First Couple Days In Haiti

The last week has been one big whirlwind. I finished my last shift at the hospital on March 5th and spent the next several days packing, running errands, soaking in time with family and friends and tying up all the loose ends involved in getting ready to be out of the country for 3 months. Saturday in particular was a special day with my family, my mom had our complex’s clubhouse decked out for a party and in addition to the nine members of my immediate family, a couple of cousins and an aunt drove down to join us and it was a really neat time getting to enjoy each other’s company.
I flew out of LAX on Monday and after nearly 24 hours of travel, arrived at Deye Mon Tuesday night, tired but otherwise doing great. A major blessing was getting my 200lb of luggage (most of it NOT for personal use, FYI-- just incase you were wondering why I needed 200lbs worth of stuff) down here without any problems! In addition to the Bustins (who live out here), there is also a retired cardiologist and his wife who is a nurse who have been here since January but will be leaving shortly, and a couple from Minnesota with their six girls and the wife’s father so it’s a full house! I was a little jet lagged today but I did get to spend some time playing with some of the kids from the area. The missionary compound is always full of kids, both a school and a feeding program are run on the property and there are about 10 orphans living here as well. Hopefully I’ll continue to pick up more of the language so I can communicate with them more easily but kids somehow always find a way to transcend the language barrier anyway.

Yesterday afternoon we went for a short walk on the mountainside to visit a sick woman who’s a member of the Bustins’ church and along the way we saw this lady with her baby.
On our way up the mountain during my trip here last fall, we were told that there was a woman giving birth at the compound. I saw one birth during nursing school, but I’ve never come close to delivering a baby, so I frantically pull out my “Where There Is No Doctor” book, study up on childbirth and pray. Fortunately, once we arrived, it turned out that there was another nurse from the States already working with the lady. We spent hours with her but she wasn’t progressing in her labor, so they finally brought her down the mountain to the nearest hospital, 5 hours away. One interesting factor with the labor kind of helps depict a bit of the superstition so prevalent in Haiti, even among Christians. The woman had been trying to make a bit of a living by selling kerosene oil to neighbors and one of the neighbors was mad about the price and ‘cursed’ her by saying she hoped the woman’s baby would come out of her nose! Even though she had faith in Christ and not in Voodoo, she still had a strong fear that the curse would hurt her baby, especially since the labor started several weeks before her due date. It turned out to be false labor (she was still 3 weeks early) and she delivered a healthy girl a couple weeks later who I saw for the first time today. I so enjoyed getting to meet and hold her!
One thing we could really use prayer for out here is rain! Every day or every couple days, David has to drive 1.5-2 hours to the river to get water so it's hard to imagine how people around here with no transportation are getting their water! It's been overcast off and on, and on the drive up the mountain to get here, it was pouring rain just a few miles from here, but it hasn't reached here yet. I'll try to continue staying in touch! (PS- thanks Debbie, for the use of your photos!)