Haiti - February, 2018 - Team 1

February 1, 2018

Tout bagay byen – Everything  is Good!

 Jeff is exceptionally happy because a new record for setting up the shop has been set today. Tomorrow he says he’s going to spend the day in the hammock. Shhh….don’t tell Mark.

Pray for us as we are having a talent show tomorrow night (AKA The Gong Show)!

Ellie learned that there are an enormous amount of tools in the world that she has no idea how to use. She is adapting great! Don’t worry Mom and Dad (especially Mom!) She is not playing with the power tools.

Heather worked on room assignments. Great News! Everyone except one person has a bed! Don’t worry, Week 1 Team. 

Scabies was the topic for the Community Agents. Hold on a second – Shari and I have to go scratch.  OK, we’re back. No secondary infections have surfaced yet. 

Sabine packed, unpacked, and repacked OB kits. Mission accomplished. 

Josh drove half way to St. Marc, drove back, re-drove to St. Marc, and now knows the way by heart. Repetition seems to be a theme this year.

“No electricity in the morning,” Mark just said. Don’t forget your headlights. What, no coffee in the AM? 

Liane spent the day in the hammock and rewrote lists. We are now on the 10^th edition. She’s getting close to having it perfected with only red ink. 

Adam worked on the electricity all day. Thankfully he is still alive, however his hair is standing straight up! 

Pam, Josh, and Bob had an epic towel snapping tournament. Bob won. More bandaids may be needed. 

Rats got into the pharmacy and got into steroids. They are bigger than ever this year! A shotgun would be a good idea. 

Jackie kept everyone entertained with her shenanigans. It wore her out and she went to bed early. 

There was a goat on the beach this AM. Tonight we had goat for supper. No more goats on the beach tonight.

All (some) kidding aside, it was a great day with beautiful weather. We all worked really hard and are excited about what has been accomplished. We appreciate your prayers. Can’t wait till the rest of you get here! We are dreaming of the snacks you are bringing! Just kidding – we can’t wait to see you!

Pam says Deb’s too wordy. Time to say good night. I'm sorry -  too many words – Good Night!

February 2, 2018

Internet issues caused this blog to be delayed. Our driver is in Port au Prince as we speak picking up the team from Ebenezer. We will try to post again tonight, however because of Internet issues, our next post may not be until Monday night. 

Mark sent Jeff, Heather, and Jackie on a 45-minute drive to St. Marc to get about 2000 pounds of construction supplies…WITHOUT a translator. They report having had a great time!

Mark and Adam replaced the very aging battery bank that holds 24 batteries, being each the size of  a truck battery. This upgrade will keep our lights on and our refrigerators running when the generator is not on. Adam tried to figure out the gas that is given off when you try neutralize sulfuric acid with baking soda. He didn’t pass out or blow up – it was a good day.

Liane got all the food containers ready. Herta, our Haitian lady who sews at the Mission Center, and Liane did a little sewing project today to get ready for the sewing classes next week.

Josh worked on upgrading the network infrastructure here at the Mission Center.  We are all hoping the Internet service here will be improved.

Bob worked in the shop and made some drawings for two tables and a shelf. He talked to Shirlene, our Community Agent at Lanzac, about making a shelf to hold cups for the students at her school so they don’t have to share germs.

Jackie, Ellie, and Sabine sorted the medical records and updated them. This will facilitate the physicals that will be done next week.

Shari and Deb worked with the CA’s again. They practiced their scabies presentations as well as their individual capstone projects.  Anite, the school nurse, was a valuable resource today as she critiqued their projects. She will now oversee their presentations at the schools in the future.

We had a visit from Ricardo and Billy – two of our Lanzac students. Shari and Ellie got a game of Frisbee going with them.

Pam was busy doing a million things, as usual. She coordinated all of our activities to get ready for the whole month. Week One Team arrives tomorrow.

Jeff was able to have a little down time as he had hoped.

February 4, 2018

What a wonderful worship experience we had at St. Marc this morning! They were celebrating the end of a competition to see who could invite the most people to church. They recognized the 7 top winners and presented them with a gift.  They also celebrated Pastor Herve’s birthday. The women of the church intercepted him as soon as he arrived at the church. They took him to a room and presented him with a new set of clothes – full suit, shirt, bow tie, and socks, all which matched the color décor of day. He looked quite handsome in his new duds! After changing into these new clothes, he was escorted down the aisle to sit in a special chair. There were many special singing groups, including a group of ladies from our team.  Pastor Herve preached a salvation sermon, which was translated for “the foreigners”. After the service, the ladies of the church served a meal to us as well as the entire congregation.

Back at the Mission Center, we spent the afternoon swimming, napping, and relaxing. Marv played with his drone today. Expect some great aerial shots later this week.

Lanzac children who had not been seen in November for a physical were brought to the Mission Center so they could be examined by Dr. Jeff, Andrea and Jonica.  Jeremy, the OT and Jeremy the Pharmacist, Heather, Ben, Pam, Adam, and Deb assisted with the physicals.  Anite helped in giving instructions to the parents regarding treatment and medications.

Bev, Liane, Deb and Ben helped assemble sewing kits for the week. The medical team met to organize their week.  The construction team, Jon and Bob are in the process of constructing a small brick building for the storage of tools. This will eliminate having to use the “Red Roof Inn” (aka Rachel’s House or Mango Inn) for storing tools when no teams are here.  Jeff played chauffer all day, driving us everywhere. He’s expecting great tips at the end of the week. Don’t hold your breath, Jeff!

After supper, some of our team members went to Pastor Herve’s house to watch the Super Bowl. Rumor has it that they really went for the birthday cake. A few dedicated over-achievers stayed at the Mission Center to continue getting ready for the work week.

February 5, 2018

With open hearts eager to serve, our team went out to three separate locations this morning. At Dupin, Deb and Ben checked up on the Community Health agents. The two ensured they were fulfilling their duties of caring for the student’s health, providing clean drinking water, educating the community on proper health and sickness prevention, and their many other responsibilities. They also saw and treated several young students who were ill.

At the same time, a construction team consisting of Marvin, Bob, Bev, Jeff, John, and Christy was working with endurance, through the heat of the day, to set the foundations of a new playground. They  dug and concreted the holes for the fence posts that will be surrounding the new playground coming up. While the work at Dupin ran smoothly, the way there was another story. After a scare going uphill, the team was grateful for an experienced driver to keep get them there in one piece. Christy says “great job Jeff for getting us up the mountain and not rolling backwards into the ravine.”

At St Marc, a small group of three, Miranda, Leah, and Shari, did the same evaluation on the Community Health Agents as Ben and Deb did in Dupin and treated a young student feeling ill. They were all impressed with the work being done there. The agents were thorough in fulfilling their duties and caring for the children at the school. At noon, they met up with the mighty medical team at MPCA where Pam, Sabina, Heather, Jen, Libby, Jonica, Chris, Jeff, Jackie, Ellie, Marissa, Jeremy Fry, and Jeremy Lemley were doing physicals, ear flushing, and caring for countless other medical needs in the school. The team was busy throughout the morning and afternoon, but had endurance and patience to serve the Lord.

To keep the children occupied while they waited to see the medical team, Miranda and Leah jumped rope and played soccer with the students. While the field was a bit rough and rocky, Leah had a blast kicking passing, heading, and throwing the ball with the children. The girls took a liking to Miranda, keeping her occupied as they followed and crowded around her all afternoon.

Up on the roofs at MPCA, the construction guys, Jared, Chad, Adam, Steve, and Mark, worked under the hot sun, tearing off the old roofing with the Haitians, installing new rafters, and cutting lots of boards.

At Chardene, Liane, Teresa, Julie, and Deb taught the first of six sewing classes that will be taking place at Chardene. They began with an introduction of the sewing process and distribution of sewing supplies and quilting pieces. The participants were eager to get started and begin the quilting process. All were smiling as they headed home in anticipation of their next class on Wednesday.

Speaking for all of the team, today was a success thanks to the Lord and his faithfulness to us all. We are looking forward to seeing how he works throughout the rest of the week!

February 6, 2018

With wonderful weather, the teams went out throughout the community to continue projects from yesterday. Jonica, Deb, Marvin, Bob, Leah, Jeff, and Jon took the rocky trip up to Dupin. Jonica and Deb continued the evaluation of the Community Health Agents and cared for some of the school children. Just a few feet away the guys, and Leah, dug holes, poured concrete, and cut wood for the playground. After lunch, Jonica and Deb joined the construction team contributing to a successful day full of great progress for the new playground. The frame for the swing set is up.

Back at MPCA, Jared, Adam, Mark, Steve, Chad , Ben, and Chris worked on the roofs. The crew saw a very productive day despite some frustrating setbacks. They had a pull cord on the generator fray which forced them to use the much less powerful battery-powered saw to cut boards. They now have the rafters installed in the first classroom and the next room's old roofing has been removed and is ready to start on tomorrow. Please pray for a smooth process and good communication with the Haitians working along with us.

At St. Marc, Julie, Liane, Christy, Teresa, Shari, and Miranda instructed a sewing class of 26 Haitian women. They taught the same introduction class they did yesterday at Chardene consisting of introduction to quilting and basic sewing skills. In the morning before joining the sewing team, Teresa and Shari continued the check up on the Community Health agents and touched base on the progress of several children’s health.

 The medical team had their hands full today treating around 150 children at Chardene. Bev, Jen, Jeff, Sabine, Jackie, Marissa, Ellie, Pam, Andrea, Jeremy Fry, and Heather evaluated feet, flushed ears, did physicals, and much more. Despite the large number of patients, the day ran smoothly according to the members of the team.

               

Back at the Mission Center, there was a Blood Pressure Clinic at 4:00 pm. Ellie, Marissa, Pam, and Heather checked blood pressure and the weight of patients. Afterwards, they sent them off to Dr. Jeff who evaluated each patient. Finally, they went to Jeremy Fry, our pharmacist for the week, who passed out medication. After the clinic, the whole team rejoined for and wonderful dinner and time to relax and spend time together.

The day was long and full of hard work; however, all of the teams had a wonderful time serving together and seeing great progress!

February 7, 2018

The medical team went to Degeance – Drs. Chris and Jeff, and PA’s Jonica and Andrea plus Ben, Marissa, Jeremy, Heather, Sabine, and Pam. They saw about 70 kids for physicals/sick visits. A big highlight of the morning (besides the sweat-drenching hike) was seeing Kenson and Angelina (our critically ill/injured patients from last February). What an answer to prayer to see their smiling faces and their healthy bodies! We think Kenson has grown about a foot since last year! They left Degeance by walking through the village where they got to see every-day life Haiti-style, including coconut harvesting and mat weaving.

Shari, Chad, Libby, and Christy went to LaHatte this morning. They were very pleased to find no major illnesses. The Community Agents are performing their duties well. Shari was thrilled to see their thorough medical documentation, a skill we have been working on for months. It was sad to find out that LaHatte’s well is dry. Their only means to obtain water right now is from the collection of water on the roofs and a supplemental cistern under the principal’s office where they are able to get water. The construction crew plans to lay pipe to connect the run-off water from the roofs to the cistern some time during this trip.

Deb and Jen spent the morning with the MPCA Community Agents, following up on some of the kids who had been seen on Monday who needed treatments. We also spent some time gathering the 5^th and 6^th grade kids, who missed having a physical in November. In the afternoon, the Degeance and La Hatte teams joined them at MPCA for the physicals. Many hands made for quick work allowing us time to swim in the Caribbean Ocean or relax at the Mission Center before dinner.

Today the sewing team (Liane, Jackie and Julie) returned to Chadene to continue to work with the ladies in the quilt making process. The ladies worked hard to put together the top, back and batting. It was a joy to work with the ladies and see their joy while working and sharing with one another.

One of the construction teams went to MPCA to work on the roof today. They put all the rafter’s in on 1 classroom and put all the purlins in on both classrooms and also finished half of one classroom with sheet metal.  Three Haitians were able to help lay purlins and sheet metal with Jared in charge. Mark, Chad, Leah, Jeremy L, Ellie and Adam were installing the rafters in the ninety-degree heat, managing to not pass out.

A second construction team traveled once again to Dupin. After getting stuck in a muddy ditch when they arrived, Marv, Jeff, Teresa, Miranda, and Bev continued work on the eagle’s nest and monkey bars, having quite an audience of children watching them work. Working in the heat made them very thirsty. Luckily, the principal surprised them all with a refreshing Coca Cola. After working so hard, Marv brought out his drone. The kids were mesmerized by it. The children also helped the construction team load up the truck before leaving.

John and Bob went to the new property at Degeance today with a Haitian engineer and laid out elevations for two interior retaining walls. They then came back to the Mission Center and John was the construction manager bossing Bob and Josh around. They cut metal parts for life straw tables, cleaned and welded one together. Josh is still working on getting the Internet improved at the Mission Center.

February 8, 2018

No snow day here in Haiti so the work continues with the rising of the bright sun. The construction crew continued with the roof work at MPCA, playground building at Dupin, and various jobs at the Mission Center. The medical team continued with physicals at MPCA and community agent observation continued at Lanzac.

February 9, 2018

The medical team went to St. Marc and did physicals on pre-school and 3^rd grade children. Because there was no school today due to the “Kid’s Carnival”, there were fewer children than anticipated.  Many of the children had complaints of sickness, so it wasn’t as much of a well-child physical setting today. There was one little boy who had an infection in his umbilicus following a “botched” hernia surgery. His wound had split open partially in a couple of spots and was badly infected. We were glad we got to see him today and treat him with antibiotics. Part of the medical team got to tour a hospital in St. Marc, which they found very interesting.

One construction team stayed at the Mission Center and built shelves for storing tools in the new shed that is being built. Some worked on tables that are being built to hold the Lifestraws at each school.  If the amount of dirt is any indication of how they worked, they worked pretty hard!

Another construction team headed to Dupin to continue work on the school playground. They were able to hang the swings and finish work on the teeter-totter. Then they spent the majority of the day enclosing the playground in a fence which is almost finished! There is just a little more work that needs completed on the gate. During the day, they enjoyed getting to see the children have fun on the playground while they were placing the fence. It happened to rain in Haiti today and there was a rainbow on the way home.

The sewing team went to St. Marc where 32 ladies laid out their quilts with batting. They will finish their blankets next week. It’s wonderful to see so many ladies participate.

Several stayed at the Mission Center to get prepared for the OB week starting next Monday. We also got organized for another Community Agent seminar next week.

It’s sad to see Week 1 team go! It has been a great time of fellowship and team-work. Everyone worked very hard and accomplished a lot. God bless all of you. Those of us who are staying will think of you shoveling snow from our seats on the beach. Orevwa!