As many of you know, ET and I have a heart for missions. We most recently had the opportunity to serve two weeks in Haiti. In the city, you finds crazy traffic, smog so thick it’ll turn your skin black, and various awful smells, but as soon as you start up the mountain, it is nothing but beautiful. The air is so crisp you feel it cool your insides as you breathe. The mountains are so glorious you see God’s majesty. And the people, the people are beautiful and kind-hearted.
This trip was organized by ET, PS, and our Haiti resident JM. Through prior trips, they have discovered many of the Haitians have iodine deficiency which leads to large goiters and cretinism in their children. After months of research, they have figured out a way to help these people and have started a not-for-profit organization called AFH – All for Him or Aid for Haiti. We are praying and ask you to pray for the future of the organization and keeping open hearts to God’s will. It could definitely be a place where we settle to serve.
July 26th, a group of 7 of us flew to Port-Au-Prince with fourteen 55lb suitcases full of our clothes and meds. We were blessed and went through customs with ease. JM picked us up at the airport where we loaded the luggage and ourselves into the back of a pickup truck. We t
hen went to our base in Port Life Ministries. The next couple of days consisted of sorting the meds we brought and the meds they left from the last trip. Monday morning we set out for Patmos. We found ourselves stopping in Fon Doux to see a Pastors sick wife whom was also pregnant. We back tracked and then continued on driving up into the mountains and through a riverbed that we crossed 40 something times. You can imagine in the back of a truck we got pretty bumped and bruised. Once out of the riverbed we
continued to drive up donkey trails that were so
narrow that I didn’t think we would make it a couple of times. (Left: Pictures of trail river and us in the back of the truck hanging on for life!) Dusk came about the time we had driven as far as we could. We were greeted by several villagers who had come to carry the meds and our stuff the rest of the way. No, we weren’t done. We then hiked 1.5 hours up two mountains in the pitch black. We didn’t understand the extent of what we did until we woke the next morning to this view…
The next couple of days were full of adventure. ET and I shared a twin bed then up graded to a twin and a half in a 8×12 room we shared with our dear T&J. We showered out of a bucket in a 3 wall tin room. I learned not to be the last to bathe the very first night! The out house was pretty high class, not much to say about that. We served a couple of hundred people. The most exciting cases being a circumcision and a swollen knee that we removed half a liter of fluid. Oh, I mustn’t forget the patient that wanted to thank ET by giving him one of her five children! That was ver
y funny considering. We ended our stay there with a church service.
The next village we visited was Potino. This village was a lot more assessable and had almost normal facilities. Elliott and I had a full size bed that was made real nice. The shower was from the river and had tad poles in it but it came out of a shower head! And there was an actual toilet to sit on, you just had to pour water down it to flush. In this village, they actually had a clinic that we could work out of. As before, we set up a vital sign station, three rooms to see
patients, and a pharmacy. The things that stick out to me most about this village was the great food, JM and ET getting really sick and drinking a lot of Pepto-Bismol, it rained a lot, the little boy I wanted to take home, and the baby girl that had fallen into a bean pot and burned about 40% of her body. Thankfully the Lord provided and we were able to help her. We also had a church service, and we did a skit about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. MR and I were the guards and got to die when we through them into the fire. I think the most I laughed was on the hike out. TR, JR, and I hiked out together in mud up to our ankles. By the end of the trail TR was bare foot and I had a Haitian pushing my up a slick hill by my bottom! It was so funny!
After this trip we were able to go back to Port and rest a couple of days. We filled the days with laundry, reading, and catching mice. It was a nice reprieve, but we would soon find out, it wasn’t long enough.
As I am writing this, I cannot even think of the name of the last village we went to. I guess I subconsciously decided to forget the WHOLE experience. The trip started with us being very tired and with a change of the team. We had become very comfortable with the group we had been working with, but they were unable to go to this village. The journey consisted of a lot of WAITING, driving in the heat of the day for around 4-6 hours bumping around so much that my bottom was bruised and sore, arriving to our midway point late at night. Now, this was a haven to our beaten souls. This sweet missionary family took us in and fed us REALLY good American food, even good ole hot dogs and mac n cheese! The next day we set off on a 4 hour hike, straight up the mountain, with the sun shining bright, ET having more GI problems, and 1 jug of water. We arrived early afternoon and immediately set up clinic
. We saw patients that evening and the next morning. We were able to see several people even in the short amount of time we were there. That afternoon we headed back to the missionaries house. PTL! He covered us with clouds and provided extra mules for us to ride. My and JR’s mule was lovingly named Stoplight due to her stubborness and stopping every 10 feet. I discovered she just really wanted to take her own route and not follow the path. If I let her do that she was fine. ET named his mule Turbo. He was a little mule, but he plowed right up that mountain! Once we reached the house, we were back in heaven with our good food and comfort. PS and ET worked in the local clinic the next morning then we packed up for the long drive back. No matter how bad it get while we’re doing God’s work, may we always remember this little girl is why we do it.
The last evening we were there we were there we had great fellowship and pizza with other missionaries who were very kind to invite us over. The next morning, we went to a nice restaurant that over looked Port-Au-Prince and ate a big breakfast. While waiting to take our picture with the view in the background, a “famous” singer filmed a music video. It was quite entertaining! ET and Guito did their own renditions, if you can imagine. 🙂 The day ended with our trip to the airport where we had to leave our dear friends JM and Junior.
Overall, I really had a good trip and made some really wonderful friends. Lord willing, I look forward to other trips to Haiti and hanging out with all of them again soon.
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