Mission Worship: Two Hinges

Sunday, January 8 to Friday, January 12, 2018

For me, the capstone of the entire mission was our daily worship which included singing praise songs and a deep dive into The Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37.  And while I am sure that Pastor Ryan would do a better job giving you the headlines, here is my summary:

·       Love God and Love your Neighbor are the two hinges of the whole Bible – the Great Commandment – all other commandments hinge on these two.

·       When the Pharisee was testing Jesus and he answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan, it is historically relevant to know that the people of Samaria were the enemies of the Hebrews.

·       You know the story, the one that helped the man robbed and beaten on the Jericho road was the Samaritan, not the priest, not the Levite.

·       Jesus asked the Pharisee, which of the three was a neighbor to the injured man and the Pharisee correctly replied, “the one who had mercy.”  Pastor Ryan points out that it was probably impossible for the Pharisee to be more specific; that the hatred between the nations would make it repulsive for the Pharisee to say, “Samaritan.” 

·       The Bottom Line:  There are no limits to who is my (our) neighbor(s).  This was even clearly outlined in the Old Testament where the definition of neighbor can be found in Leviticus 19:18- 34. 

·       You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…. Matthew 5:43-44. 

·       And the questions we are to answer from our experiences on the mission and our worship time together are:  What is God calling me to do?  Who is the person I need to love on the Jericho Road?

We closed Friday night with Holy Communion.

Haiti Studs:  5 Year Bracelets

Saturday, January 13, 2018

On our last day, we honored our 5 year Haiti Studs, the people that have served on the mission five times (does not have to be consecutive).  A simple Haiti bracelet was awarded by Terry Fee, which according to Jackie Hyland is better than diamonds!  Here is what Terry said (any mistakes are mine, I was note taking as fast as I could):

Sherri Orr:  Sherri’s the energizer bunny, whenever my energy is flagging, I look for her.  She’s a cheerleader.  She was in her prime when she was at the prayer table for the hotel clinic yesterday, when Sherri prayed, “God bless these mighty men.”   Sherri becomes the mama to our younger volunteers that serve without parents also being on the trip. Sherri watched over my nephew, who is a seeker.

Summer Nguyen: When Summer joined us in 2013, we were so thankful for another MD.  She doesn’t weigh much and has a “little” voice, but she also has the power of 50 people.  On her first clinic day Summer fashioned an “emergency room, using the suitcases.  She is Super-efficient.  Terry’s strongest memory – the first year she served, Friday morning, early before breakfast, she was out performing surgery on one of the hotel employees.  Summer had not known the much about the Haitian culture, nor had she talked to Fabienne about helping the hotel staff.  Terry asked Sumer, “what can I do?” and Summer rattled off a list of things she needed, and suggested Terry find them from Yvonne, who has everything!   Summer’s action were the precursor of the hotel clinic. 

Teresa Plank:  On the first mission trip in 2012, Teresa said “I can’t be a provider but can help in other ways.”  Well, Teresa quickly became a provider.  She is an angel of mercy wherever she was needed. What stands out in my mind is how she is connected with our Haitian doctors.  She finds out what each needs, she gets to connected to them.  My most profound memory is when my brother-in-law was ill and needed to be medically evacuated out of Haiti back to the United States, Teresa supported me with this difficult time.  She told me  “He needs to get home.”  That night, Teresa slept in his room, taking care of him until it was time to head home.  And let’s not forget, Teresa’s husband is a sweetheart.  Her husband, Ken, ships our supplies at a significantly discounted price.

Sarah Gagner – on the first mission trip in 2012.  She had recently graduated from college as an RN.  One of my most profound was Sarah caring for a man at Ebenezer.  The man had a foot infected with maggots and gangrene.  She worked with him under one of the trees, washing and cleaning his foot.  She was the main provider.  Yesterday, a woman walked in coughing, and to prevent others from catching her cold, we walked her straight to Sarah to quickly serve the woman.  Finally, yesterday Sarah was our breast cancer awareness trainer.  The Haitian nurses were mesmerized.  She found a clever way to integrate the bras that were donated to the mission trip. Sarah told the Haitian nurses that she wanted them to have a new bra as a reminder to do the self-examination monthly. 

Photo to be posted as soon as I get it!

Mission Debrief

Saturday, January 13, 2018

After another night of deluge rain, we woke to another gorgeous day.  We had a “late” breakfast at 8 a.m. at the hotel before beginning our debrief process.  We each answered the following questions:

1.       What would you change/improve for the 2019 mission?

2.       What did you love about this mission trip?

3.       What is God calling you to do now?

Be sure to ask your favorite 2018 team members what they said!

Mirdaige’s School: Lucky Iron Fish Pilot Launched

Friday, January 12, 2018

Thanks to Dr. Jim Korb, more than 100 of Merdiage’s school children were tested for hemoglobin levels in the first pilot to improve iron and reduce anemia.  Dr. Korb spoke to the parents at the school, to help them understand the Lucky Iron Fish.  The Lucky Iron Fish is a small iron cooking tool that infuses your meals with a healthy amount of natural iron to help prevent iron deficiency and anemia. It’s simple to use, and provides a natural source of iron that’s sustainable for the Haitian community, as the ingot lasts 5 years.  The hope is that the families will use this in their everyday cooking and when the 2019 medical mission team returns, hemoglobin levels of these tested children will show improvement and healthy levels.

Trisha Saylor taught the students a basis hygiene class on handwashing, before the poking began.  Vicky Zubiri, Teresa Ng and I (Sue Berkel) began the hemoglobin finger pricking while Nicolas Victorin and Mirdaige’s daughter Crystal called the students in by name.  Most were stoic with the procedure, but as expected, many were afraid of the process and called for mama or just cried.  But our favorite was a little girl, maybe around 5, who called on Jesus to help her through the process with great gusto and repetitiveness.

Teresa Ng was introduced to the child she sponsors through Save a Seat education of Haitian children, named Rosalyn.  The two shared some time over lunch, looking through Teresa’s photos of her children and dog. 

Mirdaige and her family served us a delicious lunch of fried chicken, plantains, slaw, pasta, pineapple upside down cake and cake.  It was wonderful to meet her husband, and her two sons.  

CLINIC 5: Villa Canna Hotel

Friday, January 12, 2018

For the second year, the team served the people of Villa Canna Hotel, translators, security personal and Haitian nurses that worked with us all week.  In addition, a handful of dental patients that were asked to come on Friday.   We provided training to the Haitian nurses.  Sarah Gagner provided Breast Cancer Self- Exam and Dr. Ng provided Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation training.  Attendees received a certificate of training, which we’ve been told are helpful with job interviews and resume building.

More than 100 people were served, with Dr. Aquis seeing more than 20 dental patients, continuing to work late into the afternoon while the team began mission break down.  Clearly, after 5 days of missions, everyone is exhausted during mission break down, but there is also hope and fun in the process.  First, all the leftover supplies and medication are divided for the local doctors, dentists and eye doctor to use in their practices.  Second, the leftover food is given to translators, security personnel and to Fabienne and Nicolas for their additional outreach efforts.  Third, items that can be safely left behind in the pod in Cap Haitian are separated from items that need to be returned to the United States.  

CLINIC 4: “The Saddleback of Limbe”

Thursday, January 11, 2018

For the first time, the GLSC Haiti Medical Mission served a church in Limbe that has 3,000 members and hosts three services on Sunday.   Again, the people were waiting patiently while our talented bus driver, Roner Jean (aka RoRo) threaded a narrow alley way and a right angle backwards with the bus, to situate us between the church and the Sunday school rooms that were transformed into provider service areas.   With the news of an optometrist, many of the people were waiting to see the eye doctor.  The church is in the center of Limbe, and the marketplace was immediately outside the church doors.  All day long, fires burned and the air was somewhat polluted with smoke, which with the constant dirt, must aggravate everyone’s eyes.

Set up was simple because the bus and truck were able to be parked right next to the Sunday school rooms.  Triage was located in the church, and patients were able to wait in the shade of the sanctuary before sitting in the alleyway of the Sunday School rooms, were the heat was not relieved by any breeze.  

Dr. Jimmy Beasoleil saw many, many patients on Thursday.  With the adjustable glasses, readers and his own supply of glasses, many patients received improved eye sight throughout the week, but most significantly in Limbe.

Dr. Bright provided many different kinds of care, including obstetrics, gynecological and even steroid treatments for keloids scars. Keloids are raised, discolored scars that are the result of an overactive wound healing response, and are more prevalent in darker skin color ethnicities.

While the patients in Limbe were mostly healthy, there were heartbreaking moments.  Nancy Korb triaged a young woman whose parents had died and was alone, facing a swollen throat and an inability to swallow food, making her underweight.  Through the translator, the young woman confessed to Nancy that she was so sad and frustrated and that she sometimes wanted to end her misery by killing herself.  Nancy held her hand and looked compassionately into her eyes and told her to see our doctors.  The patient needs thyroid surgery, which has been arranged at Good Sam Hospital, although the date is uncertain because the specialized surgeon required may need to wait for a team coming in March.  Please join us in praying for her and that the surgery would bring relief, the ability to eat and a longer life.

Sherri Orr also told us of an end of life case that arrived at the end of the day with Pastor Henry, a prior partner at Cedan, where we did not serve this year.  The woman had anal cancer that was no longer treatable.  However, Sherri noted that Dr. Dan Ng and his translator McKendy Cadet provided compassionate care and support while delivering this difficult diagnosis.  Janet Musto, a first time GLSC member volunteer assisted Dr. Ng while we were in Limbe, refreshing her operating room skills from past employment.  Janet served in the provider room at the first three clinic seeing adult patients with a range of ailments from “pain all over the body” to fungal infections and more.

CLINIC 3: Dutty aka “the jungle”

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

As we bumped and rolled the bus down the pot-holed dirt road, scrapping the back of bus when coming over a cement bridge, the people along the road to our third clinic greeted us with smiles and waves – a phenomenon that we had not seen before.  Wearing our boots, we encountered a small site with a thatched building maybe 40 feet wide and 60 feet long, plus a small building for pharmacy.  Everything else happened in pop up tents, including surgery, dental and obstetrics!  Hundreds of people awaited us and we quickly set up and begin day three of providing medical and spiritual care to the people of Dutty. 

Amy Owenby gerryrigged how we would weight the pediatric patients when the scale proved to be inaccurate on the dirt floor; she used a folding table as the base and set the scale on it so that the many, many children that were seen on Wednesday could be weighed.  Amy also had a pediatric patient with congestion and was happy to scour the supply suitcases to find a bulb syringe that would allow mom to suction out the mucus.  It is heartbreaking know the simple things that Haiti does not have, especially in the jungle.

If was wonderful to watch Dr. Summer Nguyen give away baby slings to the expecting and new moms in Dutty.  Given its more rural location, we hope that the slings made by Pam Magnus’s daughter, Sydney will be a blessing for years to come.  Sydney made more than 80 slings as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project.  Using colorful fabrics and rings, the slings are long enough to adjust from an infant to a toddler.

The medical team, but especially RN Teresa Plank, took time with their patients to address non-medical needs.  Many children in Dutty were provided shoes, additional nutritional pack and other items team members had brought to make a difference in peoples lives.  

Sabrina Garrovillas served with Dr. Dan Ng in surgery, learning a new technique for stitching patients. Dr. Jim Korb saw a returning six-year old girl whose skin looked like she had been burned, but in fact, was suffering from a genetic skin condition that hardened her skin and make it difficult for the child’s body to sweat. 

Pam Mangus, our pharmacist, noted that on Wednesday, the pharmacy worked as if it had it’s own heartbeat, which given the size of the room, the heat of the day and the significant number of medications filled, is surely a God given blessing.   Continuing yesterday’s theme of Haitian partnership and sustainability, Pam noted that Jamal, her pharmacist assistant, handled all the pharmacy counseling, teaching the patients how and when to take the prescribed medication. 

The highlight of the day (told to us in worship later that evening) was the wheelchair story.  Late in the afternoon, after tear down had begun, Pastor Ryan noted that the wheelchair was near the truck, ready to be loaded.  When he returned to the truck, he found that the wheelchair had been strapped to a motorocycle and was on the verge of being driven away.  Proceeding to rescue the wheelchair from an alleged theft, he quickly learned that Sherri Orr had given the wheelchair, so that a housebound 4 year-old child that has never walked, could be transported with the wheelchair.  Trust me, you know Pastor Ryan tells the story with great detail and hilarity, so while I can’t do it justice in this blog, know that wheelchair will change this young Haitian’s life. 

Two hernia patients and a returning patient with a lump in the elbow of his arm could not be treated at Dutty, but were referred to God Sam Hospital in Limbe, thanks to Fabienne’s help and God continuing to open a door to a hospital with volunteer surgeons serving a mission there. Overall, we estimate that more than 240 people were served in Dutty.