2nd Haiti Trip – Vol. V

It seemed like this week was taken up with trips to Port-au-Prince for various reasons.  A few of them were to buy supplies to complete the plumbing and electrical needs in the house.  Bill called me Friday and said they had water in the house!!!  It was great to be able to take a shower!

But one trip to Port-au-Prince was different.  A farmer from the mountains heard about Bill and came down to see him.  This farmer had injured his knee two years ago.   His knee appeared to be swollen to twice its size.  He had four children and had been unable to work since the injury happened!

Bill called me and asked me to call Dr. Al Buchele, a doctor from Joplin who had been in Haiti when we first went.  He gave us the phone number of a doctor who was working at Adventist Hospital in PAP.  Though Bill was unable to reach that particular doctor, he did reach another one at the hospital.  He was told to bring the man in.

The hospital is located on the far side of PAP from where we are.  After a long difficult trip through PAP, they arrived at the hospital.  After seeing the doctor, Bill and Jesse were told to leave him there and come back to pick him up the next day.  They would x-ray his leg and treat what they found.

After driving nearly clear back across PAP, they received a call to come back and pick up the patient.  The hospital’s X-ray technician had gotten angry about something and just QUIT!  They went back to pick him up and then cross PAP for the 4th time that day!!  Very frustrating!  Hopefully he can get some help and be able to work once again to take care of his family.

The following is an account from Jesse about driving in Haiti.  Hopefully, it will give you a good idea of what it is like there.

After getting accustomed to Haitian driving you realize you must always be in serious mode when driving here but tonight was different. When your lives are possibly at stake and you’ve been warned by many people many times NEVER to be in PAP in this neighborhood at night, then things get real and you develop sort of a 6th sense in some respects because the fear of death spurs you on and your attention to detail becomes so amplified because of the possible consequences of one move at times being a fraction of an inch off. 

We made it through the city safely, praise the Lord, and were just outside of Crois des Bouquets  when I came up behind a taptap just as we reached the roughest spot on the road from PAP to home. As usual, there were people crowded all over the thing with one man even standing on the mounting step and just as I’m coming up behind them and begin slowing down for the potholes, the taptap hits one of very large scale and the man’s feet slip right off the step! We thought he hit the pavement with his face but to our relief he stood up as I narrowly missed him and he walked to the side of the road seemingly unscathed.

As we made our way home through the countryside, a truck came up behind me with no lack of haste. He  tail gated us nearly half a mile. When the last car passed he lurched to the left and began accelerating past me. Now let me explain something to you. At night if there is a car ahead of you, the headlights, if they have them, nearly completely blind anyone on the receiving end of the illumination. As soon as he passed me, suddenly I could see and there was a full size donkey, dead, right in the middle of the road! Talk about bad timing. I was able to squeeze up against the truck close enough to manage to only obliterate the neck and head of the donkey. Luckily no damage was done to the pickup. We arrived home, showered, ate, and went to bed. Another grueling day in Haiti. 

Janet at Hope for Haiti day

Back here in the states, I spent the week getting ready for a display on what we are doing for Hope for Haiti day, a student sponsored event at MSSU to try to raise funds for Haiti.  I also worked on getting a web site up and going.  The past updates are posted there along with some additional information. This was a new experience for me and I am not a computer savvy person.  Hope you enjoy the site when it is up and running.

Tuesday, I am flying to Haiti to join Bill and Jesse.  I am looking forward to meeting many of the people the Lord has brought into their lives and helping with the mission house.  I hope to be able to go to the mountains and visit some of the villages they have been to.

We hope to get a lot done in the next few weeks as we will all three be coming back May 18th.  Jesse has some business he needs to attend to and hopes to go back in 2-3 weeks with Terry Gribble when she goes to train the girls for the medical team.  Bill is scheduled to have knee replacement surgery May 25th and hopes to return to Haiti in a month or two.  We’ll have to see how it goes.

In the meantime, Pastor Goude and his family who lost their home in the earthquake in PAP will be staying at the house watching things while we are gone.  We would like to find someone from America to go and continue the work with the farmers in the mountains and other things we are trying to do.

Please keep us in your prayers as we seek continued direction from the Lord for working in Haiti.  God bless you all.

It is JUST that He sends.

It’s for MERCY we go.