A Haitian wedding is very much like an American one, but it is sooo different! One of our translators invited John and me to his wedding. It’s the first one we have been to in Haiti. It started at 6:00 pm so we arrived at about 5:50. It was a lucky thing that we arrived then, for unlike anything else in Haiti, it started on time. When we arrived, there were 3 or 4 ladies standing around outside in wedding dresses. But we only saw two men who looked like a groom, including the one who had invited us. There were 4 groomsmen and 4 bridesmaids, . . But I am getting ahead of myself.
We took some pictures of the wedding party, then went in and sat down. Instead of nice, quiet organ music, there was a too loud tape of dance band noise. Then the procession started..
First to enter was a single girl in a bridal dress and bouquet, accompanied by a junior bridesmaid. This wasn’t the bride I had come to see, however. And instead of processing, the bride did an intricate stepping and turning and walking sideways routine that reminded me of Texas line dancing. She took several minutes to inch her way towards the front. Although the junior bridesmaid started much later than this bride, the junior bridesmaid arrived at the front of the church first. She collided with the line dancing bride as they passed. Neither acknowledged the other’s presence.
Next came the 4 bridesmaids and groomsmen. They were dressed alike, and were obviously a group. They came in all together, but they also did a very intricate choreographed routine, with the bridesmaids setting their bouquets on the floor, dancing off, and the groomsmen picking them up and dancing over to the bridesmaids and bowing and presenting the bouquets, spinning slowly, doing a coy do-si-do, and inching their way forward.
But the procession, already about 20 minutes long, isn’t finished yet. A second bride looking person came dancing in but this time with a groom. More dancing, turning, etc.
After everyone was in the front, the groomsmen and bridesmaids made an arch with their arms. Two young children, a flower girl with no flowers, and a ring bearer with no ring, solemnly marched in. These children are not like American children, however. They knew what they were supposed to do, and that it was important, and they did it faithfully and without timidity-or smiling. Then finally, the bride and either her mother or her maid of honor marched in together, followed by the groom and probably his best man or father. All went under the arch of hands rather like a Virginia Reel, and sat down in 4 chairs at the base of the steps to the communion table, facing each other. The children sat on the steps facing the congregation, where they sat for the next hour and a half, never moving, never fidgeting, never smiling.
I haven’t mentioned the building. It is a church, made of brick with wooden rafters and tin roof. Instead of windows, there are sections of open brickwork to allow ventilation. But it is hot, hot, as the building has been sitting in strong sun all day, and there has been no breeze.
There also is no electricity. The processional music was loud because it needed to cover the sound of a small generator. Once everyone was in the church and sitting down, all activity stopped while the generator was unhooked and taken outside. Still running, and still loud, as generators are. It was connected to a circuit of 3 standard light bulbs. The bulbs began to glow orange but not to really provide any light. Which was unfortunate, because by now it is dark.
The service starts, a standard church service. A song, a prayer, a short sermon, a scripture reading another song, and another sermon, by someone else. Of course, everything is in Creole, so I can only understand enough to know what is going on. I don’t know what the sermons are about.
By now, the generator has either failed or run out of gas. Only the minister seems to have noticed that we are sitting in the dark. He has pencil flashlight to read his notes. People are still coming and going into the church, but all is dark. A couple of the bridesmaids get up and leave, but nobody seems concerned.
A group of singers gathers for an anthem. A man with an accordion starts playing in the back, and walks to the front to accompany the group. They sing well, and do a little rhythmic moving. But the only time we can see them is when someone takes a flash picture.
And one more sermon. This time it is the real thing. A full 40 minutes. Halfway though this sermon, a very loud motorcycle starts up outside, then drives into the church and is parked in the back. The driver gets off and walks forward and joins the congregation, leaving his lights on. Nobody notices. The sermon continues, but now we can see. After a few minutes, when the motorcycle battery runs down, we are in the dark again. Another motorcycle starts up outside, drives in, and the driver joins the congregation, leaving his lights on.
By end of the service, the church has 5 motorcycles with drained batteries parked in the back. Haitians have learned to solve lots of problems that we can’t even dream up. And this congregation is taking care of this service.
Finally, the vows begin. They are pretty standard. The groom says his, then is allowed to kiss the bride. But as soon as he does, the preacher pulls them part, as if to keep things from getting out of hand. The congregation laughs, and starts to enjoy the proceedings. The bride says her vows, and the kissing routine is repeated. By now, everyone has stood up and filled the center aisle and the front rows of the church to get a better view. The rings are prayed over and exchanged. A final kiss is allowed.
But it’s not over yet. Everyone in the immediate bridal party has to go up to the communion table and sign a register or certificate. The minister tries to get the congregation singing during the signing, but folks just stand around talking. After the signatures are finished, the service is over. No recessional, everyone walks out together. The flower girl and the ring bearer move and relax for the first time since they entered the church 2 hours ago. Would an American child do this?
John and I have a car. There are only two other cars at the service. All the wedding party, and most of the guests (probably about 75) try to get into these 3 vehicles. Those who simply cannot be mashed into the cars arrange for a motorcycle taxi ride. We start toward the home of the groom for the reception. Down dirt paths and through the cane fields. Around a cow who refused to move out of the path. Across a ravine with no bridge. And just a block past a field with a tent city.
The house is a partially completed brick structure with a roof, no windows in the openings, and not a dab of paint. But it is standing, which is an accomplishment in Leogane. The wall of the front porch is covered with a pink satin sheet, with decorations pinned on. A table with a feast fills the porch.
I mentioned the tent village near the house. About 150 people from the village are gathered in the road. They are joined by the 75 from the church. Everyone wants to see, and the crush is truly Haitian.
To our surprise, (why are we surprised at anything by now?) the processional that occurred at the church is repeated. Only this time, the distance to the porch is only 30 feet, and the width of the aisle is only about 3 feet. But all the dancing routines are repeated. A man keeps trying to push the onlookers back out of the way, but his effort is wasted.
In spite of the feast, there is obviously not enough food for everyone, so John and I plead guesthouse needs and make our way back. A few ladies join us to be dropped off on our way. But they have takeout boxes with food. As we leave, the loud music continues, and follows us for the first mile, around the curves and through the cane fields. There is a party going on tonight! The cow doesn’t seem to mind.
One final note. A week later, the translator comes and asks us for a loan. We had given him cash for a wedding gift, $40. He needs money to pay for the reception, another $50. Since he hasn’t worked in a while, I am confident that we have paid for his reception. It was a bargain!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Exciting news from Hopital Ste. Croix
Lots of things have happened since my last blog, much too long ago. Just to catch everyone up on the goings on:
1. At the last board meeting, a new director was appointed. Dr. Gladys Memnon is a determined woman! She has been working at the hospital since shortly after the earthquake, organizing, directing, making decisions, and moving things forward. She is an OB/Gyn doctor, and under her direction, things are happening.
2. The old Medicine wing of the hospital has been repaired, cleaned, painted, and is being set up with about 30 beds. The plumbing is fixed, the electricity is on, there are fans in the patient rooms. Sheets are on the beds, curtains at the windows, and doctors are ready to make rounds!
3. The Children’s Nutrition Program is moving into the old central supply room and a room next door. They hope to move in next week, and will use the area for their re-nourishment program. Mothers and severely malnourished children are brought into the hospital and the babies are fed ‘plumpy nut‘, a fortified peanut butter that has lots of protein and calories. Most babies start gaining weight immediately, but as they begin to recover, they often get very sick, as their immune systems don’t recover as fast. For this reason, the program needs to be separated from the pediatric area of the hospital.
4. The guesthouse continues to be open for business. We have held our first groups who have come to do mobile clinics! After the earthquake, all of the medical groups worked at the tent hospital across town. The tent hospital did great work, and was staffed almost entirely by volunteer doctors and nurses from everywhere. The tent hospital closed about a week ago. But the villages around the commune (like a county), both those up in the mountains, and along the seaside plains, have had very few mobile clinics. We are excited to begin to do these clinics again. Would you or your church like to organize a group to come down and do a week of clinics? Contact me at hscguesthouse@gmail.com, and I’ll tell you all you need to know.
5. The community health worker program is revitalized. It was severely restricted when the hospital closed about 3 years ago. Now, many new health workers, Ajan Saintes, have been hired and trained, and are working and being paid under the auspices of Hopital Ste. Croix. The Ajan Saintes are in charge of the vaccination programs. The village health workers teach basic health practices, do blood sugar checks, and help find folks who need to come to HSC.
6. The out patient clinic, the laboratory, and the pharmacy are still operating at a busy rate. We are seeing almost 1,000 people a week in the clinic, and the lab and pharmacy are busy supporting the clinic.
Of course, this is not the entire picture, only the good part. The bad part is that the hospital is still short of operating funds. We have had a lot of help in the rebuilding and renovating efforts. Today we are accepting bids from contractors for the remodeling of the 3 story building of the hospital. When this is complete, hopefully in 6-8 months, the patients can be moved into the first floor of the hospital, and the reconstruction of HSC can begin in earnest. Incidentally, the renovation plans include a sewage treatment plant, which might be the first one in Haiti, with the possible exception of the UN and other large NGO’s. But all over the world, the same principle is at work: People are more likely to give money to build a building, but nobody wants to help it to continue. And, since HSC is a mission hospital, and will treat anyone, even if they cannot pay, and since most people in Haiti have trouble feeding their families and can’t pay for emergencies like illness, Hopital Ste. Croix will never be self supporting. Running a hospital in cheaper in Haiti than in the US. $1200 a month will pay for a doctor, and $300 will provide a nurse. Would your church like to put HSC into their mission budget?
But now the big news. The official date to start accepting in patients at HSC is -----SEPTEMBER 1, 2010! Please keep the hospital in your prayers as we take this important step.
1. At the last board meeting, a new director was appointed. Dr. Gladys Memnon is a determined woman! She has been working at the hospital since shortly after the earthquake, organizing, directing, making decisions, and moving things forward. She is an OB/Gyn doctor, and under her direction, things are happening.
2. The old Medicine wing of the hospital has been repaired, cleaned, painted, and is being set up with about 30 beds. The plumbing is fixed, the electricity is on, there are fans in the patient rooms. Sheets are on the beds, curtains at the windows, and doctors are ready to make rounds!
3. The Children’s Nutrition Program is moving into the old central supply room and a room next door. They hope to move in next week, and will use the area for their re-nourishment program. Mothers and severely malnourished children are brought into the hospital and the babies are fed ‘plumpy nut‘, a fortified peanut butter that has lots of protein and calories. Most babies start gaining weight immediately, but as they begin to recover, they often get very sick, as their immune systems don’t recover as fast. For this reason, the program needs to be separated from the pediatric area of the hospital.
4. The guesthouse continues to be open for business. We have held our first groups who have come to do mobile clinics! After the earthquake, all of the medical groups worked at the tent hospital across town. The tent hospital did great work, and was staffed almost entirely by volunteer doctors and nurses from everywhere. The tent hospital closed about a week ago. But the villages around the commune (like a county), both those up in the mountains, and along the seaside plains, have had very few mobile clinics. We are excited to begin to do these clinics again. Would you or your church like to organize a group to come down and do a week of clinics? Contact me at hscguesthouse@gmail.com, and I’ll tell you all you need to know.
5. The community health worker program is revitalized. It was severely restricted when the hospital closed about 3 years ago. Now, many new health workers, Ajan Saintes, have been hired and trained, and are working and being paid under the auspices of Hopital Ste. Croix. The Ajan Saintes are in charge of the vaccination programs. The village health workers teach basic health practices, do blood sugar checks, and help find folks who need to come to HSC.
6. The out patient clinic, the laboratory, and the pharmacy are still operating at a busy rate. We are seeing almost 1,000 people a week in the clinic, and the lab and pharmacy are busy supporting the clinic.
Of course, this is not the entire picture, only the good part. The bad part is that the hospital is still short of operating funds. We have had a lot of help in the rebuilding and renovating efforts. Today we are accepting bids from contractors for the remodeling of the 3 story building of the hospital. When this is complete, hopefully in 6-8 months, the patients can be moved into the first floor of the hospital, and the reconstruction of HSC can begin in earnest. Incidentally, the renovation plans include a sewage treatment plant, which might be the first one in Haiti, with the possible exception of the UN and other large NGO’s. But all over the world, the same principle is at work: People are more likely to give money to build a building, but nobody wants to help it to continue. And, since HSC is a mission hospital, and will treat anyone, even if they cannot pay, and since most people in Haiti have trouble feeding their families and can’t pay for emergencies like illness, Hopital Ste. Croix will never be self supporting. Running a hospital in cheaper in Haiti than in the US. $1200 a month will pay for a doctor, and $300 will provide a nurse. Would your church like to put HSC into their mission budget?
But now the big news. The official date to start accepting in patients at HSC is -----SEPTEMBER 1, 2010! Please keep the hospital in your prayers as we take this important step.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Keep Your Priorities Straight
Life goes on in post Earthquake Haiti. The Hospital still is running on generator power. EDH, or the Haiti power company, still hasn’t made it to Leogane with restoration of power poles. We hear rumors that EDH is in Gressier, a small town about 5 miles towards Port Au Prince. But it’s just as well that it hasn’t come to the hospital, because after the earthquake, we rearranged the power once more, so that either of our two generators could run the 3 story part of the hospital. To use EDH once again, we will have to do yet another kludge of the wiring system. Those of you who have been to Haiti and have seen the switching board in the hospital hallway will appreciate the problems.
There are a few parts of the hospital that are not being used. The pump house is on the edge of the property, bordering on a side street. Next to the pump room is a room that was used as a Depot, or storage room. In the earthquake, the wall that was on the street side collapsed, and the room was looted. We managed to save a room full of adult diapers, some walkers, and a few barrels of outdated medicine. The barrels were welcomed by the locals who are probably using them as water containers. The room, with the outside wall missing, is now empty and open to the side road.
The hospital has always shared its good water resources with the neighboring community. Immediately after the earthquake, whenever the generator was started, people came running with cell phones and empty buckets. We had a long string of power strips hooked together, and folks would recharge their cell phones while we ran the generator. Others would fill their water buckets. (We only have water when we have current for the pump.) We have restored the faucet on the street for the community to get water, and folks have learned the hours that the generator usually runs, so we have a steady line of neighbors who don’t have to purchase water from the trucks that roam the city sounding like ice cream trucks.
Today, we found out that we are sharing another resource with the neighbors. A few days ago, John decided that we needed to be able to use power equipment in the pump room. So he had a plug installed from the power line that runs from the generators to the pump. Now, if we have to use a drill or saw in that area of the hospital grounds, we have a place to get electricity for the tools. Today, around 3:00 pm, John was refilling the fuel tanks for the generators. Both generators were turned off while the tanks were being filled. John noticed that there was a crowd of about 50 people milling around in the street while the tanks were being filled. There was a lot of shouting and arguing going on. Someone (John didn’t know him) finally came up and asked when the generators would start up again. John explained what they were doing, and thought that would satisfy the man, but he seemed agitated. It was puzzling, because the man wasn’t a hospital employee, like a doctor who needed power in the emergency room. The water hadn’t been off very long, so it probably wasn’t someone who needed to fill his water bucket from the community faucet provided by the hospital. Besides, men don’t carry water in Haiti. Women and children do. But, as soon as he could, John turned the generator back on and suddenly, the street was quiet again. All the people who had been milling around were gone. John decided to investigate.
It turns out that someone in the community along the street by the pump room, and the empty depot room, had found out that we had installed the new plug in the pump room. (We think we know who spread the word—the electrician lives in the neighborhood along that street). Someone had plugged in an extension cord to the new plug, and ran it around the building to a radio that was set up in the empty depot room. The World Cup Soccer game was on, and John had interrupted the game broadcast when he was filling the generator tank. Already, the depot room apparently has become a gathering place for the daily soccer games. Nobody can say that the Haitians aren’t adaptable people! We are often asked when the hospital will reopen. We assume that people are concerned about medical care. We have learned, however, that we don’t always know what the real priorities are.
There are a few parts of the hospital that are not being used. The pump house is on the edge of the property, bordering on a side street. Next to the pump room is a room that was used as a Depot, or storage room. In the earthquake, the wall that was on the street side collapsed, and the room was looted. We managed to save a room full of adult diapers, some walkers, and a few barrels of outdated medicine. The barrels were welcomed by the locals who are probably using them as water containers. The room, with the outside wall missing, is now empty and open to the side road.
The hospital has always shared its good water resources with the neighboring community. Immediately after the earthquake, whenever the generator was started, people came running with cell phones and empty buckets. We had a long string of power strips hooked together, and folks would recharge their cell phones while we ran the generator. Others would fill their water buckets. (We only have water when we have current for the pump.) We have restored the faucet on the street for the community to get water, and folks have learned the hours that the generator usually runs, so we have a steady line of neighbors who don’t have to purchase water from the trucks that roam the city sounding like ice cream trucks.
Today, we found out that we are sharing another resource with the neighbors. A few days ago, John decided that we needed to be able to use power equipment in the pump room. So he had a plug installed from the power line that runs from the generators to the pump. Now, if we have to use a drill or saw in that area of the hospital grounds, we have a place to get electricity for the tools. Today, around 3:00 pm, John was refilling the fuel tanks for the generators. Both generators were turned off while the tanks were being filled. John noticed that there was a crowd of about 50 people milling around in the street while the tanks were being filled. There was a lot of shouting and arguing going on. Someone (John didn’t know him) finally came up and asked when the generators would start up again. John explained what they were doing, and thought that would satisfy the man, but he seemed agitated. It was puzzling, because the man wasn’t a hospital employee, like a doctor who needed power in the emergency room. The water hadn’t been off very long, so it probably wasn’t someone who needed to fill his water bucket from the community faucet provided by the hospital. Besides, men don’t carry water in Haiti. Women and children do. But, as soon as he could, John turned the generator back on and suddenly, the street was quiet again. All the people who had been milling around were gone. John decided to investigate.
It turns out that someone in the community along the street by the pump room, and the empty depot room, had found out that we had installed the new plug in the pump room. (We think we know who spread the word—the electrician lives in the neighborhood along that street). Someone had plugged in an extension cord to the new plug, and ran it around the building to a radio that was set up in the empty depot room. The World Cup Soccer game was on, and John had interrupted the game broadcast when he was filling the generator tank. Already, the depot room apparently has become a gathering place for the daily soccer games. Nobody can say that the Haitians aren’t adaptable people! We are often asked when the hospital will reopen. We assume that people are concerned about medical care. We have learned, however, that we don’t always know what the real priorities are.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Junk for Jesus - Part 2
I've had a large response from the Junk for Jesus blog. Suggestions have been interesting: kites for the children, sandbags for building walls, banners, collection bags for rainwater off the roof, etc. But in real life, here is what we have been doing.
1. The people who work in the yard and on the generator have figured out that they can slip a pair of pants over their jeans and not get oil on their jeans.
2. (This is the best solution). We got yet another shipment from the same helpful organization, and this time it was food. Lots of food! And we have people coming every day who need food. Instead of purchasing plastic bags, we took a XXXXXL pair of pants, tied a knot in the waist, turned the pants upside down, and filled the pants with canned and boxed food, filling them through the legs. Then we tied the ends of the legs together and made a very handy carrying bag (pant?) full of food. We passed the food out to folks who came to the clinic. The recipients were delighted; one person even made up some symptoms when she heard we were giving out food. Now, we only have about 11,000 pairs of paper disposable surgical pants!
1. The people who work in the yard and on the generator have figured out that they can slip a pair of pants over their jeans and not get oil on their jeans.
2. (This is the best solution). We got yet another shipment from the same helpful organization, and this time it was food. Lots of food! And we have people coming every day who need food. Instead of purchasing plastic bags, we took a XXXXXL pair of pants, tied a knot in the waist, turned the pants upside down, and filled the pants with canned and boxed food, filling them through the legs. Then we tied the ends of the legs together and made a very handy carrying bag (pant?) full of food. We passed the food out to folks who came to the clinic. The recipients were delighted; one person even made up some symptoms when she heard we were giving out food. Now, we only have about 11,000 pairs of paper disposable surgical pants!
Fo Pye
Today was one of those days that make it all worthwhile! Almost everyone went home happy! This was the day that the crew from Mercer, U in Atlanta came with the prosthetic legs that we measured for a week or so ago. The patients were all here at 8:00 am, even most of the ones who were told to come after lunch. Two teams went to work, wrapping legs, then putting together a plastic form, padding it with foam, wrapping it with an outer layer like a knee brace fabric, then screwing on a pipe with a foot at the bottom. Then the patients stood up, with a too long leg, took a few steps to really set the stump into the leg, and the leg was adjusted to fit. The first couple of patients had a little trouble with their first few steps, but the waiting patients encouraged them on, and most people were able to take a few steps almost immediately. After 4 months without a foot at the bottom of your leg, an artificial leg feels heavy, but the doctors said that within a few days, the extra weight will not be noticeable.
Surprisingly, the younger patients were no quicker than the older patients in learning to walk again. Success seemed to depend more on determination than on strength or balance. The oldest patient was 85, a spunky woman, who was very vocal in getting her leg attached and adjusted before she stood on it. But she never got tired once she started walking. And, instead of taking the wheelchair ride to the front door, she insisted on walking!
One younger man, built like a football player, had no trouble at all. He stood up, walked across the room, and asked if he could drive home. He is a driver for a company here in Leogane. The doctor made him promise that he wouldn’t drive before he came back tomorrow for a recheck. But this man wanted a cover for his pipe and foot. When the doctor said that there was no cover, the man started taking off his sock from his good foot, and then began unlacing the shoe from his artificial foot. We explained that he must wear a shoe on the artificial foot because it would wear out, but he continued to unlace his shoe. We waited, and saw what he was doing. He put the sock from his good foot over the artificial foot (which was a white foot), then put the shoe back on the artificial foot. Turns out that he, being black, didn’t want the white foot to show. When I said that the group should bring black feet next time, they said that they had never seen a black prosthesis. Surely, this can’t be true!
What did I do during all of this? I typed consent forms that had been stolen earlier in the trip, set up the room, told everyone around the hospital to look for one legged patients and send them back to the pediatric rooms of the unopened part of the hospital. I comforted an old man who was confused and in the wrong place, found walkers and wheelchairs for those patients who needed them. At one point we needed another translator, so I asked a young man who was clearing trash out of a room to help translate. He was embarrassed because his flip-flop was broken and he was only wearing one shoe. When we needed him to go with a patient to another hospital, I gave him my pair of tennis shoes. I’ll get another pair from a visitor who plans to leave their shoes here in Haiti.
The only hard part of the day was telling the last patient that his stump was too short to fit a ‘fo pye’ (artificial foot) onto. He will need to have the knee removed and let the stump heal before he can get a prosthesis with a knee that bends. I thought he would be terribly unhappy, but his immediate question was, ‘Where can I get the surgery done, and who can help me pay for it?’ And, as the Lord so often provides, we happen to have a Japanese orthopedic surgeon with the group staying in the guesthouse for two more weeks. We will try to get everyone together tomorrow, to see how we can have a Japanese doctor amputate the leg of a Haitian in an American hospital, so a Vietnamese doctor in a University research center can fit him with an artificial leg! What a satisfying job I have!
Surprisingly, the younger patients were no quicker than the older patients in learning to walk again. Success seemed to depend more on determination than on strength or balance. The oldest patient was 85, a spunky woman, who was very vocal in getting her leg attached and adjusted before she stood on it. But she never got tired once she started walking. And, instead of taking the wheelchair ride to the front door, she insisted on walking!
One younger man, built like a football player, had no trouble at all. He stood up, walked across the room, and asked if he could drive home. He is a driver for a company here in Leogane. The doctor made him promise that he wouldn’t drive before he came back tomorrow for a recheck. But this man wanted a cover for his pipe and foot. When the doctor said that there was no cover, the man started taking off his sock from his good foot, and then began unlacing the shoe from his artificial foot. We explained that he must wear a shoe on the artificial foot because it would wear out, but he continued to unlace his shoe. We waited, and saw what he was doing. He put the sock from his good foot over the artificial foot (which was a white foot), then put the shoe back on the artificial foot. Turns out that he, being black, didn’t want the white foot to show. When I said that the group should bring black feet next time, they said that they had never seen a black prosthesis. Surely, this can’t be true!
What did I do during all of this? I typed consent forms that had been stolen earlier in the trip, set up the room, told everyone around the hospital to look for one legged patients and send them back to the pediatric rooms of the unopened part of the hospital. I comforted an old man who was confused and in the wrong place, found walkers and wheelchairs for those patients who needed them. At one point we needed another translator, so I asked a young man who was clearing trash out of a room to help translate. He was embarrassed because his flip-flop was broken and he was only wearing one shoe. When we needed him to go with a patient to another hospital, I gave him my pair of tennis shoes. I’ll get another pair from a visitor who plans to leave their shoes here in Haiti.
The only hard part of the day was telling the last patient that his stump was too short to fit a ‘fo pye’ (artificial foot) onto. He will need to have the knee removed and let the stump heal before he can get a prosthesis with a knee that bends. I thought he would be terribly unhappy, but his immediate question was, ‘Where can I get the surgery done, and who can help me pay for it?’ And, as the Lord so often provides, we happen to have a Japanese orthopedic surgeon with the group staying in the guesthouse for two more weeks. We will try to get everyone together tomorrow, to see how we can have a Japanese doctor amputate the leg of a Haitian in an American hospital, so a Vietnamese doctor in a University research center can fit him with an artificial leg! What a satisfying job I have!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
News from the Epicenter
We’ve been busy in Haiti this week. Seven members of the Japanese Red Cross moved in. It’s a semi-permanent arrangement, as they plan to work in Haiti at least until the end of the year. It is a great move for the Japanese because they have been living in tents, and it’s really getting hot. And it’s good for Hopital Ste. Croix, because the guesthouse fees will go a long way toward paying the hospital salaries. Because the Haitian government has decreed that medical care will stay free for at least three more months, there is no other way for HSC to have income except for the guesthouse. And because the other laboratories in town have shut their doors because they cannot charge, the hospital laboratory is the only place in town to have tests done. And because we are busier than ever, and everything is free, we really need the money.
The Japanese group adds an international flavor to the guesthouse. They have a clinic running over at the nursing school across town. And they are providing x-rays for the region. (The cliché about the Japanese and their cameras is proving to be a boon for medical care in Leogane.) The x-ray machine was moved into the hospital today, and the Japanese radiologist is training 4 people to use the machine and how to take x-rays of different parts of the body. Hopefully, the hospital will have someone trained to do x-rays before this team of Japanese changes out early in June.
This afternoon, a group from Chattanooga, TN stopped in and asked if they could stay here for the night. They are on their way to Port Au Prince, where they will pick up a small container of metal studs and roof kits for transitional houses for a village in the mountains. Their church (Good Shepherd Episcopal in Lookout Mountain) has had a relationship with this village for over 20 years. They have built a school (it withstood the earthquake), a clinic (it stood), and now they are building 12 x 12’ square buildings that initially will have tarp walls, but can be finished with bricks or rocks for walls. The buildings will be hurricane and earthquake proof, and can be installed onto a concrete slab in only a few hours. This project will help 40 families of a community of about 200 families, move into dry, suitable housing before the rainy season gets too far along. If you have a spare $1000, join in and build another house.
It really is a small world. There were 10 people at dinner, 3 fellows from Chattanooga, 5 Japanese Red Cross workers, and John and me. In the conversation at the table, someone mentioned Kenya. It turns out that one of the Japanese is married to a Kenyan man, and another, an orthopedic surgeon, is getting married in Kenya in 3 months,. She went to high school in Kenya. One of the Chattanooga fellows was sitting next to her, and he also went to school in Kenya, as a missionary kid. And another of the Chattanooga fellows is married to a Kenyan woman!
A follow up to the problem of what to do with 12,000 pairs of disposable, paper surgical pants. One pastor friend shared the Junk for Jesus note with her congregation and they had a contest to see what to do with the pants. One of the good suggestions was to give them to children to make kites. Great idea, since the pants are waterproof. And there’s usually plenty of wind here. Another was to make banners with crayons. But I think we at the hospital came up with the best idea. We had another shipment from the same organization, and this time is was food. We wanted to give food to everyone who came to the clinic, but didn’t have any way to distribute the food, as most of it came in cases. So we took the XXXXXL pants, tied a knot in the waist, to make a bag, filled the bags through the legs of the pants, then tied the pant legs together, and handed out easily carried bags (pants?) of food. Now we only have about 11,500 pairs of disposable paper surgical pants left. We’re open to more suggestions. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks! And keep praying for the rebuilding of Haiti.
The Japanese group adds an international flavor to the guesthouse. They have a clinic running over at the nursing school across town. And they are providing x-rays for the region. (The cliché about the Japanese and their cameras is proving to be a boon for medical care in Leogane.) The x-ray machine was moved into the hospital today, and the Japanese radiologist is training 4 people to use the machine and how to take x-rays of different parts of the body. Hopefully, the hospital will have someone trained to do x-rays before this team of Japanese changes out early in June.
This afternoon, a group from Chattanooga, TN stopped in and asked if they could stay here for the night. They are on their way to Port Au Prince, where they will pick up a small container of metal studs and roof kits for transitional houses for a village in the mountains. Their church (Good Shepherd Episcopal in Lookout Mountain) has had a relationship with this village for over 20 years. They have built a school (it withstood the earthquake), a clinic (it stood), and now they are building 12 x 12’ square buildings that initially will have tarp walls, but can be finished with bricks or rocks for walls. The buildings will be hurricane and earthquake proof, and can be installed onto a concrete slab in only a few hours. This project will help 40 families of a community of about 200 families, move into dry, suitable housing before the rainy season gets too far along. If you have a spare $1000, join in and build another house.
It really is a small world. There were 10 people at dinner, 3 fellows from Chattanooga, 5 Japanese Red Cross workers, and John and me. In the conversation at the table, someone mentioned Kenya. It turns out that one of the Japanese is married to a Kenyan man, and another, an orthopedic surgeon, is getting married in Kenya in 3 months,. She went to high school in Kenya. One of the Chattanooga fellows was sitting next to her, and he also went to school in Kenya, as a missionary kid. And another of the Chattanooga fellows is married to a Kenyan woman!
A follow up to the problem of what to do with 12,000 pairs of disposable, paper surgical pants. One pastor friend shared the Junk for Jesus note with her congregation and they had a contest to see what to do with the pants. One of the good suggestions was to give them to children to make kites. Great idea, since the pants are waterproof. And there’s usually plenty of wind here. Another was to make banners with crayons. But I think we at the hospital came up with the best idea. We had another shipment from the same organization, and this time is was food. We wanted to give food to everyone who came to the clinic, but didn’t have any way to distribute the food, as most of it came in cases. So we took the XXXXXL pants, tied a knot in the waist, to make a bag, filled the bags through the legs of the pants, then tied the pant legs together, and handed out easily carried bags (pants?) of food. Now we only have about 11,500 pairs of disposable paper surgical pants left. We’re open to more suggestions. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks! And keep praying for the rebuilding of Haiti.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Junk for Jesus
Last Saturday a container showed up at the hospital from a well known and helpful Non Governmental Organization. Because the hospital doesn’t have anyone from the administration here on the weekends, John was the person who had to take care of the problem. And it was a problem. The truck backed up to the front of the hospital gate, and stretched all across the street, blocking the street to through traffic. The news spread quickly. Soon, a crowd of noisy, pushy people gathered, thinking that the container might contain food. John sent word up to the guesthouse to stay out of the way until he was able to convince the crowd that the container was filled with medical supplies.
The immediate need was someone to unload the container. John chose 12 men from the crowd to help unload the boxes, agreed on the pay, and the work started.
A container holds a lot of stuff. And this container was stuffed to the top with stuff. As we started unloading, we noticed many of the boxes were marked the same way. We opened one box and it contained paper disposable surgical pants, the kind that doctors might wear in the operating room. But the box we looked at contained 50 pairs, size XXXXXL. Unfortunately, there were many, many other boxes of the same thing, same size. After we had all the boxes unloaded, we realized that we were the proud owner of 5,000 pairs of paper surgical pants size XXXXXL. AND another 4,000 pairs of size XXXXL paper surgical pants. Similar boxes of size XXXL, XXL, and XL, for a total of about 15,000 pairs of paper disposable surgical pants. When stacked in a room that once had 5 hospital beds in it, it filled half of the room.
There were other interesting things. Almost as many plastic, disposable surgical pants and tie back shirts. A stack of cartons of adhesive tape 5 feet high, and 8 feet long. 32 cartons (not boxes) of Baby wipes from Target, several hundred disposable isolation gowns, long sleeved, with knitted cuffs. Cloth scrubs that filled the other half of the room that held the disposable pants. 28 large cartons of alcohol swabs. Some ‘flushable’ body wipes. (Even toilet paper is not usually flushable in this hospital.) About 50 cartons, each holding 2 small bent tubing pieces, and another 50 larger boxes with coils of plastic tubing.
There were some things that we might use. There were 22 cartons of 50 each plastic water bottles left over from TanFest. Maybe it rained that day. We swiped a box to use in the guesthouse. Some padded, washable, waterproof pads to use under patients. Enough patient gowns to take across town to use in the 50 bed tent hospital (500 of them in varying sizes). We already have 3,000 packed away for use one day in our hospital. There were about 15 cartons of shampoo and body wash to put into some kind of dispenser. No dispensers were included, however.
After the truck was unpacked, we had filled 4 ward rooms, each of which would hold 5-8 hospital beds. In the week since the delivery, we have used none of these items. This practice of receiving unnecessary items has been labeled “Junk for Jesus” by folks in the mission field. It seems that the idea may be, “Although I can’t use this, someone else may be able to do something with it”. And because Haitians have so little of the necessities of life, they are afraid to throw anything away. So the hospital, which was cleaned out after the earthquake, is slowly refilling with unneeded items.
Another problem that shows up often is that we will receive a piece of equipment that needs repair. Getting anything repaired in Haiti is difficult, and parts for broken medical equipment are nonexistent. Haiti is a land of proverbs. A former director of the hospital once coined a new one. “If something doesn’t work in the United States, it will NEVER work in Haiti.”
I have developed a few guidelines for people wanting to send things to the mission field. Before you send something overseas, ask yourself all of the relevant questions:
1. Has someone asked for this?
2. Is this something that is needed where I am sending it?
3. Does anyone know how to use what I am sending?
4. Is the technology appropriate for where I am sending it?
5. Can it be disposed of when it is no longer usable?
6. Does anyone in the country know how to maintain or repair this when it breaks? Because it will.
Joy and Peace to all this Spring!
The immediate need was someone to unload the container. John chose 12 men from the crowd to help unload the boxes, agreed on the pay, and the work started.
A container holds a lot of stuff. And this container was stuffed to the top with stuff. As we started unloading, we noticed many of the boxes were marked the same way. We opened one box and it contained paper disposable surgical pants, the kind that doctors might wear in the operating room. But the box we looked at contained 50 pairs, size XXXXXL. Unfortunately, there were many, many other boxes of the same thing, same size. After we had all the boxes unloaded, we realized that we were the proud owner of 5,000 pairs of paper surgical pants size XXXXXL. AND another 4,000 pairs of size XXXXL paper surgical pants. Similar boxes of size XXXL, XXL, and XL, for a total of about 15,000 pairs of paper disposable surgical pants. When stacked in a room that once had 5 hospital beds in it, it filled half of the room.
There were other interesting things. Almost as many plastic, disposable surgical pants and tie back shirts. A stack of cartons of adhesive tape 5 feet high, and 8 feet long. 32 cartons (not boxes) of Baby wipes from Target, several hundred disposable isolation gowns, long sleeved, with knitted cuffs. Cloth scrubs that filled the other half of the room that held the disposable pants. 28 large cartons of alcohol swabs. Some ‘flushable’ body wipes. (Even toilet paper is not usually flushable in this hospital.) About 50 cartons, each holding 2 small bent tubing pieces, and another 50 larger boxes with coils of plastic tubing.
There were some things that we might use. There were 22 cartons of 50 each plastic water bottles left over from TanFest. Maybe it rained that day. We swiped a box to use in the guesthouse. Some padded, washable, waterproof pads to use under patients. Enough patient gowns to take across town to use in the 50 bed tent hospital (500 of them in varying sizes). We already have 3,000 packed away for use one day in our hospital. There were about 15 cartons of shampoo and body wash to put into some kind of dispenser. No dispensers were included, however.
After the truck was unpacked, we had filled 4 ward rooms, each of which would hold 5-8 hospital beds. In the week since the delivery, we have used none of these items. This practice of receiving unnecessary items has been labeled “Junk for Jesus” by folks in the mission field. It seems that the idea may be, “Although I can’t use this, someone else may be able to do something with it”. And because Haitians have so little of the necessities of life, they are afraid to throw anything away. So the hospital, which was cleaned out after the earthquake, is slowly refilling with unneeded items.
Another problem that shows up often is that we will receive a piece of equipment that needs repair. Getting anything repaired in Haiti is difficult, and parts for broken medical equipment are nonexistent. Haiti is a land of proverbs. A former director of the hospital once coined a new one. “If something doesn’t work in the United States, it will NEVER work in Haiti.”
I have developed a few guidelines for people wanting to send things to the mission field. Before you send something overseas, ask yourself all of the relevant questions:
1. Has someone asked for this?
2. Is this something that is needed where I am sending it?
3. Does anyone know how to use what I am sending?
4. Is the technology appropriate for where I am sending it?
5. Can it be disposed of when it is no longer usable?
6. Does anyone in the country know how to maintain or repair this when it breaks? Because it will.
Joy and Peace to all this Spring!
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