November 9, 2011

Off to the island of La Ganove.  I went with the medical team from Columbia City, IN.  We caught the ferry just north of Akaye.  There was a lively crowd at the pier.  We were supposed to leave at 11:00, but didn't get underway until 12:20 pm.  It took 1 1/2 hours to reach the village of Anse A Galets where we were loaded into two pickup trucks.  We drove about 30 minutes by the ocean through the town of Nouvelle City and then an hour inland.  The roads became extremely rough but the drivers made it through.  We came to the village of Nan Cafe where approximately 200 people were already waiting.  Back to the house where we are going to sleep and another house where we ate.  They had Haitian spaghetti awaiting us.  We went back to where the clinic is to be held, hurried to set up and see some patients.  Dr. Kenel has a small building where he runs his clinic.  Our clinic is set up outside (more room and light, less heat).  Diesmy has done the preliminary work well.  The first patient I notice is a 24 year old woman (Alexia) who appears to have a large abdominal tumor, maybe 9 or 10 feet in circumference.  We are going to take her to the hospital at Pierre Payen where there happens to be a surgical team from the USA.  The team works until after dark.  They are a good team that works well together.  We sleep on the concrete floor, six of us in a 10 ft x 10 ft room.  Not real comfy, lots of snoring.  The night is actually chilly, maybe around 70.  Top of a mountain with a great view of the countryside.  They are feeding us at 7:00 am this morning.  This medical team was the first one to visit Nan Cafe.  Electricity for a few hours from a generator.  Water from a bucket to wash with and to flush the toilet with.  The team got started about 8:00 am.  The walk to the clinic is about a 10 minute hard walk up hill.  My job turned out to be the one who directed the patients to the correct station and watched for line jumpers.  It was a pretty orderly crowd until about 3:00 pm.  Everyone moved from inside to outside because the building was so hot.  There were many more people there than we were able to see and naturally, they were upset.  We had to quit and the people left without incident.  The team served about 300 people with medical help and vision help.  It was a very tiring day for everyone.  We made it back to our house.  The we live in was vacated by the owners so we could stay here.  The food was bought and cooked by the locals as their way of thanking the team for their service.  They had prepared a big meal for us, rice and beans, beef and goat.  A "white" family stopped by to see us.  They are the only white missionaries on the island except on the coast.  Their parents and grandparents had been missionaries for years.  The team is headed back to Borel.  We leave at 6:00 am tomorrow morning.  The team took Alexia to the hospital in Pierre Payen.  The doctors sent her to Port-au-Prince for a CAT scan.  Her condition was not caused by a tumor, but an extremely rare parasitic problem.  They are consulting doctors around the world at this time for direction on her treatment.  Pray for Alexia.  The team came back to Borel, where Betty and I live, and had a two day clinic serving almost 400 people.  The team had a great week because they let God direct them.  Philippians 2:13 - God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases him.