up the original drywall. I found us all exceptionally weary today.

You DON'T want to make these two ladies angry!

Angel Pat With Her Halo

We worked until 1pm and then headed home to shower and get dolled up for a trip to New Orleans. Some people from the Chicago group joined us and off we went. We walked all over the city, checking out the many sights. It was a beautiful evening! We heard great music, ate good food and had many laughs.

We all are ready for tons of sleep...

Friday
This morning we were the first group up and out the door. We had so much we wanted to get done before we leave in the morning. Depression has set in with many of the Long Beach residents. It is hard to see an end in sight with all the repairs that need done. Our resident especially is lacking stability. She is anxious and ready for her trailer to be done. Many times she has stopped by while were working to just sit inside her house and think. She lights a cigerette and sobs as she tells us stories of what she has been through. I could not imgane losing everything I have.

Jan our resident has also struggled with getting her home rebuilt because her home was primarily damaged by a tornado that went through the trailer park during the hurricane. Because it was a tornado and not a hurricane, FEMA is not willing to help rebuild her home. They have provided her with a FEMA trailer. The trailer park which was once a family friendly neighborhood has now become a community of savengers, scrounging around for work and money. Many times we had people come up to us and ask us if we were hiring. Many businesses were destoyed and have left people jobless.

We finished the cathedral ceiling with sore shoulders and smiles. It was so nice to have finally finished the ceiling. From there we were able to get back to work on the walls.

We got a call this morning from the ship captain we met at the beginning of the week. He said he wanted to take us out on an excursion at 1:30. We were definitely not going to miss an oppertunity to go out on a huge fishing boat. The captain's wife even baked blackberry cobbler for Bryan's birthday. We headed out towards Cat Island. The captain explained that Cat Island runs paralell to the coast and nine miles out from land. He said the island protected the coast from what was orginally a 35 foot tidal wave. The wave killed all the trees along the island. The captain said he fears another hurricane because their protection is gone. The next island we went to was Ship's Island. On Ship Island is an old fort build during the war of 1812. It's called fort Massachests. Our captain new the island police and they unlocked the door of the fort so we could look around. It was amazing! The cannons were huge, the brick walls were beautiful! We were all in awe!

The captain got us back to the dock at 5:00 and we rushed back to our work site. We worked until dark. Most of the work we did tonight was to board up all the windows to prevent the neighborhood kids from throwing rocks through them. We now have a the trailer completey sided and 3/4 drywalled. All of this work has been done by members of Good Shepherd between the Spring Break Trip and this week. My prayer is that our church will have many other hands working on this house. Whose up for another trip?!?

2005-12-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

Keep up with our latest mission trip -- visit http://www.goodshepherdmissions.blogspot.com/ and read all about the trip that begins Friday, December 9th.

Friday Evening -- From Susan

2005-09-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

We had many more adventures today.

We went to the site of the new orphanage Twilla is building and it is beautiful. It is out in the country, on a hill near the ocean, where breezes blow and large trees grow. The air is clean and their is a small river and a large space for a garden. The children will be so much happier and healthier there. The walls of the main building are up. As she gets money, the roof trusses will go on and a wall will be built around the compound,

We did our last shopping tonight and are getting ready for our last meal at Hotel Mont Joli, our lovely home here. We all have many feelings and emotions about our trip, but all of us will be glad to see our families, our church and our homes again.

See you in church Sunday!

Friday -- From Susan

2005-09-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

I have a few extra minutes this morning and we wanted to write an email of thanksgiving to our families and our church family, and to all those who have been praying for us. You can't imagine how that has sustained us throughout the week. And also for all the money and goods that you have contributed to this trip. God has multiplied it all for good here in Haiti, many times over. He has surely blessed all your efforts.

Today we are going to see the new orphanage site, and then to the old orphanage. Some will be painting a room at the orphanage.

It will not be long before we see you!

Susan Jones

A note from Maynard -- I received an email from Wes Jones yesterday. He tells us that in one of his personal emails from Susan we are told that the mother and child from Tuesday's post -- Rolenska and Mama Martine -- are doing well.

Thursday's Report from Barb

2005-09-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

I am writing the report for today because Susan had too much chocolate sauce on her cake tonight and had to go sleep it off!

Our God is an awesome God!

We made it to the mountains today! The thirty year old Swiss Army vehicle ( and I thought they only made knives) took us where no other vehicle should (although others were going). We went through mud holes that would have swallowed most compact cars! Thank God for answered prayers and to all of you for praying.

We arrived in Barone (sp?) and got out in the cleanest mountain air you could imagine. The lush vegetation and clear blue sky reminded me of paradise! We walked through the gate where the clinic was being held and saw the crowd of people who were awaiting our arrival. They began to applaud and that continued all the way up the path to the building. Talk about your humbling experience-tears are blurring my eyes as I write about it, so maybe I had too much chocolate sauce too!

The pastor thanked us and said they had heard Twilla had been sick, and they didn't know if she was coming. Can you imagine walking up a mountain or pushing yours or another's wheelchair for hours without knowing that help was coming? She told him she had been a little sick, but it was another example of spiritual warfare we must wage as the evil one tries to keep us from doing God's work. She spoke about how that is the same for all of us, no matter where we are, but we must keep up the battle and continue to do God's work wherever we are. I'm voting for her if she runs for anything!

Then the day began............Six hours and several hundred people later, we were told it was time to pack up for home. Storm clouds were gathering and if it started raining, we may not make it back down the mountain. And since we knew there was chocolate waiting, we got with the program!!!

Oh, and remember the short supply of our most used medicine? We ran out........just as the last patient was seen........was there ever any doubt?

Barb Kell

Wednesday -- From Barb Kell

2005-09-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

Today's email comes from Barb Kell...

We have 3 more clinics left to do, but Twilla has surveyed our supplies and says we only have enough medicine for two more clinics. The floor of our room is still full and she has many drugs in her room, also. We brought so much, but the need is so much more! I think we will need a miracle such as the loaves and fishes to work the rest of the week.

The vehicle we prayed over was reported to be running last night.Praise the Lord for He is good always. I suppose we will "test" it today on a short trip before starting up the mountain tomorrow. Your prayers are needed. Specifically, pray thanking God for his wonderful promises, and that He continues to hold us together, body and machine.

Tuesday

2005-09-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today was great! We spent most of it at the orphanage. We played with the smallest 3 children, until the school children came home. They started school today for the Fall semester. As each child came up the stairs to the balcony where we were sitting, they each kissed us on the cheek, even the older boys. They were so dignified and such gentlemen and very respectful to us.

They ate their dinner at 3:30 pm and then.......... they each received their new bookbags and school supplies. (Apparently, they didn't need them the first day of school.) Most of those were the ones sent by our church. The children were so excited! It was a huge fun event, full of smiles and laughter. After this our group played and hugged the children and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Let me explain about their meals. They eat two meals a day, breakfast in the morning and their second meal at 3:30 pm when they come home from school. They get a small snack at school. Twilla said that all Haitians eat only two meals a day and, indeed, that is common for many third world countries.

I guess the most important part of the day was the repair of an indoor toilet that had not functioned for years. The children have been using an outhouse. The hero-of-the-day award goes to Jan, who is Jane Carney's childhood friend from Haiti. She was brought to the orphanage early this morning to meet the plumber and an interpreter. She accomplished the fixing of the toilet quickly and there was enough money left over for Jan to go to the store and buy a second toilet. It was installed upstairs in a "bathroom" which had the basics of plumbing there, but had never had a toilet in it for lack of funds.

Our baby, Rolenska, is doing so well! She is now sucking formula and fluids from a bottle and has started to smile! The nurses were worried that she might react to the feedings with diarrhea because her system was so fragile. When she had a normal dirty diaper today, they all broke out clapping and exclaiming. Martine (the mama) and Rolenska are spending the night with us again at the hotel. I think Twilla feels that the baby will be well enough to go back home when we leave and Martine will come once a week to the orphanage to get formula and a baby check-up.

All-in-all, it was a great day. I could tell you more stories, but it is dinnertime and I'm hungry! Thank you for all your prayers.

Susan Jones

Monday

2005-09-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

Je n'est pas Susan Jones. Maitenant, je m'appelle Indiana Jones.

I'm sorry not to have emailed yesterday, but the internet connection was down.

Today the truck was still broken, so Twilla had arranged for a tap tap. We left at 8:30 am for the clinic. After about a half mile, Twilla was not happy with the way the engine was sounding and wanted to check it out herself. The next thing we knew, she had booted out the driver and had gotten behind the wheel herself! She drove the rest of the way up the mountain to the clinic. I cannot explain that trip to you. Drivers drive on whichever side of the road they want to. Chickens and donkeys scatter before them! We arrived at today's clinic site and it was much more pleasant than Saturday's. It was up on a ridge and a breeze was blowing. The rooms had windows and our scabies station was outdoors on the porch.

Then came the patients and things quickly got serious. A man was carried in with a raging fever and Twilla quickly identified it as typhoid fever. Twilla was worried that in his condition he might "bleed out" and die in the clinic. A thin mattress appeared from somewhere and he was laid on it in a small storage room. Hetty hung an IV bag from the top of the door and was able to find a vein to get it started - our hero of the hour. The nurse practitioners gave him shots and medicine and by 4:00 pm he walked out of the clinic, smiling. It was a bright spot in our day.

We saw so much terrible hunger in this area. When the children have a protein deficiency, their hair turns red, and we saw many children like this. Fortunately, we had rice and beans to give the mamas, but we ran out of beans before we ran out of patients.

We don't eat lunch, because we won't eat in front of hungry people. But we are fine with that. It is so hot, we do not have a big appetite. And we eat big breakfasts and dinners.

Just as we were leaving the clinic, a mother walked up with a 6-month old baby that was obviously starving - she was emaciated. She asked Twilla to take the baby, but Twilla did not want to separate the mother and child. So we brought both to our hotel room and are keeping them there. We are feeding the baby formula with a syringe, drop by drop, as she is too weak to suck. We will continue this all night and Twilla will see her again in the morning. She is beautiful. Please pray for this baby and her mama. Tomorrow we do another clinic.

Susan Jones

Saturday - September 10th

2005-09-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

We have seen a miracle today, and her name is Twilla.

She is the nurse practitioner who runs things. It has been an amazing day. We got up at 6:00 am and had a wonderful breakfast and were packed up and ready to go at our departure time at 8:00 am. An hour and a half later we are still waiting for the truck that is taking us to the clinic to get fixed. The Eternal Hope In Haiti Foundation owns it. It is 30 years old At 9:30 the truck is fixed. We all pile in the back onto wooden seats and off we go - for 5 feet. The mechanic is called back. 19 minutes later, bad news. The truck cannot soon be fixed. So a taxi is called and in 15 minutes we all pile in.

There are 7 of us plus the driver in a very small sedan. Fortunately, it is not far to the clinic for today.

It is in the city down by a bay-full of filth and rotting boats, pigs rooting in the garbage beside the road. We set up in the upstairs of a concrete building that is a church. We have 2 medium sized rooms.

In one room the nurse practitioners see the patients and Jane Carney sets up a small table for her pharmacy.

In the other room there are two small benches. On one, Janie (my sister from D.C.) sits and bags up rice and beans. We give this to the mothers with malnourished children and the elderly, who are all emaciated. On the other bench, I sat and gave scabies treatments to the children and put clean underwear on them. To all who gave underwear to us, it was put to good use today!

Barb Kell and Hetty Herrington from our church saw patient after patient.

Late in the afternoon, Twilla asked me to go downstairs and go through the line of people there and bring up only the sickest, as we would have to go soon. It was so hard.

I brought a young mother who seemed to have a fever.

And a boy of ten with infected eyes.

And a teenaged girl with an obvious skin infection on her face.

We gave what we could to the mothers that we had to turn away - often, a worm pill and a small bag of vitamins for the child. We are all changed forever.

The light is dim, the monitor faint, and I am very tired. We love our church family for all the help they have sent here, money, underwear, etc. As well as all the prayers. I know we could not have done what we did today without them. I felt them all day long. God bless you all,

Susan Jones

The Group Has Arrived Safely!

2005-09-10T05:37:00.000-07:00

We are here at the hotel in Cap Haitian--which is quite lovely--and are all still in good spirits!

We had no problems at all. Twilla had a wonderful, gentle man meet us in Port-au-Prince, and he told us exactly what to do and got us to the terminal for our next flight. It was an exciting adventure in a 15-passenger plane. We had no trouble in customs...they didn't open any of our bags.

It's 7:00 pm and we are all hungry, so I am going to join the group in the dining room. This is an amazing place, I feel like I've been around the block a time or two, but the poverty we drove through on our way to the hotel beats anything I've ever seen.

We are all eager to get a good night's rest and start to work tomorrow. May God bless all of you who contributed to our trip with your prayers, underwear, etc. Pray that God will bless our work -- Susan Jones

Prayers for Haiti Group

2005-09-09T06:18:00.000-07:00

In the last post, we named three of our church members going to Haiti -- I've been told we actually have four church members on this trip. In addition to those named in the last post, Hetty Herrington is also going!

They left today for their mission and I would like to challenge each of you to be in daily prayer for the entire team.

Pray for their safety and that God's Holy Spirit would touch the lives of those our team encounters. Pray that they would be able to complete the tasks they have plannned, and that they would be open to unexpected challenges and opportunities.

Learning to Say "Dega Je"

2005-09-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

The team going to Haiti include three members of the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church -- Jane Carney, Susan Jones and Barb Kell. There are eight others on the team, including Susan's sister from Washington, DC.

Jane writes: "We are leaving early Friday AM and will return Saturday the 16th. We fly to Port au Prince, take a pre-arranged van trip accross the airport and take a smaller airline to Cap Haitian. Someone picks us up there from the mission and transports us to the Hotel.

"The name of the orphanage is Eternal Hope In Haiti. Their web page is found at www.ehih.org.

"While we are there: we will do at least 5 mobile clinics. Twilla, one of the team members, visits 5 sites on a regular basis - seeing the same patients every 90 days. We will spend time working with the children at the orphanage. We will help them with homework and are planning to do art projects with them. We will clean and organize at least three rooms at the orphanage and prepare the bathroom for the plumbing construction which we will supervise. We are hiring the plumber and paying for the expenses to get at least one bathroom functioning. Now we have found that there is an opportunity to get a shower working in another bathroom that is used by the administrator when the person who lives there is gone and there is a third bathroom that has not been used for years that could possibly be made operational again.

"We also plan to take lots of photographs and interview the children for publicity purposes and to introduce them to our own congregation. We plan to photograph both the current and the new orphanage that is under construction extensively so that our team going in December can better plan what to bring and spend their time on.

"We also plan to spend time buying art and crafts to bring back and try to merchandise as a fund raiser for the orphanage.

"I think that those of you that know Susan and me know that we need prayer to slow down and let God accomplish what He wants to accomplish in His own time frame. We do not need to do everything on this list in one week and run roughshod over the Haitians in the process. "Dega je," as the Haitians say "whatever!"

Haiti Mission -- September 2005

2005-09-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new web page -- we hope you will come back to read the emails we receive from our church members who will be traveling to Haiti during September, 2005. Keep the team in your prayers -- they depart on September 9th.

The Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church recently gathered and sent school supplies to Haiti. If you are wondering what happened to them, you can rest assured they have arrived.

Jane, one of the members of Good Shepherd, received an email today from Cheron, the young Nurse Practitioner who is the onsite administrator at the orphanage in Cap Haitian.

Part of the email says...

"I went through the boxes and oh were the children estactic as we dolled out backpacks and school supplies etc. You did an amazing job!!!

"Also I wanted to let you know you did great in the packing too, because the more important stuff backpacks and new shoes and things were hidden under the clothes. When the customs officials saw school supplies their eyes light up with greed, they wanted to put heavy taxes on me. Then we decided they could have a couple of notebooks for their kids- they dropped the taxes, they opened one box said baby clothes, and moved on, when I came home and saw the new shoes and backpacks underneath I know I wouldn't have been able to leave the airport with them all, if the packing hadn't been so good."