Hopital Ste. Croix

Friends,

HSC has been busy this week! We have seen 893 people during the week at our clinics held under the trees and in the chapel. There was also a vaccination clinic one day and the yard was filled with crying babies. The laboratory is working in the back of the chapel, and Radio Ste. Croix has been broadcasting every day while the generator has been working and until the inverter runs out of power. Bob Sloan, a surgeon from Ft. Worth visited and along with 8 Haitian helpers, we sorted and cleaned the 4 operating rooms, the incubator room, the central supply room, and the hospital supply depot. Plus a couple of other rooms in the 3-story hospital. We discarded all the outdated and broken items, and saved the machines and tools that will be packed away or donated to other groups, getting ready to demolish the one story part of the building. The hospital annex took one of the functioning operating tables. Old time visitors to the hospital wouldn’t know the place!

Last Sunday in church was a delight! It was Scout Sunday, and the young people were all in their uniforms. They participated in the service in the same way our youth do in the USA, reading scripture, leading responsive readings, and doing an anthem. But their enthusiasm was infectious. They were led by a guitar with all the amplifiers, drums, etc., and before they were finished, the congregation had all joined in. One song led into another, and the place was like no Episcopal (or Presbyterian) church that I’ve ever been in, with folks clapping and dancing in the aisles. All this was going on at a basketball court surrounded by tents. The church tower has cracked and the people are afraid of buildings, even if they are safe.

The second morning after the quake, a gentleman who had lost his wife walked sobbing out of the tent city. I walked up to him, put my arms around him, and he grabbed me with ferocious strength and sobbed on my shoulder. After about 5 minutes, he let me go, and thanked me. The same man was helping serve communion the following Sunday, and our eyes met as John and I went forward. This last Sunday, he was at church again with his 4 year old daughter. She was insistent on being with Daddy at all times during the service. No Auntie for her! So during the singing, Daddy was holding daughter, dancing in place and joining in the joy of being in church, in community, and in praising God. We Americans, with our easy lives, can learn from the Haitians.