Birthing Center Project!

BIRTHING CENTER PROJECT

Gospel to Haiti*   is excited to announce a fundraiser for a brand new Birthing Center. For years, out of necessity, we have operated our birthing center out of the main clinic that we run in rural Haiti. This means that women in labor have to share the same recovery center with patients in all kinds of conditions. For years, we have dreamed of creating a center where Haitian women can give birth and recover in a facility designed for that purpose; where they can experience privacy and the best maternal care possible. Join us in making this opportunity reality!

Think of the unparalleled maternity care experienced here in the United States.

So, we are reaching out to you for help. The projected cost of the Birthing Center Project will is about $150,000.00. You can partner with us and make a difference! Your gift, no matter how great or small, will bring lasting physical and spiritual benefits to Haitian mothers and their babies for years to come. If 1,000 people gave only $150.00 each, we would reach our mark in no time! Would you consider helping us make a difference?

Do you need a year end tax break by charitable giving? Consider supporting the Birthing Center Project!

Ways to give:

Or send a check to:

Gospel To Haiti Inc.   E4846A Meyer Rd. Reedsburg, WI. 53959    

Help us reach our Goal!

 Hello everyone! Greetings to y'all from Haiti! I am Gloria Nolt! November 13th I made the big trip from Iowa to Haiti! Since than my days  have been full of experiences . This has been my first time in Haiti so upon arriving I really didn't know what to expect! So far I love it! I work in the pharmacy at the clinic, help deliver babies bandage up cuts, etc. What ever else needs to be done!

There's always so much to learn this pass week Autumn Stauffer came to visit us! We really enjoyed having her here for a couple of days and  I really appreciate it when she offered me her arm to practice putting IV in!

God never changes,  no matter where we are at ! His beautiful paintings,  his protecting hand, his love for his people and so much more! Its just as much here as it is the states! Some days are tough; you miss your family, there's the language barrier when you try to communicate with the people and it gets really frustrating, those crazy busy days, etc. It's those days that you really learn to trust God to help you through! You realize alone I am worthless but with God I can face the day in faith and know he will provide for our needs and for all the people around us!

One story that really stuck with me happened over the time Marcille was in the states for a wedding! It was 6:30 Sunday morning there was a knock at the gate announcing an emergency at the clinic , we rushed  out of bed up to  the clinic, upon arriving we found a big crowd (the whole Aleg town must have been there ) an in the middle of the crowd lay a cot which upon it lay a young mother in labor with high blood pressure an seizures (eclampsia). We rushed around did what we could an prepared her for the bumpy 2 hour  ride to another hospital! On the way there the baby was born an not In good shape at all they worked hard to keep him alive when they  finally arrived at there destination they thought the baby was gone , but it seemed to come back to life an they continue fighting for it !  After handling the mom an baby over to other nurses an doctor an hoping an Praying that they will both be ok the tired crew headed back up the mountains!  they arrived back at the mission with their story to tell of how people along the trail had given them blankets an towels to use (as they had grabbed none of that before they headed out ), an water! We didn't hear from the mom and baby for awhile but when we did it wasn't the best news the baby didn't survive💔 an the mom was still in the hospital! My prayer is that God would be with the family an comfort them all! John 16:33 In the world he shall have tribulation but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world!  In this world there gonna be hard things an  we don't understand why it happened but we know God is in control an has overcome this world! In that we can find peace!

God be with y'all! Thanks for all your support and prayers! 

Love, Mis Gloria

God Answers Prayer

Recently, I've been thinking about prayer... I forget how powerful prayer is and how Close God is. He is always there right beside us all we need to do is reach out to Him. 

I was telling one of my Haition friends about some personal struggles I was having and  she just said "Marcile, pray about it. God says ask and ye SHALL receive" ! Its just that simple but yet sometimes it's so hard to have faith and beleive that God does hear even if he doesn't answer right away. But it's so encouraging and exciting when you see prayers answered! 

The answered prayer that sticks out most to me most is one of the Births we had last week... It was the mom's second baby and she was moving along quite fast in labor. I expected things to keep moving fast and thought maybe we'd have a baby before too long. But for some reason I had this lerking feeling or thought or instinct or what ever you want to call it🙃 that it might not be that way. Working here in the medical field and it seems especially in Births it's amazing how often that instinct/feeling is actually real.  The laboring mom reached pushing stage with full blast contractions. Baby's heart beat was normal all a long and actually stayed normal all through out the birth. Our poor mamma had a lot of work to do. The tired mama finially delivered her big boy after an extremely long exhausting 2 hours for her and the nurses. It may not seem that long to you but for a mom's second baby it's long, also living back in the mountains approx. 5 hours away from a hospital, being late in the evening when the trails aren't safe to travel it's not a good feeling!!! The family and nurses prayed that baby out. God answered our prayers with a screaming healthy baby boy and a healthy mama!💙

There are many other prayers that get answered... The little things like sunshine, we've been having rain EVERY SINGLE DAY and I must say I've been complaining about it but God blessed us with 2 beautiful days of sunshine! Another one is one of the mom's on the prental program was extremely anemic. I did everything I could to help her hemaglobin rise so that she could deliver here at the clinic. She came in labor... It was her 6th baby and she always had great Births. She did NOT want to need to make the extremeemly uncomfortable ride out to town, and by the way we didn't either! It was late at night and like I said before the trail isn't safe at night the last while. I was afraid to recheck her iron but we prayed and it was normal!!! 

God also answered our prayers by sending us another nurse to replace our pharmacist that will be leaving the beginning of December. Gloria Nolt will be filling Micky's place! I'll let her introduce herself in one of the next blog posts.

One of my favorite things about starting out a new day at clinic is our prayer time each morning. One of the clinic staff prays outside with all the paients that came to be seen that day. Then inside the clinic the clinic staff gathers to pray together before the day starts. It always warms my heart when I hear different prayers.

We would really appreciate your help in prayer! Some of the things we have been praying for/about have been... 

• Guy clinic staff. We are desperately in need of 2 guys to work in clinic. 

• There are some hungery youth that have been asking questions about serving the Lord and living a Christian Life that glorifies God. We have been meeting with them and having Bible studies. Please help us pray that God would give us wisdom and continue to open their hearts. 

• Safety on the trail/traveling 

• A continual close relationship with God for us clinic staff so that we can be that shining light and clear testimony for the Lord. 

• Funds for our new clinic building/birth center

-Mis Marcile

**Editor's note: Marcile sent this to me to post a few weeks ago, but due to editorial mismanagement 🙈, it's being published today.  Sorry for any confusion this may have caused!

Malnutrition Follow Up.

 Here’s a follow up on few of the babies that have gotten put on the plumps-nut/milk program. They have an appointment, every two weeks, where they come in;  we take the weight and then give them either milk powder or plumpy-nut packets for until their next appointment.

This little girl, Milodia, is 6 months old and weighs, 15lb now. She came in about a month and 1/2 after she was born, and weighed just over 5lbs. It’s been fun watching her grow and get healthy.  She has such a sweet personality  and smiles a lot.  I remember hiding the picture on the left on my phone, because it was hard for me to see her like that, but now she’s chubby with plenty of rolls. ☺️

Roselanda and Roselin are now 13 months old. The twins came in when they were 11 months old and weighed 8lb (Roselin) and 10lb (Roselanda). Roselin now weighs 11lb and his sister, 17 pounds.

Here are some of the other precious little ones that are on the program. When I have an opening in the pharmacy, I’ll go watch Daniella do their checkups. Watching them grow and get healthy, are one of those things that make me stop and thank Jesus for the blessing and gift of life! 

-Michaela

Thank You!

       

Thanks!!

        Thanks to everyone that contributed to the purchase of a new ultrasound machine for the clinic. The need has been met! Any monies over what was needed will be used for general clinic expenses. 

       We are in the planning stages of a new building for our clinic complex. It will include space dedicated to all things babies and their mamas. An operating room/dental office that visiting teams of Dr's and Dentist's will be able to use for specialty stuff that can be very difficult to get done, especially for the mountain people that we serve. Keep watching as more info regarding this upcoming project will be coming soon!

Again, thanks and God bless each one for continuing to support GTH! 

NEW ULTRASOUND NEEDED!

Over the last couple years we have been very thankful for an ultrasound machine that was donated by a very generous donor for our use here at Centre De Sante Clinic. Unfortunately, it broke down and we are in desperate need of a new one!

The ultra sound machine is a very important tool for the clinic here in Haiti as the next closest location is an extremely uncomfortable moto ride out to town. The ride is especially uncomfortable for pregnant women. Many of the woman that we send for an ultrasound are unable to go because they don't have the funds, family will not allow them to go or they can't take the uncomfortable ride. Here at clinic, we provide an ultrasound for almost free and can be done on their scheduled appointment, making it much easier for them AND us! 

For me as a midwife, it is extremely important that these woman get an ultrasound exam done. Especially for some of the woman with high risk pregnancies. There are instances when an ultrasound exam is needed ASAP to help us make decisions in emergencies and just regular life, but its impossible for the mom to go get one done. 

There are approximately 250 pregnant woman that come to the clinic for their monthly prenatal checkup. I send over half of these women to town for an ultrasound but only approximately 5 of them are able to go. 

The ultrasound machine that we are hoping to buy costs approximately $6,500. At this point $3200 has been donated and we are hoping to raise the other $3,300 asap!

Donations can be made via PayPal by hitting the donate button in the sidebar, or by sending a check to: 

                                                                      Gospel To Haiti Inc.                                                                                                                                     E4846A Meyer Road                                                                       Reedsburg WI. 53959

Your help is GREATLY appreciated!

-Marcile

Update from Mis Marcile

 《Saturday》

It feels so good to have a quiet relaxing Saturday!  I'm laying here in a hammock in the gazebo enjoying the nice breeze and reminiscing over the last 2 weeks. There's something about a breeze/wind that is so relaxing... it always makes me think about God's voice... sometimes loud and sometimes in a whisper then sometimes it feels like he's not there at all because you don't hear or feel anything. But that's where faith comes in and you believe that God is still there!

The last 2 weeks have been... fun, exciting, thrilling, sad, exhilarating, exhausting and amazing! I'll start with the fun and exciting:)

Some of my family came to visit me and my brother (James)... I was extremely excited about this visit because I hadn't seen them since I came to Haiti in November 2019. It's always so refreshing to have friends and family come and visit. They did an amazing job of helping with the work around the mission like house cleaning, pressure washing, tearing down the old cook shack, and just "being around" and "being themselves"!

=Bassin Bleu=

On Saturday we decided to make a trip to Bassin Bleu. We left early in the morning and arrived around lunch time. The ride was less than enjoyable for me as I get car sick! We hiked down a little foot path for about 20 min. Bassin Bleu is a beautiful place... there are 2 huge pools of water and a beautiful water falls. We spent hours enjoying the nice cool water, resting, eating and watching the guys jump off of the rocks into the water.

One Tuesday we decided the make a quick trip to the beach... thankfully clinic was small so we could get our work done and head out. It was such a relaxing fun day! Good food, snorkeling, clear skies, hot sun, good laughs and then on the way home machine problems out in the middle of no where... thankfully the guys got it fixed with out any problems or it wouldn't have been fun!

My sister Lydia had some friends here in Haiti that she wanted to visit. So one afternoon we hiked up to Jean Wilner and Selma. It started pouring down rain about 5 min out the trail which made for a very interesting hike!

Then the sad and exhausting... 

We have been having quite a few births, most of them have gone well. But one birth especially was difficult... A mom came in 29 weeks pregnant with contractions... after observing her and doing a urine test I saw she had an infection. We treated her for the infection and decided to keep and observe her for any further change. I went home to grab a bite to eat and rest a bit. About an hour and half later a knock came at the gate, a nurse is needed at clinic. When I arrived at the clinic I was surprised see the the mom feeling pushy and at 7 cm dilated! We quickly discussed our options and decided there was no time to go to another hospital and we quickly prepared for the birth of a premature baby. 10 min later a pink wiggling tiny girl made her appearance!  She did very well the first 2 min the started going backwards fast. once she was wrapped in a heating pad and put on oxygen things looked better and after discussing the situation and talking with the parents we decided to transport to a hospital with a NICU. She made it to the hospital, but was not in good shape... they did everything they could, but the next morning we got the news that she went to be with Jesus.

I'm so thankful for Gods continual presence and guidance. He is so faithful! 

Please continue to pray for us... 

~ Mis Masi

Meet Our Clinic Staff

 "Clinic Staff"

I thought i'd introduce you to our staff here at clinic! I know its been done over the years but staff members change frequently, especially us whites!

So here we are...

This is Kadet and Frè Daniel. If you would come into clinic in the morning they are the first clinic staff you would meet. Daniel and Kadet take turns switching off working at the hand washing station and inside the front clinic door, helping with crowd control, calling people in for their rendezvouz and anything else that needs to be done. They both come faithfully every morning at 7:30 and are the first ones at clinic in the morning.

Frè Dereck sits inside a window giving people numbers as they come in. He takes their hospital card, writes down their info and collects the money. This man we all call our papa.. he has a heart of gold and adopted us all for his children!

Frè Dolph calls in the patients, and weighs them, they then sit on the bench and wait to have their vitals checked.

Reynold is our young energetic, alway on time, always cheerful worker! He and his little family live 2hrs walking distance from the clinic. He once told me that if he is running late he runs to clinic and can make  it in an hour and 45 min!!!! 

He also works in the front room... finds the dossiers for Dolph, checks vitals, and writes it on the dossier, he also keeps his eyes open for anyone that comes in with high blood pressure or other maladi (sickness) that needs to be seen to ASAP.

Frè Noez is our "tonton" (uncle) he makes us laugh until the tears roll! I'm not really exactly sure what to tell you his job description is... he is pretty much every where helping with crowd control,whenever we have a situation where we need prayer we call him, when there's a situation where strict instruction is needed or encouragement he is there reinforcing what ever we say, he has a heart of compassion and love for his people and takes to time to sit down with patients and really find out what they need.

Doctor Evans is a doctor from T-guave he comes to our clinic every Friday to do consultations. He often has rendezvvouz with people that he follows and we also keep certain situations for him to see. He keeps us all laughing with his big jokes!

Doctor Jacques has been here since June. She has been an extreme blessing to the clinic here. It's so nice to have a doctor here every day and not just on Fridays (Dr Evans comes fridays).

Mis Leda has been a faithful worker here for many years. she does "tons" of consultations every day. Since she's been here the longest and since Emma has left us she is my go to nurse when I have questions.

Mis Simose is our skinny nurse! She's a sweet and willing worker. She also does A LOT of consultations every day.

Mis Junille just started working a week ago. She came to fill the spot of one of our other nurses that isnt working anymore.

This is me! Im a Certified Professional midwife and work in the prental program we have. I see approx 5-10 pregnant moms a day. I also am the midwife for the moms that come here in labor. We have approximately 10 births here a month. I love my job/work here!

Daniella works in the milk and malnutrition program. She also helps me in the prenatal program, blood pressure program, helps with bandage patients and anything else that comes in. She is a huge blessing in helping out with difficult situations where there is spiritual things going on with the patient as she understands the language amd culture here in ways that we don't.

James works in the blood pressure program. He sees about 15 patients a day... I often hear him and his patients laughing and joking! Alot of his patients are little old grannys. Even though he has to be hard on them sometimes to not eat certain food or drink coffee, they love him!

Brendon... I had taken this pic before he left and I was planning on having this blog written by now, but anyway I'm going to stick it in. He isn't here anymore but left a huge spot... we don't have a replacement yet and are praying that God would send us someone! He was in charge of the bandage patients and helped with alot of other things too. We miss you ALOT Brendon.

These are our Pharmacists...Micky Smith, Zitha and Teres I can't say enough about them! I often walk into the pharmacy and they have piles of prescriptions to fill out, I ask them how its going, they just laugh and say "Good"! Micky does an amazing job dividing out meds for each day. It can be extremely stressful and frustrating because often times we run put of meds for the day and she has to figure something out... either giving prescriptions to go to another hospital or digging into her next days supply.

Madam Daniel and Sè Rose are our cleaning and Laundry ladies. We call both of them "Mama"!

Patrick cuts our gauze.

God bless you all! Please keep us in your prayers, Mis Marcile

08/28/20

Hello to everyone reading this. 

Wow, what a crazy week we’ve just had. 

Last Sunday tropical storm Laura hit us. It rained Sunday morning harder than I’ve ever seen in my life. All three of our houses on the compound got water in them. Us guys house was the worst. We had water pouring in underneath a door we longer use. We were using a 6 gallon shop-vac, a mop, and several towels to try and keep ahead of the water pouring in. Not until after James was able to put a piece of an old moto tube under the door and the rains lightened up were we able to keep the water from pouring in.

During mid-day the rains lightened but the wind increased until that evening. 

Sometime in the late afternoon, we were informed that a tree fell onto Violitha’s father and killed him. 

Violitha is a student doctor that has been working at our clinic between the times she is in port-au-prince for tests. She is a good friend to all of us that work at clinic. He was a good Christian man, so he is now in a much better place, but we are all saddened by his death. 

Please lift Violitha’s family in prayer as his death was very sudden and such a shock. 

Monday was a very small day at clinic. We only had 5 patients. Most people either couldn’t come to clinic or they were cleaning up after the storm. 

Tuesday we had 35 patients and everything went about as usual. Tuesday evening Marcile got a call from a lady she had been following here at clinic that was pregnant with twins. Several of us jump on a machine and go to her house to check on her. She was in labor and unable to walk to clinic so we brought her down to clinic. 

Wednesday morning at 5:14 John Walner, one of the guys that works at the compound came to our gate saying his wife was in labor and needing a ride from church to clinic, which is about a 3 minute drive on the machine. 

I go pick Selma up on the machine and bring her to clinic. 

About 20 minutes after she gets to clinic the baby was born. 

The baby boy is their first child. John Walner was so excited. I can’t even describe how happy he was. 

I was expecting to be back in the states when the baby was to be born but he was born a month early. I am very happy I could be here and experience the joy with John Walner and Selma. 

Later that day the twins of the mother we brought in the night before were born. One a girl and the other a boy. 

Wednesday evening I took 2 patients down to the tigwav hospital that had come to clinic that day. Mis Micky also came back from her brother’s wedding so I picked her up while I was down in town. 

Thursday was pretty much another normal day at clinic except there were 2 more babies born early that morning. 

Since mis Emma is no longer here Marcile has been doing all of the births. She has had 5 births in 2 days, and has handled it all like a boss. Great job Marcile.

Today was a crazy busy day at clinic. I didn’t count how many patients yet but it was a lot. 

We had 2 drs and 3 nurses in clinic today. 

Dr Males from the states is in the area for a few days so he was here at clinic today. 

I am very sad that I only have 2 days at clinic yet before I leave. 

I will miss my work here at clinic and the people I work with. 

I’ve seen very many happy people.  I’ve prayed for miracles to happen and some of those prayers came true. 

On the flip-side, I’ve seen many hurting people, not only hurting because of a medical problem but hurting spiritually.  There’s also been a few times where God did not answer my prayer for a miracle the way I had prayed. 

It’s very difficult to explain the mixed emotions I feel about leaving here, but I’m at the end of this chapter of my work here in Aleg. 

I will never regret coming here as I have learned so much. Probably the thing I’ve learned the most is to simply trust God in any situation I find myself. 

No matter what you are facing in life, ‘look to your All Mighty Father in heaven.’ 

You will never face anything in life that is to big for the creator of the universe to handle. 

            Brendan Horner. EMT

Glimpses

 Words don’t always come, so pictures will have to speak. Here is some of the moments that blessed me over the past couple months.

While a soft rain was falling, and the sun rising; the roosters, and every morning creature, were filling the background air with their songs of praise. It all made me stop for a moment, and ponder what Heaven must be like. ♥️ 

Brendan, Emma and I had just come back from clinic after a perfect birth.

That night was a blur, and it still remains somewhat blurry in my memory. 

It was 10:00 at night, people were everywhere roaming from room to room....Voices of chatter mingled, with the cry of those in labor, filled the air. Things felt out of control, yet we had no choice but to pull through. And we did, with God’s help!

  Once the night ended, there was a baby born, and two other patients sent out to town. One of those, was this lady. They came to visit us one day, while on their way back home.

This was during church. It blessed me so much to look behind me and see this child singing her heart out! ❤️ Most people don’t have hymn books. They sing from memory, even the little children.

We went and visited a friend “doc” (she’s in her 3-4th year of school).  Covid had closed her school, so she came up to Aleg to stay with her family. She spent several months here and helped out at clinic doing various jobs.  Now that school has started again, she has returned to Port-a-Prince to continue her studies.  Her joyful personality, sweet spirit, and her help will be missed.

The gifts they give, bless me over and over again. Financially living here is tough for a lot of people, and yet they still give.

This little girl is a twin, but her brother is a lot smaller. I guess they favored her over the boy when it came to food!?!? 🤷🏼‍♀️ Anyways, the mom had stayed in the hospital room for a least a week, while we monitored the little boy. Both babies got put on the plumpy-nut/milk program and are doing (especially the boy) a lot better.

Ps. She’d often greet me with a smile, when I’d go see her in the mornings.  ❤️

It took this introvert awhile to appreciate this sight...This is often the giveaway to knowing wether or not you’re having “unexpected” company.

My ears caught the sound of voices in beautiful praise, while I strolled across the guy’s patio. It seemed like it was coming from bosses house, so I followed it. Sure enough, I found these three playing and singing away.  ❤️ While I sat there and listened, my thoughts turned heavenward, wondering what it will be like to stand around the throne of God singing praises that all can understand. Oh, what a day that will be! ☺️ 

Until next time,  Michaela