March 10-2012 Oraini Haiti
Just when I think our Canada is getting too secular and non Christian, I get a heart warmer. On Jan 12, the anniversary of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, we happened to be at the Canadian embassy renewing a passport. They invited me outside to join their ceremony of remembrance. There under the palm trees and Canadian flag, the ambassador had a speech and following it, asked a lady to come forward to sing a song. She sang solo but probably a hundred people sang along. The song was “It Is Well, With My Soul”. She sang it with heart and emotion and many were wiping eyes. Then another speech was made about the importance to stand by the ones who lost family members here and how Canada remembers, and we cry with our Haitian friends. Then another lady was asked to come forward and led the whole group in singing the song “Lord Help Me Today, Show Me The Way, One Day At a Time”. Then a long emotional prayer was prayed to God, asking him to lead us, and keep us in a state of readiness for whatever unknown each day will bring. There were very few dry eyes left by the end.
The clinic has been working very smoothly. We are still seeing a pretty steady 1200 or so patients a month. One day we had a mom bring her terribly burnt little girl in (she carried her for miles). She had second degree on over half of her body. It was smeared with a powder and coffee grounds that was all caked on. As we started the long slow process of gently washing her and cleaning her, we heard the mom say... “I will bring the boy in tomorrow” WHAT? YOU HAVE ANOTHER CHILD BURNT TOO? We immediately sent Zack in the truck for the 45 min drive to her house and he brought the boy in too. Wow, what a job. A couple hours later, the two little children were bandaged and wrapped up like mummies and we took them back to their house. We seen them once for a dressing change a few days later but then they never came again. A couple weeks later when our curiosity got the better of us, and Ashley and I went hunting for them. They were doing awesome and were healing with no complications! The mom was sooooo happy to see us that she laughed and cried and hugged and talked and hugged us all over again. They are very poor, but she gave us bananas and even ran around catching a couple chickens to give to us. We thanked her profusely for them, and told her to continue to thank God for the healing that had happened.
We have seen some pretty bad and also interesting cases come in. I could tell you many stories. Some are beyond anything that can be done in this country of limited services and we regretfully tell them that. Thankfully most things can be treated here. I have experience with Drs and Hospitals all over Haiti here that don’t have medicine for one reason or other, and so my policy is to try to never be in the situation where we have to tell a patient, “Yes, we know what your problem is but we don’t have the meds to help you”. Because up here we know that means they will not ever be able to go get it either. We work under the principle that meds aren’t the only, or always best, solution to problems, but thanks to you, our donors, we do currently have a very well stocked pharmacy. Antibiotics, blood pressure meds, vitamins, and dewormers and basically everything we need, and then some. We still run prenatal classes and give out lots of pre and post natal vitamins. This is showing positive results, and the moms are learning better ways of doing things. Still, there is so much to be done though. Malnutrition is getting to be a problem here now again after such extreme wet weather and now extreme dry weather. People aren’t eating and drinking properly. We are doing vaccinations now too. Both for pregnant mothers and for children.
We are very excited to tell you that YES, we do have a nurse coming to replace Ashley when she goes home on April 22. Ashley has done amazing and we will miss her. Nurse Heather Isaac from Alberta will be coming to learn the language and stay a considerable amount of time. Thanks to God for providing for this need! We are very thrilled. Some of you other nurses who were considering it.... please keep it in mind for next round!
Some other news is that we also received an ambulance. It was donated from a Canadian named Jeff, and is now sitting in customs here in Haiti, waiting for some paperwork to be done. It is a 6 wheel drive, boxy little thing that is tough and made for climbing mountains and crossing rivers. Very exciting development! The container that it came in also has many other much needed supplies for the clinic including some exam tables and other misc equip. We and the community of Oriani thank the many people in Ontario who put this together and made this happen. I look forward to using the ambulance, instead of our Excursion, for taking people down to hospitals. I won’t tell you too many gory details but tarps in the back of the Ford SUV have a hard time always containing the contaminates from sick people or women in delivery. I feel so rewarded though when another life is saved. Last Sat a delivering moms life was saved by being able to get her down to a hospital in nick of time. I could tell you many stories.
We have enjoyed alot of company in the last couple months. Candace’s cousin Glen Troyer and family were here in Jan, then Anthony and Darla Penner (Candace’s bro and my sis) and their children; Cade and Jenna Toews (Lacey our school teacher’s siblings), and then my parents Robert and Sally. Between those times we also enjoyed the CSI boys from Roche Blanche, the CPS unit and boys with one of the boy’s parents Doug and Janey Mininger, the Orphanage girls, Virgil Wiebe’s and Ralph Regehr’s, and of course the Lastic canyon crew were also up a couple times. We have nurse Phyllis Friesen from Steinbach MB here now for a few weeks to help and give us of her expertise and ideas. She has many yrs experience working for CSI in yrs past. The day Phyllis leaves is the day Lacey’s parents Wally and Christine Toews fly in. We have never have a forlorn lonely feeling here! J If we would... we could always go visit Dallas’s or the other CSI house with their boys, all within 5-15 minutes away. Then of course there are the many many community friends and brothers and sisters of our church all around us, in our yard, and us in their yard’s, every single day.
I beg you to pray for our neighborhood boy Jonny. He is 18, unloved by many people because he is ugly, dirty, and was kicked out of his parents house already a few yrs ago. Today he drank himself into a stupor, and then took a rope and was on his way to hang himself from a cliff nearby, when another boy stopped him. He came and sat by our gate for awhile after that, too drunk to walk. He makes our hearts break. So sad.
Two days ago we sang, prayed, and held the hands of a dying man named Sovay. He was in his last moments. I slipped away to get some supper and so I missed his passing by a few minutes. We had earlier taken him to a hospital in Port for AIDS patients but there was nothing left to do for him so he came back up to die in his house. We had visited him a few times in his house and I am confident that he died in the Lord. I doubt he weighed 80 lbs at death, most awful looking living skeleton you can imagine. His wife got AIDS 5 yrs ago, and then he got it from her. She and their children are still healthy but he is the first to go. 42 yrs old. We have also buried two other of our church people in the last 2 months. One aged sister, and one 6 month old girl. Both were serious other sicknesses and the outcomes were predicted. But in this country death is very common, and if they die with faith in God, with their sins sent to the mercy seat of God ahead of time, what a rejoicing there is when they arrive! From a life of poverty and sickness to a life of bliss and beauty.
We asked a local extremely poor brother recently...
“Brother Jwa, Do you wish you were rich? “
“Rich in Faith?”
“Well, that is good, but I meant rich in money.”
“I wish to be richer in Faith.”
“Yes me too, but I ask if you wish you were a rich man.”
“I feel like I have a riches and a big house waiting for me in Heaven someday, and if I can remain rich in faith then someday I can have my riches ... IN HEAVEN!”
“Very good. I feel that way too, but you still haven’t answered my question.”
“No. I do not wish to be rich in dollars because then I would be poor in faith, and would miss my heavenly home. Rich in faith will bring me everything.”
Awesome eh?
We have used some of your “special” donations to build a few houses for desperate situations. One, a lady’s little 7ft x 7ft straw house burned at night and she barely escaped alive yet with minor injuries. She lost everything. With church volunteers and $300 she now has a nice little stone house with nine sheets of tin for a roof. Another little old granny who lived in a banana leaf teepee, was so bad off that even locals told me they often cry for her, also got a little stone house with a tin roof. Her’s cost 450 dollars because we had to hire the masons. Now we built another larger ($600) house for a lady with many children who was in a terrible situation. After her husband died she was forced to rent a house from a pastor who began to take his rent from her by visiting her bed. This kind of stuff is almost unbelievable but yet far too common here. Desperate people are taken advantage of all the time by people with power. So sad. Today she, with tears in her eyes, thanks us (mostly you Anthony and Darla) and thanks God for delivering her from her several yrs of bondage.
It’s so amazing how much help can be done with so little money here. But of course our concern is that whatever and however we help... that it be done with the blessing and direction of God. To help desperate situations but not be creating dependency, or have it in any way be seen as reward for coming to church. For this reason we have a group of Haitian church brethren whom we sit and consult with on every aid project, and examine whether this is a legit need or not. I have found they share our same concern that help be given properly and only where needed, and they are careful to not to let us veer off course. I love having that security in being able to lean on our local brethren for guidance. I feel accountable to them as well.
The special little afternoon school for teens who have never been to school, or learned to read and write, is doing amazing. A few of you gave some money ($800) to keep it operating and by all observations and reports the teachers picked up courage again and are teaching the students to read very quickly. One of the young men in the school, named Jonas, is also in church doctrine class and is very excited about being able to read the Bible for himself. He had about given up hope of ever being able to do that.
Speaking of our church Bible and doctrine class... We have 21 in class now. I believe over half of them are singles. One of them is our son Cam. Baptism could be in a couple months if all goes as planned. These converts are not all the work of us white “missionaries”. I hear and see our Haitian brethren at work in our community. I see them in groups going to visit people and to sing and pray with them. One time Glenn Troyer and I had been walking for an hour, up and down and over the hills, and suddenly we came upon a group of our brethren at a man’s house. We could hear them singing for him and his sick mother. They then had a prayer and words of encouragement and went on their way. I was thrilled at how seriously they take the Great Commission. This man Enis is now born again with a clear testimony of a radically changed life.
Life is extremely busy yet enjoyable here, and with some new clinic developments (that I may tell you about in the next newsletter), it will only get busier and even more exciting. One thing I still do NOT enjoy is the jarring rock road that breaks both our truck and me in the grueling 3-4 hr (one way) trip to Port and back to get everything from supplies, to groceries, to meds. Last night we got home from Port after midnight. Now I find tie rod ends and ball joints going bad on the truck again, so I will get parts brought in and rip it all apart in our dirt driveway here again. But that’s all part of being here. The scenery when we drive... is never boring! From cliffs, mountains waterfalls, precipices, to masses of humanity. Do you ever think of it that people, made in the IMAGE OF GOD, are the best part of “nature”, the pinnacle of Gods creation? Why do we sometimes think that we need to see mountains, rivers, waterfalls etc to see the beauty of nature? Do we see glory of the “image” of God, and a beautiful soul in each human we meet?
Ketli,our little Haitian foster daughter, is the most amazing little charmer. She is very intelligent, and sensitive of nature. Thanks to Candace’s deep concern and hourly care, Ketli is back to almost perfect health and growing rapidly. We love her deeply, and since the parents haven’t ever come to visit her... we don’t know what God will work out yet for us and her. Our family is well and happy here. The children are loving school. We ran our cistern dry so we hauled water in the back of a pickup to dump into it. We should be able to make it a few more weeks now till the rainy season hopefully starts. Please pray for these people that they can have a successful yr in their fields and gardens so that they can rise above the slump of this last year. They say the last time they had a hunger season like this was in 2008. Some say 08 was worse, but some say this yr is worse.
I am not stressed, or unduly worried about this... but if God touches your heart to donate to this clinic cause, please do so promptly as our funds are low after paying customs and taxes for the ambulance and container contents. Like the Haitian leaders here announce after the Sunday collection... “may God bless everyone who gave today, and also all those who didn’t give” J
Keith Toews
Administrator- Confidence Health Center
Oriani, Haiti
