New Baby

Left to right: Father, 12 year-old brother, mother, assistant holding baby.

This is the second of 2 births this week at clinic. In this picture they are almost ready to head for home. This lady came in around 6:30 or so in the morning. When we went down a little before clinic time, we decided we should stay. We hadn't eaten breakfast yet so Shana graciously sent us plates. We went into the adjoining room for a few minutes and ate really fast! After the other birth this week being traumatic, I felt a little traumatized already. I noticed pretty early on that we were again dealing with meconium staining--not a good sign. At one point, she was feeling pretty weary, and I told her that with God she could do it. She asked me to pray with her so I had a short prayer in Creole, sang a little, and prayed in English too. I didn't know if she was a Christian or not. Then for a while things just weren't moving along. I was again a bit worried. Clinic was about over by now, and Mis Leida poked her head in. She said she thought she might need to go out. That discouraged me because I wasn't sure that was necessary, but the people had heard her say it. Needless to say when I saw progress not too long after that I was glad. The baby was born, but didn't breathe or cry right way. I almost thought we had lost it, but praise God, He was faithful again. It was a healthy big boy--8 lbs 14 oz. The mother and father were so happy. The mother told me that she remembered how I had prayed with her. I asked her if she was a Christian, and she said not yet. She seemed to have some interest. I told her I'd pray for her. Most people just go on their way in a routine fashion, but this family was so happy and so grateful. The 12 year old brother held the baby and seemed pleased. The father could hardly stop smiling. It was special to be able to witness to them and see them so happy and thankful. About 1 1/2 hours after the birth, they were all ready to walk home!

Gravity Wins...

This young gentleman had a problem with gravity; apparently
gravity won. :( You guessed it- he fell out of the garden.

The nurses had a hard time telling exactly what was wrong with his arm;
there was obviously something not right, but they weren't sure whether
it was out of joint or broken. So we took him out to the hospital in Ti
Guave; there we were informed that, since they didn't have any current
at the time, it would be impossible to have an x-ray done that night.
We decided to run on out to Leogane to the Medicin San Frontier
hospital there. (Doctor's Without Borders). We dropped him off there
and stopped in the next day to check in on him........

As you can see, he also has an eye difficulty. He's had
that since he was two years old, apparently....
The next day, we found him sitting in a hospital bed
with a full arm cast. The arm was broken in two
separate places, but had gone back together well.
His parents told us that the doctor said he wanted
to check out the eye problem as well; they seemed
pretty happy about that!!! Pray that God's will be
done there....

Here's Thea with a stitch job she did this week. This young teenage
girl had managed to slice her wrist open during a tumble-mishap
she experienced on her way home from school.

Careful stitching pays off in a reduced chance of
infection, and less scarring....

Thea's doing a great job and picking up some good experience here!

Finished product. If you think (like I do sometimes!) "Wow, these
people sure take a lot of tumbles! Maybe they just need to be a
little more careful!", then you really need to come pay us a visit,
and spend a few days on these trails. :) Just this morning, walking
downhill on our way home from church, I took a slip and only
managed to catch myself on one knee before doing a flip!
This was complicated by the fact that I was carrying a backpack
and had Claudsie on my shoulders, but of course these
people haul everything that goes to their houses on their
back or head as well. So it's not as simple as it may seem
at first glance. It's just plain hard to keep your feet in their
proper position- below your head- sometimes!!!!!

Foot Problem...

This little guy spent several days in a hospital room; unfortunately
I didn't get any pics of HIM-only this nasty looking foot... He came in
with a respiratory problem, and this badly infected foot. After treating
him for several days, it seemed that his oxygen level had improved,
but he still breathed with some difficulty. We wondered if there could
be an underlying issue, and so we took him out to the hos[ital.
Hopefully they can help the poor little chap... He was very sweet
and patient, but sometimes he was obviously miserable...

Actually, rocks DON'T belong in ears...

Uh-oh- surely not the old "rock in the ear" trick again!?
Unfortunately, yes it is.

But thankfully for little Daniel, it wasn't in there too
deeply; (although you would have been CERTAIN
that it was looking grim for the little chap, judging
from the hearty opinions he expressed during the
stone-removal operation..... :-)

A real community effort! Shana's running the forceps, while a crowd of
interested helpers alternately yell at Daniel to "Be quiet and hold still",
and at Shana to "Be careful!!"; and, "Wouldn't a little oil help?"

Ah, that wasn't too bad Danny! Just don't experiment
down those lines again... Daniel's parents go to the
church here in Ailegue, they have a nice family...

Mountainside tumble III !

This 9 year old little girl came in on Wednesday afternoon at around 3...
The story we were told was that she had fallen down the mountain a little
ways, then falling rocks had slammed into her head. The evidence was
certainly there- several severe gashes on the top and back of her head,
along with various scrapes and lacerations elsewhere. At first, the nurses
weren't particularly worried; it looked nasty, but she was very alert and
"with it", and didn't seem to be in as bad a shape as several similar cases
we've dealt with. But then, through feeling the back of her head, they
discovered a rather large "soft spot" in a wound area, that seemed to
indicate a more serious fracture than we had realized before. So it was
decided that it would be best for her to go out to see a doctor, and be
where there was the possibility of getting an x-ray if that was deemed
necessary. Since it wasn't an immediately critical situation, and we've
been having difficulty with several vehicles here at the mission, we opted
to send her out with a "moto" (motorcycle); so we hauled her and her
parents up to the closest market and sent them on their way- dad
sitting behind to support her on the way...............

Here she is with her mom, just before heading out. Her head is already
bandaged up and wrapped in a cloth to keep the dirt out, always a
problem in this dusty, dirty environment. Please pray for their family,
 they didn't profess to be Christians and the dad had obviously
been drinking. God can use anything to
point people to Himself!!!

The following pictures were meant to accompany the latest Gospel to Haiti one list. If you do not currently receive the one list and would like to, please write to: gospeltohaiti-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Friends come and friends go. . . We've had a lot of staff changes the last while at the clinic.

Here are normal activities at clinic

Stitches, births, and various other cases often get treated out of normal clinic hours.