We all enjoyed a good night's rest and a shower, then had breakfast at the hotel Friday morning. We set up the clinic in the church (on the orphanage property) and started seeing patients, first the kids from Eden Garden Orphanage and then the community. Most of what we saw was dehydration, night-time fever and chills and upset tummies from the Malaria that is so prevalent, and skin lesions and visible worms (in the eye and skin) from the parasites which come from unclean drinking water. Our two most memorable patients were a 100 year old woman (who was about 4' tall) and a 110 year old man. The average life span of Haitians is in the 40's, so these two were quite a rare thing to see! They are still spunky and get around pretty well! One baby we saw named REGGIE was really dehydrated and vomited as soon as I gave him his medicine. After it happened a second time, Elizabeth decided to administer I.V. fluids to him and he was so listless that he never even made a peep while she was trying to get his I.V. in which was difficult with his sunken veins (due to the dehydration). After a few hours, he was much improved and was visibly feeling better. Around 120 people come through the clinic day.
Dave Wooster & Scott Kramer make up our building team this trip, and they are building a house for a lady that works at the orphanage who is currently without a home along with her 4 children. They had lots of helpers that day, and one persistent boy who approached them twice looking for work. After a few hours laying block in the scorching heat, Dave & Scott realized they could use some more help and let this boy (named Anewl) help them. He turned out to be a better brick-layer than them, very neat and precise, and was a huge asset to their team that day. He is so desperate for work as there is no industry or much commerce to speak of here, and work is very difficult to come by. They plan to pay him as their helper when they get back to work on the house tomorrow - they were told that if they paid him $10 for the day, it is far more than he would be able to make anywhere else so they're hoping he shows up tomorrow!
We had a light supper at the orphanage of mangoes, pineapple and bananas and headed back to the hotel for our reflection time, pouring over the stories and details of the day
Reggie receiving his I.V. fluids / Pastor Ann getting stats on a child in the triage area
Reggie receiving his I.V. fluids / Pastor Ann getting stats on a child in the triage area