Haiti Day 6- Medical Team Tag-alongs

   So, today Michael Mac and I risked the wrath of the construction crew and tagged along with the medical team as roadies.  The most good we did was helping to carry supplies in to the little village as the path was much too small for the trucks to get through.  For the entire week they had been going to some remote villages in the mountains.  On Thursday they/we stayed fairly close by.  Actually, we were just on the other side of the road and the river from where we had collected river sand the day before.

medical team planning with Jenny

   The medical team has been working with CBF field personnel, Jenny Jenkins, in the places where she ministers.  We met her and her team of assistants and translators over behind the school that is behind the church we attended on Sunday (Siloe, pronounced sill-o-way, Baptist Church).  We loaded the equipment into the trucks and headed to the clinic.  The trucks were only able to go as far as the edge of the main road. Then, we had to off-load the equipment and carry it in on foot about a quarter of a mile.  The walk was nothing compared to what we had been doing, but carrying the equipment made it difficult.  We assisted in getting the mobile clinic set up.  This was the only time all week they had been outside.  The clinic was actually set up in an older gentleman's front yard (Mr. Lucius).

Mr. Lucius

 

outdoor clinic

medical team and translators

    After the initial scurry to get set up there wasn't much for Michael and I to do.  I tried to anticipate and meet needs for the doctors and nurses throughout the day.  Michael made ministry out of carving the "medical staff" for Dr. Lori.  Several young men and boys became very intrigued by what the "bla" was doing.  They eventually began to even give suggestions as to the design. By the end of the day he had carved some pretty intricate designs on the walking stick and had been able to have as good a conversation as a non Creole-French speaker could have with a group of minimal English speakers.

Michael and the medical staff

   ***All week we were heralded by the words "you" and "bla."  The kids mainly would call out to us as we worked or walked or rode.  Noticing that we were different (not Haitian) and recognizing what we are there for (building houses) they would call out to us in Creole/French basically "Hey, you, Whitey."  It was certainly not said in vain.  The Haitian people seem genuinely pleased and thankful that we were there.***
   After our day on the medical team we picked up Harold and Sean and went out to the CBF compound, the Bungalows.  She has a smaller operation and capacity but she has a broader vision of possibilities for ministry.  She would like to see not only medical teams continue, but also expand to accommodate other educational opportunities, sports camps, and business training among others.  She can accommodate about 15 people on her team with the ideal medical team being around 8.  Her main limitation is the size of her transportation.

Bungalows

Haiti- Day 2 Church and Beach

     We got an early start on Sunday with breakfast at 7:00.  Then, we waited around and were late to church.  It's hard to get a  group of 30 moving in the right direction at the right time.  Although we couldn't understand the language we were able to follow the service pretty well.  Instead of Sunday School they meet for two hours of worship.  We went to the Baptist Church here in Grand Goave, Siloe Baptist Church.  Jeff Badke thought something about the church seemed familiar.  After the service concluded he snooped around back and realized that when he and Kelly came in 2010 that they stayed in a tent village behind that very church.  We are staying now at Conscience International compound.  These are great facilities, several 4-person rooms, a couple cabins (one with showers), and some other bed space inside the larger house, a group community shower with 4 stalls and community toilets. (*These blogs are being posted after the trip. We found out great stories about how CI came to be at the compound now, more on that in a later blog).  We are having great meals prepared for us by our hosts.

4 Person room

Bunk house (11 beds)

Bunk House (16 beds, 2 bath with showers)

     This afternoon we went back to the church to see the school.  There were several artisans there to sell "their" wares (at much better prices than I saw later at the airport).  The medical team met with Jenny Jenkins, CBF field personnel for an orientation of their work in the mountains for the week.  For the remainder of the afternoon we loaded our bus and went to the beach.  Several of us went snorkeling, some got to ride in a carved-out canoe, and the rest just enjoyed fellowship on the beach. All who wanted got to eat lobster a couple of hours out of the ocean with fried plantains and fire slaw.  It was a great way to relax that might be better enjoyed after a hard week of work rather than before.
     Supper was ready for us shortly after we got back to the compound.  Following supper we played cards as the rain poured down.  It would have been great sleeping rain if it wasn't 8:00!  Sleep did come fairly quickly as I anticipate the week ahead.