Haiti part #4

Chickens. Goats. Tropical birds,  Geckos, wind:  the sounds of Haiti.  

It’s not quite relaxing. If you’ve ever heard the sound a gecko makes it’s slightly unnerving to hear above your head.  It’s surprising what a loud noise a little gecko can make.  We wake up to all these noises plus loud talking on the trail below our house. 

Little goats were all over.  They don't milk them though, they are for meat.  

This pig has nothing to eat in it's fence.  Everything is so dry, no weeds or anything grows! 

Haitian’s walk for miles in the mountains.  One trail behind our house and the voices carry in the early morning so clear they sound like they are just out your window.

Today I learned that eating hard-boiled eggs while pregnant will make your baby bald!  Or how about when someone yawns it’s because they are hungry!   So if a baby is yawning they need food, not just breast milk.  You can’t fan a mom in labor because you don’t want to cool down the labor.    Superstition runs high here!  Some are funny like that, but most are not.  Many people have more faith in the witch doctor then medical doctors. 

They believe a mom that just has had a baby cannot get cold. So even though the temperatures are very high here (humid and hot 90’s) the mom doesn’t leave the house for 2 weeks. She stays covered up, wearing pants under her skirt, blankets etc.  Since the baby still needs to get a check up, someone else brings the baby to the clinic. The walk can be 2-4 hours long and so by the time they get to the clinic with the baby, wait their turn (which they always put the babies first for this reason) then walk back home, that poor baby has gone a full day without eating.

Today we saw a mom with a possible placenta abruption.  She came in carried on a stretcher type bed.  (There were actually 4 people that came on their beds today)  Their family or friends put sticks in the ends of the bed and one person on each corner carry the person in the bed to the clinic.  I can’t imagine.  We have a half-mile hike from the house to the clinic each day.  I get out of breath and have to stop and catch my breath.  That’s just the start of their walk.  They hike way past our place up over the mountain.  Can’t imagine carrying a bed with a person in it for miles on mountain trails!

They were working on a poster for an education class on nutrition.

As I was listening to one little boy’s heart I noticed it was skipping a beat.  She said there is nothing that can be done here to get it checked further.  We saw a women today, the mother of 12 children.  She had fallen off her donkey a month ago.  She must have had spinal injury because she lost feeling in her arms and legs.  Things like this cannot be repaired down here.  We also saw a boy with a hydrocephaly.   They had seen him at 3 months and didn’t notice anything unusual, but at 7 months his head was obviously large and they asked them to come back.  The nurse was going to research to find out where to send them. But they never came back till now.  Now he is over a yr or more and his head is 57 cms.  There is so little they can do in some cases, but on the other hand, they do so much.  Lives are being helped and changed because of their work here.  So many children nice healthy weights because of feeding programs.  Giving protein powder or Mamba packets to pregnant women to prevent the myriads of problems.  Although there are goats everywhere here, they don’t milk them.  Dairy products are not something they use much of.  So the Protein powder they just generally eat out of the container straight! 

People in the US make these Layette kits.  They are a light blanket, cloth diapers, onesies, and a sleeper, diaper pins, plastic pants etc.  The parents can have one of these kits if they get a birth certificate for their baby.  The birth certificate will help the child be able to go to school.  The parents are so excited to get a kit.  Often the parents don’t have any diapers for the babies. Sometimes they use a towel, but most often they don’t have any diaper on the baby.  One mom during the babies check got her whole skirt wet, as the baby had no diaper on.  So diapers and clothes aren’t just another outfit, but a basic necessity they don’t have.  We also give out birth kits.  A birth kit is a piece of gauze, a new razor blade, 2 pieces of heavy string, This is because so many infections were taking place because of cutting the cord with something dirty.  So it’s a very basic kit, but it has prevented so many infections.

different types of homes you see along the path

Monica and other volunteers sorting pills into bags.

We all did a lot of pill bagging.  Seems like it's an on going job there.

So this is the end of our trip to Haiti.  God sure did have other plans then delivering one baby.  Instead he gave Monica and I a love for mission work, a love for Haiti, the joy of helping in a clinic and getting to watch as desperate lives were being helped.  He gave me a different view on our life style and what’s important.  I know I’m going to go through culture shock when I arrive in America.  I know it will be harder to have 4 wheeler conversations with James, or hear how someone wants a new phone, going back to my busy, busy lists and phone calls.  I’m not sure how to balance our busy life styles with what is truly important.  God has given me much to think about.  It’s been a life changing 3 weeks!