Haiti highlites

Nobody listens to the cry of the poor or the sound of a wooden bell ... Haitian Proverb

 I have many stories and wonderful memories from my time in Haiti. One of the things I struggle with is not overwhelming someone with them all. The stories are so personal to me and it's hard to portray that to others. I decided to share some of my favorite stories.

One of the disadvantages of going on the short trips is we don't get to follow up on the people to see how they are doing. Last month when I went back to Haiti I got to see the affects of our work.
When I first saw Mackenson was in October 2012 in the village of Covant. His family had come to our clinic for medical care. Mackenson was in critical condition. When we first saw him it was hard to tell how old he was, my guess was two or three years old. After talking to his parents we were stunned to learn that he was six years old.
We sent Mackenson out for emergency care, his father went with him while his mother stayed behind to take care of the rest of the children. Honestly I didn't think he would make it. When I got home I told all my friends and family about this sweet little boy.

Mackenson and his father, Oct 2012

JUMP AHEAD THREE MONTHS ... I'm back in Haiti :) Sherry asked me if I remembered the little boy in Covant that came in with severe malnutrition. How could I forget him? Imagine my surprise when she said, "wait til you see him now."! His father couldn't stay in the city because he needed to get back home to take care of his family so he asked Sherry to please take his little boy so he wouldn't die.
Mackenson has been staying in the orphanage at LAC. What a difference three months of medical care and proper nutrition makes.

Me and Mackenson, Feb 2013

One day we were having clinic when I heard very loud crying ... not everyone is excited to see the strangers. Our clinic had a lab area, there was a mother that needed to give a urine specimen. The mother didn't have anybody with her so one of our workers offered to hold the little girl .... the picture tells the story :)

Are we that scary looking?

Another story of a crying child ... Our group went to a church to do a VBS type service with the kids. We had just settled down when we heard a little boy sobbing, there was a girl with him (possibly his sister) trying to get him to sit down. We had never seen these children before yet this little boy went straight up to Rob and climbed in his lap. Within minutes he fell asleep, it was such a sweet moment.

When we went to Covant one of our drivers, Maurice, brought 250 dresses that the ladies in his home church had made. He had so much fun handing out presents to the children after they went through the clinic. There was one night we went to village church, it was packed. As we were looking in the congregation Maurice pointed out to me that some of the little girls were wearing the dresses he had given to them. I'll never forget the huge smile on his face and how proud the girls were of their new clothes.

Maurice handing out new dresses

So there are a few of my favorite stories, I shared at least one from each trip. I hope you enjoyed.