From one world to another

We spent the week before last in Florida with my mum, dad and sister.  This year Bill got to come as EBS was closed for 2 days but he flew back in time for class on Friday.  We had a great time enjoying some good family time, some good food and some great roads! The boys especially enjoyed having all kinds of berries, grapes and yoghurt every day for breakfast which, unfortunatley has made breakfast back in Haiti not so fun.

We, of course had to go to the zoo, spend a couple of days on the beach,  do our Christmas and birthday shopping and stock up on a whole lot of cheese!

Apparently he's called bucket head!

My mum and Leah had to travel home on Saturday in time for work the next week but my dad flew back to Haiti with us for a week.  He got to help Bill with some library stuff, go to school with Sam for the day and preach in chapel here at EBS.  We also had to take him to a Caribbean beach.....something everyone must do when they come to Haiti.   He left on Friday and made it home by Saturday afternoon to Belfast in his shorts and t shirt! But that's another story!

Joel isn't too sure about this whole monkey thing!

The holiday feeling doesn't last too long once your back and back at work.   The poverty, the suffering and the lack of infrastructure always hits you a bit harder when you have been away from it, even if its only for a week.   There has been rain every evening and I can see the road getting worse by the day! However with the rain comes cooler temperatures which we are thankful for...no more 3 showers a day weather.

This is the road when it was good...

The physio building is so close to being finished and I should be in within the next couple of weeks.  Praise God that all of the funding got here quickly and I am also in the middle of getting some Haitian guys to build some equipment for me.  I am hoping that everything will be ready at the same time!!

One quick patient story to finish, about a month ago I started treating a young guy who had a knee accident at work in May.  He went to a doctor in town and was told he would need to go to the Dominican Republic or the USA for surgery or he would never walk again.  Actually they told him he may be better off getting his leg amputated.  So he has been non weight bearing and using crutches for the last 6 months.  His leg is completely wasted away and he could hardly move his knee at all because of the weakness.  Fast forward 4 weeks of exercise later and he is weight bearing, walking with one crutch and working hard to get rid of that second crutch.  Amazing what a bit of exercise can do!