This Saturday we headed out on a mobile clinic in an area called 'La Violete' which is actually just about a half hour drive from where we are. Initially I asked ms Prudence, so do we need to walk to get there or can we go in the car? She replied ' No we can go in the car.' The area is very close to the town centre of Cap Haitian, however the picture below is the view from where we were and we definitely did not drive up there in the car!!After a good wee walk up to the top we arrived at the church.
For being so close to Cap Haitian the area is very very poor, the church is a mud floor under a tarp. Alot of the kids we saw had the red tinge to their hair which generally means they are malnourished. When we arrived at the church there was around 50 people waiting patiently for us, we started off introducing the team and told the patients the reason why we were there and what we were going to do which was to provide medical care for people also we had 4 of our seminary students who were going into the local area to pray with people and evangelise. We sang together and prayed before we started anything. It always amazes me how open Haitan people are to the gospel and to singing and praying before everything.
The church
Part of the pharmacy
We saw around 250 patients and were able to give each patient bread and butter and a tampico (Haitian drink which is just like sunny delight!!). Before the clinic started we also did some education about TB, HIV and other diseases. Kate and I were in the pharmacy which was a tiny wee table and a box of medicine, it was pretty crazy and things got a little chaotic at one time, but then we are in Haiti and it wouldn't be Haiti if there wasn't chaos!! We were also able to give out worming tablets to nearly heaps of people, I can't remember but I think between 250-300. Our seminary students, Gesner, Devacoeur, Nicole and Yolene went out into the local community to evangelise and pray with people. They found 34 people who accepted Christ as their Saviour that day which is really the main reason why we were there aswell as providing the medical care. The local pastor is then able to follow up with these people and disciple them.
One of the things we did was HIV tests for 100 people. This wee girl tested positive, she is just 8 years old both her parents are dead from AIDS. Things like that are really sad and difficult to see but now she knows we can get her treatment. Please pray for her. Also we were just about to get into the car to go home and a lady called me over to talk to her, she has a wee boy in her who is 9 years old, she took him in because he didn't have anywhere else to go he is HIV positive but she hasn't told anyone else in the area. We told her to send him to our clinic because we have a HIV programme there and we can get him started on medicine. And he came on monday so we were able to put him in the programme and get him started on medicine.
Evidence of the mud floor!!although part of that is my lovely tan!!
On the way down we stopped outside a house where a mum was giving her wee daughter a bath, the wee baby must have been about 8 months and she had 2 necklaces around her neck, which in Haiti is very often a sign of voodoo. Ms Prudence stopped to talk to the mum, asked her why she was putting necklaces like that on her wee baby. The mum told us she was born into a christian family but it was the baby's father who put the necklaces on to protect the baby from sickness. Ms Prudence and Nicole continued to talk to the mum telling her she is basically handing her child over to satan and what was she going to do about it. The mum quickly ripped the necklaces off and said she wasn't going to put them on again, Prudence and Nicole prayed with the mum and the baby asking God for his protection against voodoo and satan.
I had spoken to a lady who had a little boy who was 15 months and wasn't walking yet so I told her to come down and see me. She brought him yesterday and I had a wee look at him. In Haiti mum's really worry if their child doesn't walk by the age of 1 they think something awful is wrong. Anyway she brought him in to the clinic to see me and he was so cute. He just is developing a little slower then some other babies but thankfully nothing serious. So many of the other kids I get like that have cerebral palsy and its difficult to tell their mum's that. This wee one is just not quite ready to walk, it was lovely to be able to tell his mum she doesn't need to worry just keep encouraging him to walk and stand.
The view from the top
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