February 28, 2010

This is my first post from our mission house here in Ouanaminthe!  You cannot imagine how exciting it is to be able to work from our house rather than from across the border in Dajabon.  I love the Coca Cola Light (Diet Coke) over there and the delicious coffee, but traipsing across the bridge every day takes a lot of time.  I will need to figure out how to work into my schedule all the exercise I’ve been getting going back and forth to Dajabon.

Last week a group of 3 nurses visiting us from New Jersey and I took one of our young boys, Cela, from L’Acajou to the hospital in Fort Liberte.  Cela has, unfortunately, often been sick since he was born.  The doctor who saw him is pretty sure he has the mumps and needs anti-viral medication.  Unfortunately, our American medical team didn’t have any left, so we’ll try to get the medication tomorrow.  We also had some other tests done to see if there’s anything else going on.  Cela is pictured in the Aslan YouTube Video just as the music is beginning, with a lot of his hair eaten away by a horrible ringworm infection that covered his body.  However, you can see from the current pictures that all his hair has grown back since our nursing group gave him antibiotics in March.  If you have not yet seen it, be sure to click on the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY2LuhC5N0E.  I think you’ll agree that it powerfully shows the need for Aslan to build a medical center!

A beautiful part of this story includes Carol Clark, one of the New Jersey nurses who came to Haiti with us last week.  She’s pictured below at the hospital in Fort Liberte with her arms around Cela and sitting next to his father.  It is such a beautiful picture of love.  6a00e552ed7b75883301310f495ac2970c-320wiWhat you cannot see are the tears that were rolling down Carol’s cheeks while she holds the little guy.  As she sat there on the concrete walkway amidst hundreds of people milling around waiting to see the American doctors and nurses, Carol was touched so deeply by the overwhelming need for the simplest and most basic medical care.  We all were so saddened and deeply affected by our mom who was dying only a few feet from where we were.  But we also saw hope in helping Cela, whose story is so much like that of our friend, Dameus (the young 22-year-old with the terrible cancer that began with a small fungal infection).  Just like Dameus, Cela lives far enough out in the countryside that his parents have never been able to get adequate medical care for him.  Many people who live outside the cities in Haiti subsist on less than one US dollar a day.  There is a level of thankfulness among the many families we serve in L’Acajou that is hard to describe in words.  They have lived so long without any help and with very little hope.  A simple antibiotic that we would take for granted in America is often enough to literally save a life!

6a00e552ed7b75883301310f496460970c-320wiPlease keep mailing this blog as far and wide as you can.  Our Aslan Medical Center is going to be built, and phase 1, our clinic, is just around the corner.  The way things are going, we might be able to break ground for the clinic foundation within 3 months.  Just as Aslan is changing the world one child at a time, this clinic is going to be built one block at a time.  Please keep praying, keep hoping and keep giving to help make this a reality.

Till next time,

Craig

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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