PICTURED: Ricardo being worked on / Ricardo tonight sleeping soundly at the hotel
Today we took our medical clinic on the road and set up in village about 15 minutes from the hotel. We parked on the street and then walked about 1/4 mile and set up our stations in various homes in a row of people that Charles had helped. It was a beautiful setting with the mountains in view and banana trees everywhere!Today went more smoothly than the previous clinics, as we are finally getting our routine down pat and making adjustments so that we have become more efficient (just in time for us to leave!). This morning when Dave was giving a short devotional thought, he said "Today, I want you to watch for the miracles". This evening when we had our de-briefing/reflection time, we had 2 miracles to report on! Their names are Ricardo and Lisbon.
Ricardo is a 17 day old baby who was brought to us by his aunt. His mother was in the hospital with pneumonia since giving birth. Ricardo had not been fed since he had been born 17 days ago. He was skin and bones and so cold and lifeless - he was in shock. He was so dehydrated that his head was sunken in on the top and his veins were hard to find. He was about an hour away from losing his life, and they had to act fast. Ann & Elizabeth first fed him with hydration solution in a syringe. while the I.V. fluids were prepared. We gathered around as Pastor Ann held Ricardo and Dave prayed for this little life to be saved. Seconds later, Elizabeth was able to get the needle in and start the fluids. We watched as different people took turns holding Ricardo and we watched as Ricardo's demeanor and disposition improved within a matter of minutes! Tonight, Ricardo is here at the hotel with us so that our medical team can monitor him through the night and take any necessary action.
Miracle #2 is Lisbon, a young boy (12 years old?) that was carried in to us and was also in shock and they could only find a coratid pulse on him. He was dehydrated, and suffering from symptoms of malaria. Elizabeth Wooster, (our medical team leader who is a shock trauma nurse), estimates that Lisbon was about 10 minutes away from death. They got Lisbon hooked up to I.V. fluids as well, and by the end of the day he was being fed a banana and feeling much better.
I think we have all gone to bed at night feeling overwhelmed by the vast problems and great need in this country. It's just too much to even explain...you have to see it to believe it. It feels like we're barely scratching the surface and making little impact when you see how widespread the poverty and desperation is. We all acknowledged that Haiti's situation can only be fixed by the return of Jesus Himself. However, today God chose to involve us in the plans HE had for the lives of these two boys and for today, a difference was made in their lives. What an awesome privilege to have even a small part in His plans!
Tomorrow is our last full day here in Haiti. Our plan is to go back to the village where we were today, and then spend the evening at the E.G. Orphanage where the kids have a special program planned for us. We'll leave our hotel Wednesday morning and arrive back at National airport Wednesday evening. It is unlikely that I'll have a chance to blog again before we leave Haiti, but will post our final update on Thursday after we're home. Thanks for following our trip! It's been hard to put into words what we have experience here but I hope you were able to see even a glimpse of what we saw here. And we'll be back!