Friends and family-
Please forgive me for lack of blogging lately! It has been a whirlwind and boy do I have a lot to catch you up on!
A few topics I plan on covering over the next month:or
1. trip to Haiti with We Care Haiti in late July
2. fundraising update
3. Joy and Rest
So first let's start with my trip to Haiti with Mr. Cundiff, Director of We Care Haiti, July 17th through the 21st. There are so many stories from just one trip it's hard to figure out how to summarize them in a blog post.
I've told friends that the first full day I was in Haiti we drove a dying man back to the 'mountain' to his family and my last day in Haiti we had 3 women show up with their dying sons in tow seeking help. And during that trip there was everything in between. This is Haiti. Extreme highs and lows. Extreme juxtapositions. I'm going to get lots of practice dealing with my emotions because on most days I want to laugh and cry all in the same day.
So Mr. Then (pronounced 'Ten'). Mr. Then is a 96 year old Haitian man who was dropped off at the guest house a few months ago with a necrotic right foot wound that had gone untreated for some time. Picture flies, foul odor, and no doctor at any of the hospitals We Care Haiti has affiliations with would touch Mr. Then. ALL OF THEM sent him away. So We Care Haiti took in Mr.Then, tended to his medical physical, and spiritual needs and nursed him back to life. He spent two months at the guest house with his family (2 grandsons and a caregiver) in an air conditioned room with food and drink and daily wound care. Mr. Then came to know Christ during this time after Mr. Cundiff shared it with him-- the most important part of the whole interaction. Unfortunately Mr. Then had a stroke. By the time I met Mr. Then on my trip he was in his last hours. He was in respiratory distress and had been having dreams and visions for the last two days about Jesus 'taking him up to the mountain' and 'calling him up to the mountain.' So on my first full day in Haiti, we loaded Mr. Then up in the car along with several We Care Haiti staff and Mr. Then's family and drove him up to the mountain to his family. He passed away on the 3 hour drive to the mountain which was a peaceful passing. We delivered his body to his family and community and shared how Mr. Then had accepted Christ before he passed, how he was well taken care of and comfortable, and how he was home with his Savior.
Without the help of We Care Haiti, Mr. Then would've died months ago when he first showed up on the doorstep of the guest house--dropped off by a motorcycle taxi because the family could only afford to send him alone.
During my time in Haiti I was able to tour both campuses where We Care Haiti has housing and ministries, I had a meeting with the director of the National School of Nursing, directed a meeting with 2 Haitian doctors, 2 Haitian nurses, and a local hospital administrator that will make up the backbone of the new Women and Children's Clinic that I'll be coordinating. I visited Grace Children's hospital and held children who had been abandoned there. I met the director of Grace Children's hospital and visited a poor community of people in Port Au Prince (think small tent homes side by side in an alley) where We Care Haiti provides clean drinking water. I attended the graduation ceremony for the first graduating class of the National Veterinary School (think professionals responsible for clean water, safe agricultural practices, and healthy animals-- not just a typical vet you would think of here in the U.S.). I met the Haitian staff of We Care Haiti and ate meals with them and communicated in broken English, French, and Creole (they already view me as family and the feeling is mutual). I spoke with 3 women and their 3 sons who showed up on a Monday night because they had been told that a 'blanc lives there that helps people.' I looked at their desperation and tried to bring hope, healing, and help while understanding my own inadequacy on the subject of tropical medicine.
Like I said-- the trip was a whirlwind. Since then I finished my last few weeks as a full time Employee at the hospital in Dallas, have had a fundraiser dinner, begun to sell and give away my possessions and am now on a much needed vacation with family. God is so faithful-- in moments of fear, stress, and hardship but also in joy, excitement, and preparation for the journey ahead.
Bless you all.
Please forgive me for lack of blogging lately! It has been a whirlwind and boy do I have a lot to catch you up on!
A few topics I plan on covering over the next month:or
1. trip to Haiti with We Care Haiti in late July
2. fundraising update
3. Joy and Rest
So first let's start with my trip to Haiti with Mr. Cundiff, Director of We Care Haiti, July 17th through the 21st. There are so many stories from just one trip it's hard to figure out how to summarize them in a blog post.
I've told friends that the first full day I was in Haiti we drove a dying man back to the 'mountain' to his family and my last day in Haiti we had 3 women show up with their dying sons in tow seeking help. And during that trip there was everything in between. This is Haiti. Extreme highs and lows. Extreme juxtapositions. I'm going to get lots of practice dealing with my emotions because on most days I want to laugh and cry all in the same day.
So Mr. Then (pronounced 'Ten'). Mr. Then is a 96 year old Haitian man who was dropped off at the guest house a few months ago with a necrotic right foot wound that had gone untreated for some time. Picture flies, foul odor, and no doctor at any of the hospitals We Care Haiti has affiliations with would touch Mr. Then. ALL OF THEM sent him away. So We Care Haiti took in Mr.Then, tended to his medical physical, and spiritual needs and nursed him back to life. He spent two months at the guest house with his family (2 grandsons and a caregiver) in an air conditioned room with food and drink and daily wound care. Mr. Then came to know Christ during this time after Mr. Cundiff shared it with him-- the most important part of the whole interaction. Unfortunately Mr. Then had a stroke. By the time I met Mr. Then on my trip he was in his last hours. He was in respiratory distress and had been having dreams and visions for the last two days about Jesus 'taking him up to the mountain' and 'calling him up to the mountain.' So on my first full day in Haiti, we loaded Mr. Then up in the car along with several We Care Haiti staff and Mr. Then's family and drove him up to the mountain to his family. He passed away on the 3 hour drive to the mountain which was a peaceful passing. We delivered his body to his family and community and shared how Mr. Then had accepted Christ before he passed, how he was well taken care of and comfortable, and how he was home with his Savior.
Without the help of We Care Haiti, Mr. Then would've died months ago when he first showed up on the doorstep of the guest house--dropped off by a motorcycle taxi because the family could only afford to send him alone.
During my time in Haiti I was able to tour both campuses where We Care Haiti has housing and ministries, I had a meeting with the director of the National School of Nursing, directed a meeting with 2 Haitian doctors, 2 Haitian nurses, and a local hospital administrator that will make up the backbone of the new Women and Children's Clinic that I'll be coordinating. I visited Grace Children's hospital and held children who had been abandoned there. I met the director of Grace Children's hospital and visited a poor community of people in Port Au Prince (think small tent homes side by side in an alley) where We Care Haiti provides clean drinking water. I attended the graduation ceremony for the first graduating class of the National Veterinary School (think professionals responsible for clean water, safe agricultural practices, and healthy animals-- not just a typical vet you would think of here in the U.S.). I met the Haitian staff of We Care Haiti and ate meals with them and communicated in broken English, French, and Creole (they already view me as family and the feeling is mutual). I spoke with 3 women and their 3 sons who showed up on a Monday night because they had been told that a 'blanc lives there that helps people.' I looked at their desperation and tried to bring hope, healing, and help while understanding my own inadequacy on the subject of tropical medicine.
Like I said-- the trip was a whirlwind. Since then I finished my last few weeks as a full time Employee at the hospital in Dallas, have had a fundraiser dinner, begun to sell and give away my possessions and am now on a much needed vacation with family. God is so faithful-- in moments of fear, stress, and hardship but also in joy, excitement, and preparation for the journey ahead.
Bless you all.
We Care Haiti Staff from L to R: Mr. Cundiff, me, Mrs. Carthy (Charly's wife holding Liza), Charly, Duckenson, Miss Edlange, Nanaz (mother of Liza)
Ms. Edlange is a nurse and will be working with me in the Women and Children's Clinic. She is a soft and quiet spirit with great experience and insight.
My favorite spot in the house, the front porch. I love spending a few minutes in the morning drinking a tasty cup of Haitian coffee and reading the Bible.
This is the view from the house on the mountain--beautiful, serene, peaceful. I'll being getting away to the mountain as often as time allows!
Mr. Cundiff and Cynthia at Grace Children's Hospital. She's 20 years old with what looks to be an essential tremor of her neck. She has lived at Grace Children's for quite some time... long enough to have a relationship with Mr. Cundiff
The room where children live at Grace Children's who do not have a home or family. Truly heart breaking.
Maxim and I. She lives at Grace Children's and completely stole my heart. Looks like she had a stroke as a child but she's quite functional.
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