USA

We have landed! It was a early morning for all of us. To many dogs and roosters. Everyone was up early and we were off at 6:00 am. The traffice is unpredictable in Port Au Prince so it is better to be there early. Check in went swiftly and for once our plane was not delayed. As we sit here with our 8 hour layover and say good bye to our new friends we think about how we have been blessed. We are back in the US but our mission is not done.

Ready for our last day. We were suppose to see 60 and of course we saw 600.....not really but it felt like it. The day started out a bit chaotic as if everyone knew it was our last day. We had several follow ups and a lot of depression and stressed patients. With little mental health assistance they were comforted and treated as best as possible. This is an example of how many different unmet needs there are here in Haiti.

The Three Angel staff was very excited today because they have been working very hard at cleaning the house next door. For the past few days they have been cleaning up all of the rubbel and washing floors. They were so proud to have their picture taken on the new front porch. Their was alot of Haitian celebration going on.

When clinic was finished we piled into the van and headed to the Epidor. This is an Haitian McDonald's. It was packed. The experience starts with trying to exchange money. How much is a US dollar worth? My concern was where is the diet coke. The food was great. The adventure home was fun riding in the back of the truck...without helmets. This provides a totally different prospective of Haitian urban living/survival.

Back at the ranch we relaxed, looked at our souvenirs and then went shopping again. The vendors were not very happy that the rich Americans were out of money. Dinner was great again with a new experience of fried bread fruit. Following dinner was our last nightly meeting. Zac blessed us with his poem about his experience with his 9 mothers and George.

I'm going to start and say "Old"

and that's why you should all fold

All of you lady's with your "mature mind"

And George and I are one of a "kind"

I have learned as much as I "wish"

And even what smells like "fish"

We all have to go home in "fact"

I will change to "North going Zac"

Or Jack-Zac-Jason-Kyle-"Josh"

So many names oh my "gosh"

I will now try to win this "bet"

And brown nose with some "bracelet"

Zac thinks he won but really we all did and now have a reminder of the wonderful young man who learned many lessons about who you call old. He did try to win us over by presenting us each with a bracelet.......I think it worked.

After watching Haitian women carrying large baskets on their heads all week, we decided to test our skill. Two teams were carefully selected for the magnificent Haitian Basket Race. They were lined up and each skillfully placed their basket on their head and wound through an obstacle course. Donette and her staff were cheering us on. There were several issues. George's basket got caught in the fan chain. Gail took the corner incorrectly and accused Nancy of pushing. After a fierce race the winning team celebrated with their prize of a Tap Tap key chain. The winning team members were Nancy, Sally, Dr Jack, Zac, Marsha & Lisa. There was much laughter and I am sure the new team that just arrived wonders what kind of guest house is this.

Last night in Haiti......Bonnwit

Bon' Apeti

Another great day in clinic. We saw over 100 patients. Thank you to all who have donated dresses, tooth brushes the thousands of breakfast bars ( Aunt Kathy and Gretchen), baby blanket, homemade baby toys, cash donations for medications. We also had donations that were spent on crafts for our vacation bible school, beach balls, and every person who came on to Three Angels compound received an cross necklace. We received craft bracelets kits from Linda's bible study group for VBS and homemade baby kozies of fleece and textured ribbons from Cynthia's Hearts & Hands group. We also received hundreds of homemade goodie bags for medications which were made by Jan Barto. We were also given dresses from the Suzanna Stitchers from Christ United Methodist church in Jackson Mississippi. Thanks to Quad Sil for their donations of hand sanitiszer and to the Appothacary Shop for their medication donation. This trip was blessed with all of your donations.

Our Haitian lunch prepared by the nannies was wonderful...we had black beans and rice, sauce tomate. They were so proud and we were so thankful.

One man came to the clinic and requested to say hello to Cydney, Jack and Lynda and to thank them again for performing his hernia surgery last July. Cynthia did a happy dance when her dehydrated baby came back with 1 1/2 pounds weight gain after 3 days. One of Nancy's patients was sent to the University of Miami field hospital because of a very large right thigh mass. There were lots of worms, heart burn, scabies, and lots of lumps and bumps.

Today I was able to go into St Joseph's. This is the orphanage where George grew up. Bill greeted Nancy and I and took us on a tour. There were many people working very hard cleaning up one of the levels. What devastation and sadness. The boys there are still afraid to sleep inside the house so they have several tents set up out in open areas. They have purchased a house next door and it will be a wonder guest house/boy's home when the building is complete.

Tomorrow will be our last day in clinic. We will give out 60 tickets and see how many patients we will end up with. When we are done in clinic we are going on an adventure to a Haitian McDonalds- "The Epidor". We will do our final packing and say our final goodbyes. My though that always goes through my mind is "When can I come back?"

Wonderful Wednesdays

Bonsur,

We started our morning on Haitian time. We were notified that our ride would be late and we sat waiting as the driver sat waiting in the driveway while someone was cleaning out the van. Flexibility is the key. While we were waiting Linda gave us yoga lessons and we tried to pretend how flexible we were. We were finally off to the clinic for a morning of fun. Joan gave some educational classes durning the clinic on germs and clean hands.
There were many sad situations such as a young women brought in a 5 month old whose parents were killed in the earthquake. Another grandma brought her grandaughter because her daughter had died. This baby was severly malnurished inspite of grandmas tender care. We gave them items such as formula, blanket, cereal and love.

I took a little tour into the nannies kitchen to see what was cooking. They were so proud of their stove and the meal that they were preparing. They were so excited to pose for their picture. Tomorrow they will be cooking lunch for us-- Haitian beans & rice.

We headed up into the mountains in the afternoon. The view is very different up there with less distruction and a lot of green mountains with farm fields. We enjoyed the cooler weather and diet coke. Once we were finished eating we went to tackle the venders. Oh my favorite sport! "Oh my friend, my friend." I did teach the team how to shop out of the van window as we were leaving to get the best deal
Robinson stopped by to visit us for dinner. We are all very tired tonight inspite of having a shorter day. Shopping can be exhausting you know. On the way home there were many pictures left in our mind. The beautiful mountains, the few stocks of corn trying to grow in any small piece of open groung on the side of the mountain, but the thing that sticks to my mind is the piles of cement that were once a home. It is hard to think about the people digging on the top of the mounts of rubble all by themselves. We just assume they are looking for their love ones or any part of their life smashed under the rocks. Will they ever get to the bottom? No, I doubt it. In spite of all of the sadness there is continuous joy in the strength of the Haitians. We had a few games of Euchre tonight, great devotions by Linda and Zac practicing some new procedures he has learned today. There were many screams from fighting cats several times tonight. Of course the screams came from me. Nancy fell onto Linda for protection but she states she tripped. I think Zac believes that he has 9 mothers here looking over him. Aunt Susan you have nothing to worry about. Everyone is washed out and in bed. Feme Luminair (shut off the lights)

Bonnwit

Do It Afraid

Day Two = Perfect

All went well on day two. We handed out 90 tickets in the morning. As some of you know with that ticket some may have 3 people to be seen. So we really never get an actual total. We had our last day of peanut butter and jelly flat bread sandwiches for lunch this week. We had a day of interesting patients, interesting smells and many new experiences for all. Our med students are receiving an education of a life time, whether they know it or not. The non medical team members are receiving an education too, whether they like it or not. Quote of the day is : Does it smell like fish?

This week we heard an amazing God story about a young women having an C/S when the earthquake hit. The surgical crew took the baby and ran out of the OR room. The young women fell off the table durning the earthquake and layed on the floor for 4 days. Somehow she got out of the building and found her baby. Then someone on the street sewed up her incision. Yes, she and the baby are still alive. Mom will be followed up at the Heartline Womens Clinic.

We continue to be amazed how the team blends together and how the flow runs so smoothly. It is very nice to have so much help from the Three Angel's staff all the way down to the clean up. It is great to share so much time with Jack and Marsha on the medical side of Three Angels. Another clinic day well done.

We enjoyed our Haitian meal for dinner. Then to broadened our experience we all jumped into the swimming pool! Yes it is 90 degrees and we jumped into the pool. The water is missing. It was full of leaves, mud, rock, frogs and tadpoles. When the earthquake hit the wall behind the pool was damaged. This amazing team cleaned the fishy smelling pool. I am sorry to say we will not be able to enjoy the pool because it will need painted and filled.

Devotions were lead by Lisa. She spoke about how everyone has had to step out of the boat to come on this trip. Sometimes you need to Do It Afraid if you know God is calling you.

Tomorrow we will have clinic in the morning and then head into the mountains......for diet coke. We are headed to the Baptist Mission area so the team can view the countryside. They will get a taste of bargining with the vendors and eating ice cream. Bonnwit (Goodnight)

Your strengths cover my weaknesses.

Lisa & Clotide

Sally & Baby

Zac & Cynthia

Josephine, Gail, George

Cynthis, Joan & Zac listening to fetal heart tones.

Max's family

WOW! What a successful day. There were over 100 patients while turning no one away. Our morning starting with a great session of prayer and singing by the nannies and ALL of the patients.
We starting with four stations for patients to be evaluated at. Two were inside and two were outside under a tarp. Two Haitian nurses checked in the patients, took vitals and weights. Then they came back towards the clinic to be seen. There is a section of the orphanage building that we are trying to avoid because of damage from the earthquake. Jack & Josephine were at one station with Fransois as their translator. Gail evaluated patients while George was her translator at the second outside station. Their speciality was many many babies. Inside Cynthia and Zac were at one station specializing in many below the waist issues. Nancy and Lisa were at the second station dealing with many different problems such as acid, chest pain, scabies and hunger. Sally was in her beautiful pharmacy counting, packaging and compounding medications. Joan and Linda were the runners gathering meds, handing out goody bags, obtaining "pee pee", holding babies, poking fingers, giving respiratory treatments. Every thing went very smoothly and I am simply blessed to have such a wonderful team. They have all just fell into place and work so well together.
Our dinner was fabulous. Chicken, gravy, beans & rice, fried okra, beans & choc cake. Thank you goes out to Joyce and Jade our prayer warriors. We are thinking of you. We wish you could both be here,
Cynthia gave our devotion tonight on how our strengths cover each other weaknesses. She gave us all positive input on how we covered each other through out the clinic day.
Zac spent the day brown noising after calling us old and now he states we are mature.
Goodbyes were said to Johane and Johanna after spending 2 days with us. Their mom brought Cynthia and I two beautiful bags of fruit and we will have the guest house cut it up for breakfast.
Tomorrow will be alot like today and we will be blessed with many more Haitian smiles.

Rocking Down The House

Johanna, Deb & Johane

Zac, Lisa, Sally & Josephine

Johane, Linda & Sally

Nancy, George & Joan

Joselene, Emmanuel & Michel

Cynthia & Sally

Johane & George

What a great day! Happy Mothers Day to all moms.We were rocking down the house at Port Au Prince Fellowship. This church service completly shows the Haitian spirit in God's House in spite of all of their hardships. Our morning was spent at worship service rocking out then we packed up our lunch and went to Three Angels to do the dreaded unpacking. Our lunch has been consisting of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on flat bread. Yummy.
Sally went right to work in her pharmacy. The pharmacy has been moved out of the closet into the office managers office. She even has windows. 95 degrees is a little easier to handle in a small room with windows. The orphanage which was damaged in the earthquake has several rooms that we are using for storage. All of the donated medications have been sorted, counted out and labeled. Tarps have been tied up in case of rain. We are ready to rumble.

We were happy to see ALL of Max's family. They are very proud of Max who is going to Dow High School in Midland. Michel, Joselene and Emmanuel were here to visit. "Happy Mothers Day to Lynda" He has tried to call and can not get through.

For our excitement today I told the story of one of my visits to Haiti in the rainy season. It can rain for 10 minute and then rivers come storming down the hills into the streets. Shortly after that it started to rain and we traveled through the flooded streets.

George from our team has not been in contact with his brother since the earthquake. Today after service he went to Site Soley which is the slum area in Port Au Prince. There he found his step brother and his family and they were all alive. The proverty continues and they are left with nothing and very little to eat.
Tonight we had wonderful devotions with Joan and now there is a mean game of Eucure is going on.

Good time had by all. Bonnwit.

Were Here!

Our Team

Yoga In Haiti

Francois guarding our luggage.

Josephine, Joan, Gale, Marsha

We have arrived safely after our minor stay in Detroit for 6 1/2 hours. We arrived in Ft Lauderdale in time to check into the hotel take a 45 min cat nap for a few people and then we were up and Adam to catch our next flight. We were all quite jealous of Zac who spent the afternoon relaxing at the LaQuinta. We did find out at 3:30 am that Zac was at the wrong Laquinta when George was looking for his room and woke up a "Mexican Man." Josephine was second in the lack of sleep race with 4 hours of sleep. The flight to Port Au Prince was delightful. Then I should mention that Zac was placed in 1st class. It must of been because he received a full night's sleep.

We were blessed with the fastest check in on record. We did not walk onto the tarmack but instead we were sent into a building and sent down an escalator. Then we were sent on a trolly bus over to immigrations and flew right through. Of course we were met with "Big", Jack, Marsha and many familar faces. Not one package was checked in customs and all the bags were over weight but we were assisted by the best ticket lady. Our only delay today was for Linda bag of underware, not really but the inspector really inspected her bag and was very interested in her hat with a built in battery. He sent our homemade cookies through the scanner way to many times. He did give her underware back with the hat.

After a lunch of flat bread and peanut butter we set up for Vacation Bible School. It was FANTASTIC. It went so perfect. Did I say I love this team. There was wonderful singing with Joan. Crafts with Nancy, Gale, Josephine, Lisa, Sally. Yoga with Linda. Soccer with Zac. Prayer with Cynthia. You should of seen all of the Haitian smiles. We were very Thankful for all of the help by Alex, the nannies, and parents.

George was full of smiles meeting up with his old friends. Johane and Johanna are staying with us for the next few days. Thank you goes to Dow High Post Secondary class, "Mrs Hendrick's class" for the wonderful card and donation that they gave to their family. They also received several other donations that with help them with food and a tent so they dont have to sleep under a tarp.

Bon Fet to Joan! Oh to be 40 again! We ended our evening with a team meeting discussing the days events and our plans for this weeks clinic. We are off to Port Au Prince Fellowship service in the morning to "Get our bounce on."

Lisa 10/2008

Max & George

Joan, Cynthia & Linda

Sally working hard.





Brian & George unloading- again.