so sorry this has taken me forever to post, but work has been out of control, for real...
so on Thursday (Day 6) we got up and had our breakfast at the crack of dawn, i'm still kind of in shock that my body got so used to getting up that early. our plan for the day was to visit another orphanage that ESMI partners with, Casamajor. most of our girls (the teenagers) absolutely did not want to go, as they had fallen in love with the kids at Cambry and the thought of having to leave their favorite kids was not going over well. many discussions were had, but in the end, it was determined that they would go with us. i think it was good for them to see another orphanage, as this one was completely different than Cambry, where we had been staying.
on our drive over to the orphanage, which was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, we had to stop at a convenience store, for some reason. jackson decided to hop off of the bus and see if they had any cokes. beth and mary alice wanted a diet coke, but unfortunately they did not have any diet cokes, but they had regular ones. so, jackson was able to get all of us some coke and sprite, what a treat:) i am not even trying to lie, that coke was delicious. it maybe had a bit of a funny taste, but that carbonation was so, so, so GOOD. we arrived on the grounds of Casamajor, and one of the roads was washed out, so half of the guys jumped off the bus and the driver literally had to reverse it for about 1/4 or more to get us to the door of the orphanage. to say that some of us were praying for our lives at that point would be an understatement, but after surviving the bus ride from the day before, i didn't think it could get any worse. honestly, i think i was growing accustomed to this erratic driving and the fact that roads would just be washed out and there is no back up system... you make it work, somehow. through God's grace and provision we got to all of our destinations in that trusty old school bus, but it sure did provide some entertainment and some laughs after the fact.
we unloaded all of our medical supplies for the clinic, and realized that we had two very small rooms, for four doctors to see patients and for me to set up shop for pharmacy. luckily they did have a table, but unfortunately it only had three legs, so we needed to set it up against a wall for balancing purposes. no chairs were available, so we used buckets! we didn't have running water or power at this location either, and at first were told that we would not be able to use the generator that we brought, as they didn't have enough fuel for it. i think jackson worked that out, THANK YOU JACKSON, so we had some fans to help circulate the airflow. jackson and patrick were seeing patients in the room where i was. most of kids just needed meds for diarrhea, nothing to serious, but then patrick saw this guy who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008. for three years he has just been suffering, obviously, no hope for treatment. this man had eyes that would melt your heart and he was probably about 85. my grandfather is only a few years younger than this man, and my heart immediately broke into a million pieces. this man, was so sweet. he looked at me and said, with a smile that would also melt your heart, "i'm sorry i cannot speak english." i simply smiled back and said "no problem, Patrick can help you." Patrick said, this was the sweetest, least demanding patient he had seen all day. He said, all he wants is some kind of relief for pain and maybe something for heartburn. Are you kidding me? Here is a man who has cancer, has had it for three years, and all he is basically asking for is tylenol and heartburn medication? I filled his prescriptions with tears in my eyes, trying not to let him or Patrick see that I was crying. Talk about putting things into perspective though... I prayed that this Tylenol would give him such relief and alleviate his pain. Patrick did give him a diuretic too in an attempt to help out, but I cannot get that man's face out of my head. Kevin and Tony (what a pair) were in the other room, and providing constant entertainment as always. They saw several little kids as well, and some of the adult patients. We saw a lot of people that day, while Lisa was busy pulling teeth. There wasn't a day that went by that Lisa wasn't busy from the minute she started until we had to make her quit. I think she had a hard time this day though, as she had to turn away a sweet lady that she literally ran out of time for.
We got back on the bus to return to Cambry, and most of us dosed in and out of sleep, as we were pretty exhausted from a long day. We went back to Cambry and had dinner, don't have my journal out as I am typing this, so I can't remember what we had. We had a great wrap up session this night, and I am so thankful that God put 16 strangers together and yet we all have worked together so well.
Friday morning (Day 7), our plan was to have the medical clinic open for half of the day and then if it all went well we were going to get a taxi (can we say scary) and go to the beach. Well, mother nature had other plans for us, haha. It poured all day long. Early that morning, the vendors came to sell us some Haitan items, which was great, and I got use my bargaining skills. The Roper girls were laughing at me, saying I was acting like their dad. I said, I know how this works. Kristen on the other hand did not have this skill at all:) Don't worry I wasn't cheating them at all, just trying to not pay an arm and a leg for something. We were able to follow up on patients Juaques and Kristen had been seeing all week, give out last doses of meds to the little ones, and clean up a little at the clinic. We did close the clinic around 1:30ish and thought we were going to head to the beach. We all went up to the guest house and changed, but then the taxi left as the rain started coming down harder. I guess our thought process was, we were already wet, so why not just go enjoy the beach regardless. It was probably a good thing we didn't go, as we never got power back this day, so we had to pack all of our stuff up, as we were heading to the airport at 3AM and it would have been extremely difficult to pack in the pitch black dark.
We had a nice meal (delicious rice, beans, doughnut things, plantanes, and maybe other things that I didn't eat) on the last night. We all went to shower and get in bed, as we knew that 2:30 wake up time was going to be brutal. The bus was on time to pick us up, so we all headed down the hill to depart around 3AM. We stopped and picked up quite a few people (strangers to us) along the way, but finally arrived at the airport around 8:30/8:45 AM. It was a long bus ride, but we were glad to be there:) After the craziness that is customs/security/immigration whatever they call it, Juaques, Kristen, Patrick, Tony, Kevin, and me all went upstairs to get something to eat. Anyone ever eaten a hamburger (in Port au Prince) at 9:30 AM, well this girl did. Actually I ate about three bites of my "hamburger" as I am not quite sure what kind of meat it was, but my french fries had never tasted so good. Some of the others got what I would call "pigs in a blanket," maybe I should have gone with that, but regardless, it was nice to have something other than rice and beans.
We landed in Miami and this is when we all started running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We had very little time for this connection back to Charlotte. The lines in customs were VERY LONG, but because many people were praying (thanks Kasey, Lindsey, and my parents) we made it to our gate and on our plane with like three minutes to spare. We landed in Charlotte around 7:10 PM on Saturday evening, and my parents actually came to pick me up. (Yes, those of you who know how much my parents like to travel are probably in shock.) They took me to Chili's to eat, and it was the best meal. I looked like I had not showered in days, but I did not really care.
Now that I have been back for a little over a month now, I am still processing all that I saw, all that I heard, all that I did... my heart and life are forever changed. my friend Dana wanted me to share my top 5 about my trip, so I thought I'd post those to end all my posts on Haiti:
5. my team that i served with (God brought 16 strangers together and we
were like family, all united for one cause to bring the hope and love of
Jesus to these children, but they showed us His love too)
4.
getting to do something that i am so good at, when i doubted that my
gifts would be used before we went... i was a pharmacy tech in high
school and early college, and i have great organizational skills, so on
sunday we organized that whole pharmacy (it was a nightmare) and then i
was basically like the pharmacist the whole week, and i jumped right
back into it all week, it was wonderful to know that i was being used
and my gifts were put to work
3. i had so much fear that i
would not make it... many teams prior have had to have multiple members
that have had to have IV fluids, lots of antibiotics and med needs due
to how hot it is and just how tough the conditions are, but God totally
allowed me to TRUST him and i survived, i didn't need IV fluids and i
loved the food... it was not easy, but this girl, who loves the comforts
of home made it and only had one little crying episode, haha
2. i was very scared to get close to the kids, as i am such an emotional
person and i knew i would have to leave my heart in Haiti, but i fell
in love with a little girl named Jazmine and she wasn't the most
emotional little girl, she just wanted to be loved and held all week.
at the end of the week though, she knew that we had to leave and just
walked away after i told her i loved her and hoped to see her again, i
asked one of the older kids, where she was going as i was fighting back
tears, and he said, "to sleep." it was like God was telling me, i sent
you this one, so it wouldn't be so difficult. she is such a little
fighter, as she is one of 11 kids, and her mother died.
1. hearing the children sing Jesus Loves Me and Lord I Lift Your Name
On High, it was like a glimpse of Heaven, we would sing in English and
they would sing in Creole, we have no idea what language will be spoken,
but to me that was like a picture/glimpse of what it will be like, all
of us praising God:)
thanks to everyone for all the prayers, love, and support. God is SOOO good!!!
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