Our Final Say.... from Haiti

Worth the price of admission to watch God work here and in my life.    Doug

Looking forward to returning home to “our home and native land”; a privilege to be Canadian – and especially looking forward to reconnecting with Dan and Benjamin.   Tannis

Haiti has taught me that we as Canadians are both blessed and cursed. The more we have, the more we want when we really only need so little to live a fulfilling life.   Dallas

Beniswa l’eternal! Praise the Lord! We have had a very profitable mission in Haiti. Thank you everyone for your prayer support, and for your blog comments – if you were able to get on. Bondye beni ou! God bless you!   Ruth Bartlett

That Starbucks Americano is going to taste so good!    Jeanette

Life is a learning experience. And I lived it in Haiti!    Noah

To God be the glory, great things He has done.   Ruth Stock

My last day I was stricken with a fever and viral infection – what a horrible way to end an amazing week of service, worship and ministry in Haiti. But the 9 days before made it all worthwhile!!   Gord

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  Cindy

We are so blessed to live in a world class society. It was our pleasure to provide supplies, education and assistance to the Haitians who want to learn and provide for themselves.   Martin

What an honor to be the first team to work from the new medical clinic at Haiti ARISE! Thanks to the Cranbrook Community, Dr Bob Cutler and Hungry for Life International for making this possible.   Sharon

I am an ex-South African physician and have seen much in the past. One does not grow unless you stretch yourself by stepping outside of your comfort zone. Consider me stretched!  Dr Antoinette

A huge thanks to my 30 new family members. You guys are the best! (Our team, Moose Jaw team and Haiti Arise staff)      Mignon

I am leaving Haiti with a heart that is full to overflowing and an energy bank that is depleted! Thanks team for your servants hearts that made for an incredible adventure.  Elva

“YOLO”  You only live once – “live without regret” was once told to me by a palliative patient. I intend to do that! Haiti has shown me how to be so thankful for health, shelter and spirituality that it has filled me until my coffee cup runneth over. Caring and teaching from the heart!  Lynnise

Leaving the warm – going back to the cold … culture and temperature. Thanking God for an amazing experience.    Joyce

Our final photo shot of our team, Moose Jaw team, long term missionaries with Marc and Lisa Honorat

                  Thanks to all who read our blog and supported us in any way !!!

If you are interested in reading more about the last couple weeks ventures with both teams check out http://cccsberg.blogspot.com/   written by one of the long term missionaries.

Medical Clinic Finale

Before entering the last blog, I wanted to add some final photos of the Medical Clinic. The first room was standing when I went with the Hungry for Life team in Nov 2010 and now on this fourth venture I was so privileged to see and be the first to work from this clinic. I am humbled that God blessed me with such a mission. Thanks to all who have contributed finances and labor to make this dream a reality.  Sharon

                                            Nov 2010 First room of the Medical Clinic

                                           Compound wall and entrance to Medical Clinic

Medical Clinic as it looks March 2012

                                                   Between the buildings of the Clinic

                                                      Path to the clinic inside compound

 

Mission Accomplished

It's late on Tuesday and we must be up and off to the airport in a few short hours. We will blog again with plenty of pictures while awaiting our next flight in Miami - here's hoping the computer service is a bit better there! As I write -the temperature in this room is 33 degrees and humid. Good night from Haiti. Keep tuned for the last word from each team member.  Sharon

Final day.......A new challenge

I am writing this to all of our followers:

As the days have gone by we have been confronted with more and more financial need. Thanks to many of you we have been able to pay for the medication necessary to bring with us to Haiti. We have paid for several patients to be transported to Port au Prince for treatment there and we have been able to commit to sponsoring a local physician to work at the clinic we established here on a part-time basis. For all of this we are extremely thankful.

This evening we were approached by a family member of a patient that we had sent to Port au Prince. The child is 4 months old and still weighs 4kg which was her birth weight. She has been diagnosed with pyloric stenosis since we referred her but she was then sent to 4 hospitals some of them did not have surgeons to do the surgery and some did not have any space available. At the last hospital they admitted this baby but the baby is now awaiting surgery and the hospital requires $2500.00 to cover the costs.

If any of you are able to give some support to this family please go to the website at www.haitiarise.org and click on the DONATE tab. Then use the tab that indicates donate in Canadian dollar through Paypal. It is very important that you mention “Sask nursing team” in the  comment section. The funds will then be directed towards this baby.

The family is collecting money and is not expecting all the funds from us. The problem is that they urgently need half the money as a deposit prior to proceeding with the surgery and time is of the essence as this baby is unable to feed at all.

Thank you for carrying all of us here in your hearts – Canadians are awesome people (and Haitians too).

Antoinette

Finishing the race...

And now a word from your friendly local Canadian pharmacist in Haiti… 

 

Bonswa! 

For those of you not fluent in Creole, Bonswa means “Good Evening!”  We have just finished supper after a very busy Monday at the clinic.  For those of you that I know that work in pharmacy, let me share a typical day at our pharmacy.  Our days run from 8am until usually around 530 or 6pm.  The clinic sees on average about 120 patients per day and everyone gets a prescription.  And EVERY prescription goes through pharmacy (surprisingly there’s not a Shoppers Drug Mart nearby…)   On average we fill about 3 prescriptions per patient, everything from sunglasses to Tylenol to antibiotics and everything in between.  And the temperature is typically around 35C, not including humidity.  Oh yeah, and we hand-write our labels!  Very rarely do we leave our “cage” but from a small window where we hand out medications, we often see chickens wandering through the waiting area, quite a comical sight!  But our view is pretty cool – mango trees in the background!   The first day I had to become quite fluent in writing Creole (i.e.  1 konprime 3 fwa pa jou, si se nesese – I’ll let you guys translate that).  The difference here is that patients have an abundance of patience and seem to be very thankful for what they receive.  I couldn’t keep up with these busy days without a wonderful team around, which includes the inner circle (Elva and Scherlie, our interpreter – they’re great!), the nurses and Dr Le Roux (we often have mini-conferences to solve complex patient issues, not to mention their help pre-counting at night to help us prepare for the days to come), and everyone else associated with the clinic, especially Mignon and Noah who often come in to pharmacy to help us when we’re swamped (such maturity for such young age!) And Sharon has been an amazing leader, guiding us through all our challenges.

 And now for today’s news:

Started today with the time change – we had just got adjusted to the earlier time zone and the heat and then we had to get up and hour earlier today, but everyone was up bright and early for devotions. The interpreters arrived and the team was ready to start the clinic when we found out that they had arrived for breakfast, not realizing the time change. Then dinner was an hour late as the cooks didn’t realize the time change. 

 Elva had the privilege of giving away 3 goats today to older ladies who were caring for large families.  Each time Elva returned from her “goat presentation”, she had tears of joy running down her cheeks – it was very emotional.  One of the goats she gave away went to a lady who is caring for a 4 month old baby that had been abandoned at 4 weeks of age, I think we may have had pictures of them on the blog earlier this week from either their visit to the clinic or our ministry walk.(such a sweet baby)

The Moose Jaw team went out to distribute rice to a tent city in Grand Goave.  It sounds like it was quite a scene!

We presented our interpreters with their gifts at the end of the day – and were they happy!!  The gifts were quite simple, things that we might just toss aside but they received as if they’d just won the lottery!   

This is the view from our pharmacy window...mango tree hanging with mangoes!

 

What a privilege to give this lady a goat...

This has been a very special experience – not only for the experiences I have had with the Haitians I have interacted with, but also with the other team members – they’re an incredible bunch!  The clinic time has been too busy to fully absorb everything but experiences like the ministry walk, Sunday morning church, Saturday morning market, riding on top of the minivan to the beach through the countryside waving and saying “Bonswa!” to whoever we pass and watching the smiles we receive in return – all these things have been quite moving and really speak to the good character and caring-nature of the Haitians.

To those of you who’s birthdays I have missed while I have been away – I hope you forgive me and accept my Belated Birthday wishes.

Mom, Dad, Larry, Kelly, Treena, Kim – I think you understand why I chose today to blog.  I know we were all thinking of him today….. Dallas

Outpost Nursing 101...a learning on the job course!

If I would have known the impact on my life and Nursing career 10 days ago I would have been better prepared. National Geographic is a great program but, until you have hugged a scabies, infested Haitian, you have not lived! This is Outpost Nursing 101, listen to the story, assess, diagnose, treat, smile & hug, that’s all it takes! Ha!

The joy these people have is incredible despite some of their desperate conditions. On one of our “free” afternoons we walked through a nearby community. Their homes are very simple, no running water, electricity or heat, I believe 2-3rooms for a lot of family members. Outdoor grilling on the porch is the kitchen and the outhouse? Well, pick a mango tree! First come first serve.  But, don’t be fooled, they have a pride within themselves that many people I know could take a few lessons from. Despite these seemingly dismal conditions I have never seen so many well dressed good looking people in one area since the last wedding I attended!

Being the first group to work in the new clinic is an honor. We have running water, and   much more supplies than I would have dreamed! My new favourite toy?, the  portable pulse oximeter the size of a whistle!

Today Dr. Antoinette  and I did a surgical procedure under true Haitian sterile conditions, priceless! I am working with a very strong team and we work awesome together (at least I think so, maybe I am delusional from the heat!). I have thoroughly enjoyed working and spending time with both my sister-in–law Tannis and nephew Noah, time I will always cherish!    Jeanette



Jeanette ready to receive and care for a patient in her examing room...bring them on!



Haiti is arising!

It has been great being back and especially sharing this experience with my husband, Gord.  It has been amazing to see the progress made in Haiti itself and at Haiti Arise with  the Clinic building finished  and our team being able to utilize it for the first time.  They have done a nice job and are working on the landscaping and fence around the perimeter. The wall around the children’s village is complete, where last year they were just working on the North wall.  Then to see the new church building ( still temporary) but completely new and it looks like it accommodates a third more people and still every pew is completely full!  God is at work here!

The clinic has run well this week after the kinks were ironed out after our first day.  The team has functioned so well together and it has been an honor to work alongside our awesome translators.  The Haiti Arise complex is a beehive of activity from 7:00 to 5:00 pm with construction workers, cement mixers going, 300 children in school and 120 + people coming and going thru the clinic during those hours. 

It has also been great to share this experience with Doug and Joyce and Tannis and Noah from our church in Rocky Mountain House.  I’m sure we will never be the same after this experience!  The Lord is Good!  It is hard to believe tomorrow is our last day!  See you all soon!   - Ruth Stock



Mission walk visits with our translator Stevens.
Noah, Gord, Ruth and Jeanette

We apologize for this late blog but we have experienced.....lets just say 'internet challenges'.  The internet service is not what we are accustomed to. So if the font and organization is not evident in this blog it is because the blogger...Sharon...is exhausted and went to bed and left her baby sister to put it together....something I have never done before! Hope you can make sense of it and enjoy....Elva



Dallas, Cherlie and Elva





A full day on Sunday

Writing this at the end of the day and what a full day it has been. After church and lunch some went to the beach, other slept, read and just vegged. We had a time to shop in the Haiti Arise shop. Mark made reservations for 30 and we went out to the local restaurant for supper.

How many want pepsi?

The coke drinkers - 500 ml bottles

Choice of beef, chicken or fish.

Then both teams met and each shared briefly about their experience this past week and then Marc and Lisa shared their story and vision... It has been a full day and tomorrow we have a full clinic day. Sharon

From a man's prospective

         “Declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all people” (Psalm 96:3)

It’s almost incomprehensible that it’s been over 35 years since I lived in Hay River, NWT with Martin Tracy and Ruth worked in the Hay River Hospital with Sharon Tracy…. We weren’t even married back then and Martin and I worked for a shipping company that sent goods & services all over Canada’s Arctic.  Martin was a welder, while I did various jobs for NTCL.  To be able to reconnect and work together after all these years @ Haiti Arise has been truly remarkable!

As you’re no doubt aware, we’re supposed to be part of a Medical Mission Team, utilizing Haiti Arise’s new Clinic facilities for the first time.  As you can guess, Martin and I fit the description of medical personnel like 2 ducks out of water.  But believe it or not we’ve found our niche as handymen… Martin could be described as ‘Tim the Toolman Taylor, while I’ve served the role of Al Borland, his quirky assistant!  Throughout the week, we’ve tackled all sorts of diverse projects… everything from taking out the garbage to counting pills, to modifying steel doors and frames that were installed backward, to erecting a make-shift ‘shade frame’ to make the long wait more bearable for the close to 600 patients our medical team has seen thus far!  Martin and I are also working on creating and installing the new metal fence that will eventually surround this amazing medical clinic that Dr. Antoinette and our nursing team are doing such a professional job of running in the midst of some pretty adverse conditions by Canadian standards!!! 

 

It’s been a blessing and a privilege to serve with Martin in this capacity after so many years!  Sharon still thinks  Martin’s as handsome as he was 35 years ago (except for a few gray hairs), and Ruth still  says the same about me (except for a few less hairs)!!!!

Making a shade for the waiting areas

The other part of my role has centered on preaching twice during this past week! I haven’t preached on demand and via interpreter for 12 years since I spent 2 months in Lebanon & Jordan.  Church services happen a minimum of 3 times a week at Haiti Arise!  I had nothing prepared before I came, as I wanted to experience the culture and where people were at, before seeking the Spirit’s guidance on what to share.  After an hour and a half message last Sunday, and a few groans by the local, I felt my 1^st message Tuesday should be a wee bit shorter.  Mark described my message as ‘short and sweet!’  It was such a blessing to see people actually respond when you preach and the worship was so much more lively and exuberant than anything I’ve experienced anywhere else in the world (especially Canada)!  We could learn much from the Haitians.  Today’s service started at 9 am… we forgot all about daylight savings time, but the usual    500 + still showed up. The church is bursting at the seams, to put it mildly.  After an incredible time of worship, the Spirit had led me to share a message from Romans 12:1,2 on the topic of ‘Our Greatest Spiritual Act of Service’ followed by a moving Communion Service led by Mark… an incredible experience that lasted nearly 3 hours!!!!

Martin & Gord making curtains for the public bathrooms

In closing, what a blessing to be a part of such an awesome team and to see what God is doing to rebuild the country of Haiti from the inside out!!!!   Gord

Martin assembling an IV pole

Gord preached in the Sunday service

Gord working on this blog

Making 10 lbs bags of rice for distribution