DAY 6 CLINIC AND CHILDREN

We started a bit earlier this morning-- 7:30am.  First stop was at the clinic where we dropped off part of the group to get the clinic underway.  The rest of us continued to Terre Noir (Blanchard) for a special treat. Several team members decided to sponsor a child, which means providing tuition for the school year. (For children grades K-6 it is $30/month ($360/year) and for 7-9 is $50/month).  This morning we were able to meet the children and have pictures made with them. In the future the sponsor may keep in touch and see the child progress, send gifts, write letters. It was exciting for us but somewhat of a mystery to the little kids. We loved it!

We delivered the last of the dresses to little girls in kindergarten and put the dresses on them in the classroom.  We gave the little boys suckers and they were just as happy.  They then sang for us!

On the way back to the clinic the group stopped at the the brand new high school--just opened this fall with two seventh grade classes.  In April when Pat and Dorene were here it was a concrete block building just having the wiring installed, no windows, doors or stairways. Today in the beautiful sunlight the school building was beautiful inside and out.  To our surprise, Pastor Leon was there and he gave us a personal tour.

Meanwhile back at the clinic, the skeleton crew managed to sustain a healthy pace in tirage and with the doctors and the pharmacy but were happy when we returned about 9:30am and the team was back at full strength.  Even with the lighter start we handled over 70 patients by 3:30, the largest number so far.

We had only been back at the hotel a short time when Pastor Leon once again joined us for dinner. Katy Walker introduced us to Godly Play for our devotions, and Pastor Leon for one was rivited on it. We learned about God giving Moses the "Best Ways to Live", which he gave to the people in the desert, and which they gave to us.

Just as we were heading to our rooms the thunder rolled and an intense rain began that lasted over an hour.  The hotel staff escorted us back to our rooms under a gigantic umbrella.

John 13:34-35 

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

DAY 5 - LESSON IN FLEXIBILITY

The driver was late picking us up. We had finished singing "Rise, Shine, Give God the Glory" fifteen minutes before. When the van came, Arnold, Pastor Leon's lead staff for mission trips, stood quietly in our midst and told us that we would not be able to go to the clinic in Cite Soleil because the clinic was closed.  We would have to figure out something else to do today.

After evaluating several alternatives, we decided to turn in the blood pressure cuffs and stethescopes for paint brushes and rollers.  We journeyed to Terre Noire (Blanchard) , another of Pastor Leon's campuses in Port au Prince but in a different part of town.  (Cite Soleil is the poorest of the poor in Haiti which is among the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere).

SCHOOL PLAYGROUND CITE SOLIEL

Our scrubs became painting clothes.  One group went to paint the house of a man who after three years is about to be married.  (You have to show you have a good home, a means of support, and several other criteria before you can be married in the church).  They almost finished the interior and began on the exterior by lunchtime.

At the campus of Terre Noire another group painted the interior of the dormitories which are

 available there for mission teams who come to help.

A third group spent the morning in what became known as the "infirmary" where newly afflicted and recovering team members rested while Immodium took effect.

After lunch a few visited the girls' orphanage (also Pastor Leon's ) a couple of blocks away.

 LITTLE GIRLS' SHOES 

 neatly arranged in their bedroom.

 and then we had Pastor Leon's daughter who runs the school at Terre Noire tell us about how the school worked, who could come, what the results have been.  The students begin at 3 and the school is available until 9th grade (because of a new "high school" (grades 7-9) that just opened this fall.  They are taught to read, to write, how to behave, how to dress, how to succeed. Haiti cannot move away from its poverty until its people are educated.

NADEGE--Pastor Leon's daughter

Several team members elected to sponsor a child for a year ($360) and tomorrow they will be able to meet the child they are sponsoring and begin a relationship with him/her.  We are all looking forward to that meeting.

We ended the day around 2:30 pm. We began to appreciate a bit more the differences in a life in a country like Haiti and even the worst case scenario in our country.  Maybe today was more of a mission experience FOR us, than a healing mission FROM us.

Pastor Leon and his wife Jackie are joining us for dinner night and they are waiting.

Proverbs 22:6 

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

DAY 4 CLINIC and STEWARDSHIP LESSONS

Both yesterday and today the team saw 60 patients. Today went faster and we finished a bit early. We may try to have them schedule  a few more tomorrow. 

Pastor Leon talked Taylor into joining him to give a "Lesson" this afternoon at 2pm as part of his normal Tuesday afternoon lessons , this week on Stewardship. at his church.  8:26am at the pharmacy window, Taylor was studying for what she would deliver this afternoon. Through the window you can see the lines of people who had been there for 2 hours waiting to get into the clinic today.

It was a amazing how often little children ended up in the arms of someoneon the staff. They are just too precious.

Jules was in her element with all the little children. One who was there was one day old...born at home.  Others were a few days or weeks. 

This little girl had been happy, dancing, smiling until Triage. Then it took 3 people to hold her to get her temperature.

Look at those eyes!  What are you doing to me?  Mom proudly looking on .

After 60 patients, Triage team was done !  Time for picture taking with the translators. 

The school let out around 2 pm and the school children swarmed around the camera to get their pictures taken. 

Pastor Leon joined us for dinner and we had a good discussion about what we had experienced through the day in the different parts of the clinic.

Luke 18:15-17 

And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 

DAY 3 THE CLINIC , THE TEAM

Today was a day that almost defies description.  Triage began at 8am; the clinic closed at 4 pm.  Every one of us will recall this first day for a long time.

Whether we were in the pharmacy...

Working with the patients....

Taking a moment with a child...

Having a group pictire...

Or two docs at rest!

DAY 2 - CHURCH, DRESSES, TOUR, TEAM

Sunday starts early--7 am we loaded the van with the pharmaceuticals and dresses we bought and headed to church.  It was a 'doubleheader' with our first hour at Pastor Leon's church in Cite Sole.  As first time visitors to the church we each received a ribbon pinned on us by an usher-lady. After observing a couple dedicating their young son to the church, listening to wonderful singing, including two songs from Triangle Presbyterian from Durham (believe it or not!) and communion, we traveled for the second hour to Pastor Leon's church in Menelas. We arrived at this service just in time to have our second communion and the actual sermon, Malachi 3.7. After communion, Taylor was led up to the front by Pastor Leon where he explained we would be giving out dresses to little girls and had Taylor lead the congregation in prayer.

(We have pictures of the girls but they are in Taylor's camera. I will add them to a later blog.)

As the congregation dispersed, the uncertainty became replaced with the beginnings of chaos as we began giving out the dresses to the beautiful little girls who were sitting in their section at the rear of the church.  It was an amazing experience --from little boys shaking our hands and communicating with us with their eyes, to little girls sitting in their seats afraid they might be overlooked, to proud sisters and mothers, and sly little girls trying to get a dress of a different color.  Each person in our team had his or her own special moment before Pastor Leon finally had to bring our work to an end.

That was a hard act to follow, but I think the next couple of hours that the team spent at the clinic getting oriented, checking out the facility, working out the plan for tomorrow still was a significant period for us.

 GETTING SET UP AT THE CLINIC

Believe it or not, all this was done by noon. The afternoon was filled with lunch at the Oloffson Hotel, complete with bizarre art, a guided tour of Port o Prince --unexpected sights, and a welcome visit to an AIR CONDITIONED museum.

ART AT OLOFFSON's

 DOWNTOWN PORT ua PRINCE

We got back to the hotel at 4, took a break, had a brief work session, dinner, and we are now dispersed to play, rest, or whatever to be ready for real work in the morning.

This was a day the Lord made, and we surely rejoiced in it.

DAY 1 -- ARRIVAL IN PORT-au-PRINCE

4:15 AM came early but we all made it!  The trip was amazingly uneventful and we got through customs with all our donations before we knew it.  We were amazed at watching the men lift our nearly 50 lb bags onto the top of the van and tie them on.

 We stopped at a market to buy our lunch supplies for the week.The aroma of the fish was perhaps the most memorable part of that-- or maybe the huge bump in the road going into the market.  We were glad when we got to the Palm Inn hotel and got out of the van. We were packed in tight but were grateful for the air conditioning.  Coming through the gate was like paradise compared to the streets ourside, even with the armed guard who stays in our courtyard all the time.

Pastor Leon joined us for dinner and we began to prepare for our work tomorrow.

 After a short devotional and a session to organize the dresses (They will be given to the children during the church service tomorrow.) we are headed to bed.

We thank God for a safe day and a good beginning.    

ALMOST TIME

Tomorrow morning at 4:15 am the twelve member team from Westminster will gather at Raleigh-Durham airport to begin our great adventure.  We ask God to bless our endeavors and show us how best to serve Him and others during this week.  None of us is any good in the Creole language but we are going to follow the advice of St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."