Prayers

I have a few specific things I would love you to remember in your prayers. It seems like everyone I meet and talk to recently, life is just getting more difficult.

The first person I would like you to pray for is Ashkala and her mum. I talked about her before. Her mum really needs prayers for strength, the kind of supernatural strength only the Lord can provide. Incase you don't know this lady (I'm bad with Haitian names and cannot remember!!) misscarried 4 babies, her 5th was born normal, Ashkala and at 2 and a half year she had a big seizure and has been left unable to walk, talk or basically do anything by herself. She is still very ill and is continutally having mini seizures everyday. I met her in the street on friday and she just asked me to pray for her. So many people ask for money, ask for food but she never does, the only thing she ever asks is for prayer. She told me if it wasn't for God she would already be dead, it is only by God's grace that she is able to live. Her husband is really ill and she thinks he will die very soon. She is also thinking about putting Ashkala into an orphange where she thinks she will be better looked after and they can maybe fine her more medical help. Her words to me where, I am still her mother and she is still my daughter and I love her but I cannot do anything more for her, I need to find some help from somewhere. please continue to lift her and her family up in prayer.

The next lady is a lady who came to see me to ask for help for her kids, she is just 40 and(again I cannot remember her name) she has 5 kids, 3 from her husband then he died, then she lived with another man and she had 2 children with him. Ten years ago she had to get a hip replacment I am not too sure why and then 2 years ago she started to feel pain in her hip and has been walking with a walking stick and unable to work. The father of the youngest 2 kids told her he was leaving because she is like an old lady and he was going to find someone younger. Now she is on her own with five children, unable to work and in alot of pain in her hip. I have sent her for an X ray to see if we can find out what is wrong with her hip, if we can sort that out then maybe she can find some work to support her family.

The last person is called Berloca, sorry this is a bit of a story of how I meet him and what is going on....
 On friday I went out with the team to a place called Balon, they were giving out solar radio's and I went along to translate for a wee group. Our team was with the Pastor and on our way back to the wee church the pastor stopped in with someone who was sick to pray with them, I saw him lying on the floor, the pastor told me (word for word translated) 'he is sick in his legs' so I thought maybe I could help him being a physio. I went in and they told me he fell out of a tree and is paralysed. Then they took a sheet of his back and he has this huge pressure sore on his back.  I talked to them for a wee while to get the story they had gone to the hospital in town and were told they cannot do anything, they need to take him to the Dominican and sent him home. He has been at home lying on a cement floor, no mattress, nothing soft just a couple of sheets. So the pressure sore developed. I honestly have never see anything as bad in my life, there are 4 grades and his is grade 4. He also had a small on on his knee and one on his foot.

He was in my head all weekend, I was thinking I cannot see him then not do anything. But I had no idea what I could do, I do not have the money to look after him or even begin to send him to the DR. On Sunday I took Vedane (my friend) to go and visit her family and I had no idea where we were going on the way, I asked her and she said 'Balon', I couldn't really believe it, I had never been there before Friday. So I went to see him again and told his family we would take him to Milot with us monday, that I cannot promise they can help him but we can try. This morning, it was pretty crazy, it took 3 guys to lift him put him in the back of the car lying down on his tummy because he cannot lie on his back because of the sore, while the whole community is watching. We arrived at Milot and of course a crowd of people gathered round to watch them try lift him out of the car into the hospital. I spent the whole day with the family and trying to figure out what they will do and how much things are going to cost.

They gave him some antibiotics and tomorrow they are going to do a debridment, basically remove all the dead tissue. After that I am not sure what will happen next. He really needs an operation with a skin flap, Im not sure if they can do that in Milot.
Please pray we can find a way to help him. If they can get the sore better and we can educate his family he can have a good quailty of life as a paraplegic. It just amazes me how God puts me in places where he needs me and where he can use me. I went to Balon first because someone asked me, then I was put in the group with the Pastor, then I had agreed to take Vedane to her visit her family about 2 weeks ago I said we would go on Sunday and I had no idea where we were going.
Things like that do not happen by chance, God plans things in advance and his timing is perfect.

Happy Birthday radio 4VEH

This last week was the anniversary of our radio station here 4VEH. The radio had been broadcasting for 60 years here in Haiti. There have been thousands of people who have been saved through the radio station, OMS gives out solar powered radios all over the north of the country and for some people this is the only time they will ever hear the gospel, for others who have become Christians through the radio this will be their only access to hearing the word of God.

The Crusade

Last week we were running a big crusade right in the centre of town and Saturday night was the big night to celebrate the anniversary of the radio station so Hannah and I went along. The big attraction on Saturday night was ‘Ti Bob’…Haiti’s biggest Christian artist!!! He really is big in Haiti and everyone loves him. I was just standing there listening and watching, if I was at home right then I would have probably been at the snow patrol concert in Ward Park along with thousands of other people with their hands in the air almost worshipping Gary Lightbody and his band. Yet here I was, the complete opposite, in one of the poorest countries in the world, standing in a square with thousands of people with their hands in the air except they weren’t there to worship a man they were there to worship their God. The God who saved them and has given them freedom and life. In a country which looks so hopeless these people have hope.

Throughout the week they had alot of people come to the Lord including a witch doctor one night. Please pray for these new believers, that they wouldn't just have made a decision in the moment but that the decision would have truly changed their lives. Pray that they will be disicipled well and find a church with good solid teaching and be able to be a witness in their families and their communities.

http://www.radio4veh.org

Here is a personal testimoney....

'No one knew Evodie was making plans to kill herself. Except God. And just wait til you read what happened next.
Feeling ashamed and humilated by the father of her unborn child, Evodie went to the market and bought 2 sachets of rat poison. Back home, she ripped open the sachets, emptied the poison into a bottle of coke and prepared to drink.

As she put the poison to her lips, the electricity came back on after one of the frequent power cuts in Cap Haitian, and she heard the voice of radio 4VEH presenter Louisa Destine, in her programme, time for comfort, saying 'I greet you all in the name of Jesus'
Evodie listened as Louisa began speaking directly to her: 'You with a drink infront of you, you have put something in the drink to take your life. This is not God's will for you.'
Convicted by the holy spirit, Evodie says of that moment, 'I fell on my knees before my Lord and asked forgiveness for what I was about to do.' In her time of need, the Lord intervened and saved her life, and that of her unborn son. God spoke directly to Evodie in a way she would understand-through Radio 4VEH.

Here is another story from a book called Let the rocks cry out with gives the history of 4VEH. It really is amazing how the radio has touched so many lives.

'Let the rocks cry out is bringing more people to Christ than perhaps any other single program on 4VEH. Since its beginning in November 1996, scores of conversions have been reported, many of them young adults. According to one listener, when the program is aired , 'every radio in Haiti is tuned to 4VEH'
The hour-long broadcast is Creole on Monday and Wednesday evenings features gripping interviews with people delievered from the bondage of Satanism and voodoo.
In May, Radio 4VEH aired the powerful testimoney of Mr Ludovic, a former voodoo priest converted 8 years ago by the witness of the woman now his wife. Ludovic was well known in Haiti for his satanic activities and murder, even of his own family members.
Now he was speaking out for Jesus Christ, telling of God's power that freed him from the bondage of fear and evil under voodooism. Response to his testimoney was electrifying, listeners requested tapes of the broadcast.
In the village of Port-Francais, ten miles south of Cap Haitian, a voodoo priestess heard Ludovic's astounding testimoney of God's transforming power. 'If God can save Ludovic He can save me!'. She did an abrupt spiritual about-face and accepted Jesus as her personal Saviour, challenging her allegiance from Satan to Jesus. Years earlier, a 4VEH pre-tuned radio had been used by God to plant a church in this area.'

Yesterday, Friday I had the opportunity to go with the team out to go and give out these solar radio's. I was going as a translator and it was a priviledge to be a part of it. I had heard so many stories of solar radio's being given out and people becoming christian's through radio 4VEH in a remarkable way but this is the first time I had been directly invloved.
We met at a wee church in a town called Balon, the church was planted in 2008, after a pastor evangelising in the area and alot of people getting saved. They were travelling far to go to church in Goden and the Pastor of Goden had a vision to plant a church in Balon. But they had no where to meet. For 7/8 months they met outside under a tree. Then someone in the community offered a room in the middle of their house for them to meet. It is a wee tiny room and each sunday they have around 50 people meeting. The Pastors words were ' we have to cut our service short (2hours!) because it gets so hot inside people are dying!!'. I was in it for about 10 minutes and it really was roasting, I cannot imagine what it would be like with 50 people inside. Right now the church is praying for a new place to meet with more space and somewhere a bit cooler!

The wee church

We split up in 5 groups, 3 people from the team, 1 translator and 1 local person from the church. Actually the pastor was in our group. We visited about 10 families in their homes and with each one shared the gospel, that God had sent Jesus into the world to die for our sins, and if we continue to live in sin, to live without Christ then they are lost. But if they accept God's gift of salvation then they will have eternal life. Alot of people we meet already know the Gospel. Within the 5 groups they spoke to between 50 and 60 people, some of who were already christians, some who were prayed with. Alot of people have made a decision to accept the Lord but don't really believe they are saved and need the encouragement. We also spoke with around 18 (I can't remember exactley) became christians, and they were encouraged to choose a church in the area to start going to. Also the Pastor will continue to visit these people. Each house we went to visit we also got the opportunity to give them a solar radio which is tuned to Radio 4VEH.

Giving the radio to a family (I don't think all the kids were from the same family)

It was a really great experience and amazing to see how solar powered radio's are changing people lives all over Haiti.

mobile medical clinic

The walk up through the mountains

This weekend ten of us went off to do a mobile medical clinic in the mountains in a place called Suffriere. We had a team of 12 of us, me and Hannah who ran the pharmacy. Dr Phil who is from Northern Ireland he is here for 3 weeks he was consulting along with Ms Prudence who is a nurse in our clinic. Wadner, a good friend of mine who lives in Vaudrieul close to our compound. We also had 6 of our seminary students come with us to evangelize/encourage and pray with patients. Our seminary students were Nicole, Yoland, Jean-Marc. Jean-Marie, Devacoeur and Gesner. Four out of these six students were studying in Port au Prince before the earthquake and their seminary’s were destroyed. Our seminary had an announcement on the radio saying there were offering places for free to students who were in Port during the earthquake. The pastor of the church is Ms Prudence’s husband, they have been working in that area for 20 years and he goes there every Sunday. It is a very very poor area and the people have nothing. Their closest medical care is probably down here in Cap Haitian.

Our team

One of the men from suffriere who carried our medical supplies

 

Going through the river

We left at 6 on Saturday morning and went to pick up Ms Prudence and her husband, they put their stuff in the back of the truck and the next thing to go in was 2 chickens with their feet tied up, obviously going to be one of our meals over the weekend. We stopped off along the way to get some Tampico (Haitian version on sunny delight), then to the ‘ice factory’ to get a big block of ice. And after an hour then it was time to walk, 2 hours up the mountain but it really is a lovely walk. Some guys came down with a couple of donkeys to take all the medical supplies up. So after 2 hours we arrived at the church where the clinic was going to be held.

They turned out to be dinner on Sunday

The crowd waiting for us in the church

Inside the church was pretty crazy, we think there was maybe around 400 people there who had come to see the doctor and there was no way just between Dr Phil and Ms Prudence they were going to see them all. Ms Prudence went round and give tickets to those people who were most sick so they could be seen. We The clinic actually ran very well, people got their dossier (a wee card) and waited in line to see the doctor, then were sent to the pharmacy to pick up their medicine, then sent over to speak with the pastor. We also gave each patient bread with peanut butter and a tampico while they were waiting. There were a lot of people there who had been in Port during the earthquake and it was great because a few of our students had been in Port on 12th January (the day of the earthquake). So they were able to counsel and pray with those patients. One lady was in her house with her 4 children and she was able to run out with one of her kids but she lost her other 3 and her husband and is just struggling.

Dr Phil, clearly enjoying his job!

I just had to put this photo in cos this wee lady was so cute. I am not the tallest person in the world but I felt tall beside her.

We took a short break at 2 o’clock and just about 5 minutes before it started to rain, like really started to pour. Which actually was a good thing for us because a lot of people left and just the one minute before our wee break finished the rain stopped and the sun came out. So we were praising God for the rain and for the timing of the rain. We finished around 5 after seeing 200 patients. The seminary students got the opportunity to pray with a lot of people and they also found some people who wanted to be saved.

Pastor Jean-Marie praying with a little girl

The next day we went to church, they have around people in their church. I have no idea where the people come from because there are hardly any houses close by! Sunday in Haiti was mothers day and they had a special children’s choir to tell the mum’s happy mothers day. The seminary students took the service and we all sang together, after lunch we headed back down the mountain and back home.

The children's choir for mothers day

We just praise God for the weekend, for the opportunity to and treat people both physically and spiritually. Praise for the seminary students, they are just brill.

We are planning to do more clinics we just need some doctors so please pray God will send some more doctors to us.

A new look

Outside the clinic from the road

Our clinic has been having a bit of a makeover the past month or so and it looks great. When I first arrived in Haiti in 2008 they had just started building a brand new building for the AIDS clinic which runs from Bethesda however there were problems with funding and when I got back here this year 2 years later the building was still not finished never mind being used. But over the past month the guys have been working on it and its nearly ready to be open. We really need the space and it will be great when its open.

The new AIDS building nearly ready to be used.

I just want to tell you about a wee patient I had this week, mostly so you can pray. I have said before that I don't really like telling sad stories on here but at the end of the day that is reality of life in Haiti and there is no point in talking around it or ignoring it because it is simply how things are here.

I have a wee patient called Ashkala, she is 2 and a half and initially I thought she has Cerebral palsy she wasn't able to walk, sit up or even hold her head up then I talked to her mum. Ashkala is her mother's 5th child but she has lost all the other 4 very late on in her pregnancies, Ashkala is the only baby she carried to full term and who has surivived and she was born normal. Then last October she has a big seizure and was taken to the big hospital in town where she was kept in for a week given oxygen and other medicine. But since then she has not been able to walk, talk or do anything really. The very first time I saw her I just talked with her mum for maybe 45 minutes and during that time Ashkala had around 3 small seizures and from her mum she is always doing that continually throughout the day and night. Then her mum told me her husband is really ill and has been for a year, he is just 34 the doctors don't know what is wrong with him but he just stays in bed and is really ill. Because of that she cannot work and therefore doesn't have the money to buy the medicine that ashkala needs to control her seizures. It just is so sad and seems so hopeless. There is a doctor here from home and we saw her yesterday. He thinks there is more than likely something neurological going on and she probably won't live much longer. Especially here in Haiti where the treatment options are so limited. Yet her mum tells me only God knows how she is coping. If it wasn't for God's strength she and her husband would both be dead. And she firmly believe if it is God's will he can heal Ashkala, if it is not his will she trusts he will give her another child. Her faith is just amazing and she is truly taking her strength from God. I told her I would write to people in my church, my country to ask them to pray for her, her husband and for Ashkala. So that's what I am asking you to do, pray for her wee life, that she will not be in pain, that the seizure medicine will work. Pray for strength and courage for her mum, to trust in God and lean on him. Pray for work for her, pray for her husband. wisdom for doctors, medicine to work and that he will be healed.

Thank you.

Ti kado, prosthestics

Since I got back Ive been asked many times 'eske ou te pote'm yon ti kado' 'did you bring me a wee present'. In Haiti they like to give and recieve  'ti kado' (wee presents) and obviously I wasn't able to bring back everyone I know a wee present. However since I got back I have got 4 'ti kado's'.  The day I got back, a couple whose wee boy, Alex I treat in the clinic came to the door with a pineapple for me, then Wednesday at Milot a patient bought me a coconut, then another person give me a bracelet, then on Thursday in the clinic a wee patient who is just 16, stephanie came with 2 cans of this energy drink thing. It is so humbling to recieve presents here because I know these people have nothing and to give me anything is such a sacrifice.

Alex with his mum & dad

Like stephanie (the 16 year old), she was in Port au prince and had crush injuries to her legs, was in the third floor of her school when the earthquake hit. She lay until midnight that night when she was pulled out, went to the hospital the next day and they told her she wasn't ill enough to be there. So she left, slept in the street until she found a way to get to Cap Haitian to stay with her mum who lives here. After she arrived she went to the hopsital in town on 19th Jan, they didn't do anything. She came to Milot 4 weeks ago, having not walked for 3 months and having no treatment at all. However they would not accept her and she was sent home but referred onto outpatient physio with me. The first day I saw her she could barely walk, she has bilateral nerve palsys in her legs and is very sensitive to any touch at all. I was then leaving for nearly 3 weeks, so I gave her lots of things to do at home. She is tiny and I told her if she wants to get better she needs to eat well aswell to give her strength and energy her and her sister both replied 'we don't have any money for food.' They also came with no money to get home, they live around 45 minutes away and the tap tap costs about 20 goods which is about 30p. I had to get someone to carry her out to the road to get on the tap tap and put a chair at the side of the road until one arrived. So I sent her home with lots of exercises to do and wasn't really sure how things would be. She came today and the first thing she gave me was a 'ti kado' which was lovely. Only then did we talk about how she was, and I was so surprised she is doing so much better than I thought she would. Her pain is not at all as bad as it was and she can walk with just one person helping her. She still doesn't have alot of movement in both feet but it is definitely better than what it was.

My 'ti kado's'

While I was away in Canada the prosthetic team was out at milot. It was so cool to come back to see people walking around with their new leg, especially the kids. First of all I went over to paeds to see some of the girls witrh their new leg, it was very cool and they are all pleased with them. At the minute they are just practising trying to walk independantly the wee ones still need a little bit more confidence but they are doing great.

Fariana showing off her new leg

Shadei, Fariana and Nieka

Doing some physiotherapy

Oh Canada

I just spent the last 2 weeks in Toronto, Canada. Firstly to go to Amy and Evan's wedding. for those of you who don't know Amy was the girl I lived with the last time I was in Haiti and she has become a very good friend. She is from a small town outside of Toronto. While she was in Haiti we had a doctor, Evan from Northern Ireland come to work in the clinic for about 4 weeks. They kept in touch after Evan went home then Amy came over for a wee visit and as they say the rest is history!!They got married last Saturday 8th May, the wedding was lovely and lots of references to Haiti and how they met there.

  My mum&dad also flew out to meet me here so I spent the last two weeks with them which was great. We did lots of sightseeing, went downtown Toronto did the bus tour, some shopping, visited a few wee towns, met up with some friends I have in Toronto and went to Niagra falls....it was unbelievable!!I am just travelling back to Haiti over the next two days. I am looking forward to getting back especially to some sunshine and heat....it has been way too cold here!!!

Post earthquake

A lot of people have been asking me how are things in Haiti now, have things settled down a bit since the earthquake. And I guess they have since 12 January but for lots of people life is still a struggle. I am glad people are asking though because so often things are forgotten about, they are top stories on the news for a few weeks then its forgotten. Haiti will need help for probably years to come, it will take a long time to rebuild Haiti.

 Here are some facts from a world vision report from Port-au-Prince.



Killed: More than 220,000
Injured: More than 300,000
Displaced: At least 1.7 million
Migrated to rural areas: More than 500,000
Registered at displacement camps, urban area: More than 600,000
Homeless and unregistered, urban areas: More than 600,000
'But the scale of this disaster means that the recovery phase is only just beginning.'

This is what world vision are working on right now
1. Shelter
2. Food
3. Water
4. Healthcare
5. Income
6. Education and a future for children

Right now there are 1.3million people in Port who are homeless and those who do have homes are living in tents, clean water is hard to come by, there is food avaiable to buy on the street but so so many people have lost their jobs and have no work there is no money to buy food. Sanitation is very poor, in Haiti pre earthquake sanitation was already poor this has just gotten worse. Meaning the risk of disease spreading is higher. Straight after the earthquake the government announced all healthcare was to be free for the next 3 months, thankfullythey have extended that for a furthur 3 months. School started back in Port officially on 5th April however many schools were not in the position to re open.
This is the reality in Port right now, true the inital devastation on the earthquake is not so evident but now the Haitian people have to try and get their lives back. Deal with living through the earthquake, with losing family & friends, their homes and everything they had and any injuries they have as a result of the earthquake. Now to try and find shelter, food, water, work and education for their children.
If you are interested in reading the world vision document here is the link.

http://www.worldvision.org/resources.nsf/main/press-haiti/$file/RandR.pdf

As you know I have been working in Milot where all the patients were from Port, just last week they discharged another 50 patients back to Port. When I spoke to most people they wanted to go to back to Port because that is where they know and that is home for them but I can't help thinking how difficult it will be. Going from a hospital where they have been looked after for 3 months, where they have had good shelter, a bed, 3 meals a day and water when they need it to a tent in the middle of a tent city with no guarentee of where or when the next time they will eat will be.

Here are a few of my special friends who were discharged this week.....

Edwina (on the left), she lost some of her family and was staying in Milot with her Auntie. When I first met her she was very withdrawn and depressed. She was in alot of pain from crush injuries on her legs and was not doing very much walking at all with her frame. Now she is much brighter and can walk independantly.

Ena was really very sick after the earthquake, she had a skull fracture, multiple fractures on her left foot and a left wrist fracture and a pelvic fracture. She was on the US comfort ship and was really very unwell, they weren't sure if she would be ok. She was transferred to Milot a few weeks later and has really improved.

Bernadette and her Daughter. Bernadette lost one of her sons in the earthquake and her husband is still in Port. She fractured her elbow and had to get pins put in. However because of the initial lack of physio she ended up with a very very stiff left shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand after 8 weeks of not moving at all!!She has really improved.

Pierre is normally much happier than this!!He has the best smile, Ive no idea why he wasn't smiling of why I have no photo's of him smiling!! He had a broken leg and was down in Milot with his mum.

Paul is a wee pet. He fractured his tibia and fibula and has to have an external fixator on, then a cast now is walking with  just one crutch. He now wants to be an orthopaedic doctor when he grows up. He phoned me when he arrived back in Port and he is living in a tent with his mum&dad.

Please continue to pray for these people and for all those people who are living in Port. Continue to pray for Port au Prince and for Haiti, it seems to me it will take a miracle to change things....Thankfully we have a God who can do miracles and can change Haiti.