The last couple weeks at
our little clinic have been filled with change. And there is more
just ahead. The months of November and December are bringing quite a
bit of staff change here, which is both difficult and good at the
same time. So far, James and Katie Erdley left for home on November
16th, at the end of their term. Ben Lapp arrived here
November 1st to begin preparing to fill James's spot. Ben
has been doing great and adjusting well. There is another girl coming
this week to fill Katie's spot, and then another girl coming in early
December to fill the vacancy from my upcoming departure...
incidentally this is the last blog post I will make here! That fills
my heart with sadness and many mixed emotions. But back to the
staff... Autumn Stauffer who was here for 3 months earlier this year
and then returned to the States for a while due to health reasons, is
returning as well, in early December. So currently, there is much
shifting around and flexibility of filling in the cracks and doing
what needs to be done to help things go smoothly right now. We were
blessed to have Whitney Smith, a former staff member and head nurse,
return to help us out for this month of November. It was a life-saver
for us and help beyond measure to have her here faithfully pitching
in and lifting the load. We had a lot of rain this month... it had us
getting creative trying to dry laundry and stuff, but it made for
some very short or non-existent clinic days... which was a welcome
break. At the moment we are seeing some sunny days again...and large
clinic days. But God is just very faithful and is supplying all our
needs! An answered prayer since last time I wrote is the trail/road
between our location and Ti-Guave... it has been repaired and even
some larger vehicles have been able to get through now, so that is
definitely a praise report. Please pray that throughout all the
changes at clinic currently and in the month ahead, that God would
just continue to give the needed strength and grace. Pray for the new
ones that they would learn and adjust fast, and for Kayla our head
nurse (by the end of December she will be the only American staff
member at clinic who's been here longer than a few months) that
she'll have abundant grace and wisdom as she continues to hold the
course here and works with a new team. We know... that our God is
faithful, and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever...
and we rest in that.
One morning at clinic, the
staff were in a jolly, picture-taking mood. This is Madame Daniel (a
cleaning lady) and Zitha (one of the pharmacists).
Then a few others had to
get in the picture... Madame Leger (the other Haitian pharmacist),
and Kadet, one of our gate guards.
We had a very sad case
appear at clinic early one Sunday morning... a local young man who we
know very well and who had been caught stealing, was brought to
clinic. The story was that he had run from the authorities and fell
in a wooded area, giving him some serious cuts and trauma to his
face. He had a lot of bleeding in his mouth, scrapes and cuts in a
few other places, a broken jaw, and was hurting all over... could
barely walk, and barely talk. This was a young man that we knew had
stolen from us, and broken in to the clinic... and here we were,
bandaging his wounds as he was in custody and on his way to jail. In
a quiet moment outside the clinic as he waiting to be transported to
Ti-Guave, and we had just finished bandaging him up as best we
could.... he asked me to pray for him, among his parting words. Would
you all please join us in prayer for Dennison, this young man? He has
heard much truth and I pray these difficult circumstances in his life
will cause him to seek Jesus as the true help and fulfillment he
seeks. I won't post a picture here of how he looked that morning, in
respect to the people who dislike graphic pictures of injuries....but
please just pray for Dennison with us that God could reach him
through this.
Another kind of disturbing
moment we recently had at clinic was when a large snake (very rare
for Haiti and our area) was discovered one evening when we went to
check on patients staying in our hospital. The creature was draped
over the shelves where we keep all the patient charts, and thankfully
James swept the area with his light before just walking over to the
shelves. After some back-up help was called, and a machete appeared,
the boys made quick work of him.... and we all shivered and sighed.
=P It was a bit unnerving, making us wonder if there would be more,
but so far we haven't seen any of his kin.
This is Ben, currently the
newest staff member.
This sweet couple braved
the rain one day and came for their blood pressure program rendezvous
together.
One afternoon I went to
clinic to put a bandage on a small wound that looked like it might
only take a bandaid or something slightly bigger. As I cleaned the
wound I noticed a small piece of straw in the one corner of it. When
it didn't brush off I got a small tweezers and tugged a bit. When
that didn't work I got a bigger tweezers and pulled a little harder.
To my surprise the tiny piece of straw got bigger, and bigger, and
out came a piece of cornstalk a few inches long! The 9 year old boy
claimed he had gotten the wound from a fall 8 days before and didn't
know there was anything in his leg. So.... that was a fun and
satisfying conclusion. ;-P
This is a sweet baby born
at home, to one of the ladies who followed our prenatal program
during her pregnancy. Always a delight to see healthy moms and babies
after a healthy pregnancy and birth.
Now I must bid my
farewell, to this blog and you, its readers. Soon...too soon... I'll
be leaving this beautiful place and its people. Thank you for
enduring the long blog posts and sometimes gruesome pictures. ;)
Please keep praying for Haiti, this clinic, the staff, these
patients... all the people affected by the work here. Prayer is
powerful, and we depend on it more than you know. And thank
you, again.
-Mis Sharon
