S.O.S. Haiti: MONDAY REPORT

Today the medical team held a clinic in the village of FondPaul, where we held a medical clinic when we were here previously in May '09 and March of this year. Again, about 160 patients came through the clinic showing the usual dehydration, parasites and malaria in addition to a burned child, and a 6 year old boy with end stage H.I.V. who also has typhoid and malaria. They administered I.V. fluids for his dehydration/high fever in hopes of helping him feel a little bit better, even if just for a while.

2 others also received fluids for their severe dehydration, aside from the countless bottles of rehydration salts that we sent home with the many dehydrated patients. It is just HOT here, well over 100 degrees with horrific humidity, which makes it really easy to become dehydrated - even for us who have access to clean and safe water and who are constantly reminding each other to drink, drink, drink. It's just not enough - we have all had to add electrolyte additives to our bottled water to keep up our stamina and have ourselves even resorted to drinking the nasty, salty hydration mixture that we mix up for our patients.

The well team had a productive day, working into the night in the darkness but feeling like they accomplished even more than they had hoped for today. It was determined shortly after arriving here that the amount of work awaiting them at the orphanage would more than fill their time and that there would be no new well drilled on this trip. Work continues tomorrow to make the water produced by the new well at the orphanage available for use by the surrounding community of Montrouis.

We woke up this morning to no water in our hotel, and as we rode back to the hotel sticky, sweaty and tired, we wondered if water had been restored or if we were going to be taking a bath in the warm ocean water tonight. I know I walked into my room and shouted a "THANK YOU, LORD!" when I turned the faucet on and water came out - what a relief! After our evening discussion tonight, Glenn Gibb commented to me that today, he was looking forward to coming back to the hotel, taking a cold shower, eating too much for dinner and getting a good night's rest in his air-conditioned room. Outside the guarded gates of this resort, how many Haitians would be enjoying those same things tonight on the muddy floor of their hot tents or broken homes? These things that we would consider basic necessities are unattainable luxuries to most people in this country. It is not right and it is not fair. It is Haiti.