My, oh, my, how time flies. I wish I had magical powers to slow it down. Since the last blog I've done some construction work and helped out at the City Soleil health clinic.
We spent one day building the walls and windows of a house for a family currently living in a tent. When I get home I promise to upload photos from the before and after. It's incredible to see the hand of God in something as simple as giving a family a safe and solid roof over there head. I was moved by the following verse that day.
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. (Isaiah 58:12b NIV)
What a joy it is to join with the Lord's work in the lives of these Haitians! This is the kind of stuff that makes my heart sing!
The past three days Katy and I have been working with an awesome team from Raleigh, North Carolina at the newly built HOM medical clinic. We tagged along just hoping to observe how everything works and soon found ourselves plugged into some of the action. Most would say we had the least desirable job however I have enjoyed every minute of it. We were put in charge of doing all the urine analysis, blood sugar, and pregnancy testing. I now consider myself a professional urine analyzer seeing as how I've completed over 200 and the week is not over yet!
This week has been a struggle emotionally. To see people in such dire need of medical care is heart wrenching, especially knowing that some of the ailments could be prevented by basic health education and access to medications. On Tuesday, we sent 4 people straight to the hospital they were so unstable. Sadly, we still don't know how they are, but trust God with their lives.
One child we saw had hydrocephalus and his head was very enlarged. In America this can be fixed by running a shunt from the brain to the stomach to decrease the fluid build up around the brain. But in Haiti without the financial resources this child won't be helped, and even if finances weren't an issue finding a doctor who can perform the surgery would be difficult also.
The thing that really tugged on my heart strings would be telling the women they were pregnant. Tears were shed on both their part and mine. I can't imagine all the thoughts running through their heads about how they would care for the child, feed the child, and I'm sure millions more. With each new positive pregnancy test I pleaded with the Lord for joy, peace, and rest to reign the hearts of the mom and that she be free from anxiety about the upcoming birth of her child. I know God specifically orchestrated that woman to be the momma of the child in her womb and has great plans for the life of that precious baby.
On Tuesday the pediatrician as saw one little boy that was dehydrated. A nurse, his mother, and I tried to get fluids into his little body with a syringe one drop at a time. Only to have him throw it all up 30 minutes later. The pediatrician sent the mom home with fluids and instructed her to continue throughout that night to give him liquids and if he didn't get better to take him to the hospital the next morning. Praise be to God about 8:30 the next morning the mom and her little boy showed up at our clinic and he was doing much better and the mom came to tell the doctor and say thank you. It was neat to see some follow up because the majority of the week the the doctors see the patient give them anywhere from 3 to 6 medications and off they go.
About to go on an motorcycle adventure around Port Au Prince, so until next time.
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