This is a family I met in the mountains of Peredo while looking for babies and mothers for the nutrition program. I was passing a hut when a man asked me to come and look at his mother who was sick. I did and noticed this little girl sitting propped up by blankets. One of her eyes are crossed and I started asking about her. Her dad said she is year old but doesn't sit or stand or walk yet. Her name is Fondla. I went over and started playing with her and she had the brightest smile. I couldn't help but think that if she was in the states she would have been put in Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy to help her. I could tell she had the potential to learn if helped. I could also see the love this family has for their little girl. I told her family I was going to look into getting her help. I had no idea how-I don't know any Physical or Occupational Therapists in this entire country. But at Nationwide Children's Hospital at home they are everywhere! Sometimes we don't realize how blessed we are to have so many resources in the United States.

I was down at the Texaco gas station in town one morning and saw some people from other mission in town. They were so excited about the new missionary who came to Haiti and promised to work here for 6 years. I asked what she does and they said she is an Occupational Therapist! Wow! Exactly the person Fondla needed. God's perfect timing. I am sure God brought me as the connecting piece for these 2 people. I set up an appointment with Jen, the Occupational Therapist and then told the parents.

Last Wednesday I made the hour drive out to Peredo. Fondla and her parents were waiting at the church for their ride. We made the hour drive back and entered the hospital for Fondla's appointment. A lot of buildings fell or were damaged at the hospital in Jacmel so the Therapists are set up outside in a tent. Jen came out and greeted us and met Fondla and her parents. She was excited at the potential Fondla has and spent an entire hour teaching the parents how to do therapy with her at home to help her meet developmental milestones she has already missed. Jen was confident Fondla will catch up and her parents were encouraged to hear that she has the capibility of walking one day.

I sent the parents with money for a tap tap (taxi to ride home) and a little food. They were so grateful for everything and kept saying, "Mesi Miss Ginny." I reminded them that God provided the means for me to meet them and the Occupational Therapist and He provided Haitian Christian Outreach with a vehicle for me to use to help people in the
community. I told them Miss Ginny could not do this on her own. I asked them to thank God and tell others what the Lord has done for their family. Thank you too for being a part of helping the people here. Without your prayers and financial support, we would not be able to help kids like Fondla.

My Class Runneth Over

I am so excited to give an update on the mother/infant nutrition class in the village of Peredo. Last Monday I had to go through tap-taps and high water to get there. But it was so worth it. The mission truck was still broke down last Monday. I had prayed about canceling the class as I didn't have transportation and only one mother showed up the week before. But I knew I had made a commitment to them to help them with infant nutrition and I decided to go. I left the house at 11am and struck out to find a motorcycle taxi to take me to town. That went very easy. Then got to town and the tap tap was pulling out to leave so I flagged it down and they of course stopped for the white lady :) This tap tap only broke down once on the way and we were making good time. Or so I thought. I must have been enjoying the ride b/c an hour and a half had passed. When I drive I can get from my door to the church in Peredo in 50-60 minutes total. We pulled up to the river and everyone started getting off the truck. Normally it crosses the river and takes you into town. they said the water was too high that day. There were men waiting to be paid to carry us across the river. I had a quick conversation with God. It went something like this:

Me: "Lord-you've got to be kidding me."
Him: "Don't be a sissy."
Me: "Sissy?!? I just came all this way in a 3rd world country by myself!"
Him: "You were never by yourself. You give yourself too much credit. Now hang onto your skirt, climb up on that man's back and enjoy your journey."

(This pic is of the river when it is low enough to cross by truck)

So I did. I have to admit I stomped my feet all the way over to a man. He was getting teased by the other men that it was his lucky day getting to carry a white lady across the river. I climbed on and held on tight and soon all I could hear was the rushing river water and instead it making me more scared it calmed me instantly. I looked up at the mountains and their beauty-The beauty of God's creation. I had seem those mountains a hundred times but never from the view of a Haitian's back in the middle of the river. I learned that day to not to forget to enjoy the journey God has planned out for me.

Sooooooo....I took another motorcycle into town and he was driving like a maniac and giving me a huge headache on all the bumps and pot holes. I told him he could stop, I paid him and checked the time. 7 minutes until class. I held onto my skirt and started running down the path to the church. I made it there on time and to my delight all 7 mothers were there for class! They all even got there before me! I took a deep breath remembering how discouraged I was the week before when One mother showed up alone. I had prayed and asked God if this is not what He wanted to see me do in the village to please close this door and open another wide so i wouldn't miss it.

All the moms were dressed in their nicest clothes and they all brought their infants with them. I checked all the babies and they all looked good. We held our first class on the importance of Breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding for the 1rst 6 months. We talked about the risks of them feeding their babies unclean water and introducing them to solids way too early. The mothers were telling me they start giving them food after the baby is a month old. Food like rice, smashed bananas and mangoes. All the research doen by the World Health Organization in 3rd world countries states these babies she be exclusively breastfed for the 1rst 6 months. We discussed the advantages to this and the importance of compliance. THe mothers participated in the discussion. I had a "test" session at the end of the class to see if they really understood what we were talking about that day and they answered them wonderfully! I was so proud! Now getting them to put it into practice is another blog...

That was last Monday. This Monday the truck was finally fixed after 14 days. Thank the Lord! I went out to Peredo for class and there were 11 mothers there. Some others in the village heard about the class and wanted to join. I felt bad but had to turn them away. I don't have a big budget for this class and want to be able to "micromanage" this first class. I had already evaluated all of them and their home situations. These extra mothers begged me to start another class with their babies. I told them they could sit in on the class that day and I would see their babies after class. I checked the 4 babies and they looked OK.

I thought back 2 weeks before when I felt like I was begging mothers to come to this week where I was turning them away. My class runneth over. Praise the Lord!

I am posting a picture of one of the moms in the nutrition class. Her name is Elenal. She is 31 yrs old. Her first husband died and her current husband went to the Domincan Republic to work. She told me he has been gone for months and hasn't sent any money yet. Elenal has 5 children. theyoungest pictured here is 3 months old. She is having a hard time raising her kids alone. When i visited her house she told me she is borrowing food from neighbors and has to repay them. I went to the market that day and bought them food for 3-4 days. One of her daughter attends our school in Peredo. She has a son who looked to be about 10 yrs old and has never been to school. He was cutting weeds in the yard with a machete when I was there. She is very interested in the class and you an see her love fo rher children.

Please pray for Elenal specifically in the nutrition class. Her family can greatly benefit from this program.

Camp Buildings Progress

Thought I would post some pictures I took yesterday of the church camp in Peredo and show some of the progress.

This is the building that houses the generator. This is a huge generator and will power the entire camp grounds, clinic, school and church. For those of you who have been here before it is located to the right of the church building if you are looking towards the front of the church. It sits between the church and clinic.





This is the old depot to the left and the new addition to the depot on the right. Bigger door for the gator that was donated to Haitian Christian Outreach! The very first depot at the camp was washed away by the hurricanes in 2008. Now is is rebuilt, bigger and protected by a wall to re-route water away from the camp property.







This is the 1rst dorm room to the left of the depot if you are looking at the depot. Last week they added windows and a door! The bathrooms in the back are all blocked in and ready for toilets and showers. This dorm room looks awesome! Right now it is being used as a depot until the new addition to the depot is finished.







And finally...drumroll please....the clinic! It is located to the immediate right of the church if you are facing the church. It will be such a blessing to the people of this area when completed.

Thank you for your support of the camp and clinic building process through Haitian Christian Outreach in Haiti. Things are coming together and it is really starting to look like campgrounds and clinic!

Pasta, Toilet paper and Peanut Butter...Oh my!

Last Sunday Haitian Christian Outreach held a Food Distribution after church in Peredo. 100 families in this village were helped! Each received a bag containing Peanut butter, rice, pasta, a canned vegetable, toilet paper, bath soap, tooth brushes and tooth paste. We also distributed some women's clothing and children's shoes. They were so excited about the Peanut Butter! Thank you for your effort in collecting food and hygiene items to send on the containers to Haiti after the earthquake.

As we were handing them out the Haitians were thanking us, but we corrected them to thank God for this blessing! Thank you for being a blessing! Many churches and individuals asked HCO how they could help after the earthquake and your donations are continuing to help 6 months after the devastation.

It mattered to One...I hope

Well I have been preparing for the last 2 weeks to start a mother-infant nutrition program in Peredo. There is such a need for nutritional teaching in this remote village. I did research on Breastfeeding and read the infant feeding recommendations on the World Health Organization website and spent lots of time going through various research articles on infant/child nutrition in 3rd World Countries. Finally I chose 6 women with small infants who looked like they could benefit from the program.

Then I prepared them into several short lessons. Then the task of translating and practicing giving the presentations in Creole. That is the difficult part. But I learned a lot while translating them too. I felt so ready. I even made up little kits for the mothers. The kits included soap, shampoo, toilet paper, small package of baby wipes, adult vitamins for the mother, 2 cans of tuna and waterless hand sanitizer.

So After church Sunday I had planned to come home and practice some more giving the presentation. But the truck broke down on the way home from church. So it took a little longer to get home (2 hours instead of the 1 hour). I was discouraged when we got home but we were having some friends over for dinner so I put on a smile and fixed baked spaghetti and garlic bread. I tried to enjoy the dinner but was worried about how I was going to get to Peredo on Monday for class. I decided I would take a tap-tap (see picture). This is the public transportation in Haiti. It takes longer to get there b/c these poor trucks can't drive fast and they stop whenever a passenger "taps" on the side of the truck when they had reached their destination. I rode a motorcycle into town to find a tap-tap going to Jacmel. I found one quickly and they insisted the "blan" (white person) sit up front with the driver. Probably a good idea for someone like me who gets carsick just looking at a curvy road.



Well finally made it into Peredo and walked back to the mission church camp site from the road. The river was down but still about half way up my calf to cross to get there. Good thing I wore flip-flops! It was about 1230pm and school was letting out and the kids were walking towards e to go home. But once they saw me I had a caravan of grade school kids walking with me chattering, arguing and laughing the rest of the way. I was happy to finally arrive at the church and went inside to start getting everything ready. Class was to start at 1pm. At 1pm a lady came in with her 2 month old son and she was dripping in sweat! She had carried him all the way there. He was wrapped in a thick wool baby blanket and sleeping. I have no idea how babies in Haiti can sleep all wrapped up like that in 100 degree heat-but they do. By 1:15 PM no one else had arrived. Still no joiners at 130pm. I told the only mother, Louisana, that were would go ahead and start. She was surprised I wasn't going to wait on everyone else. I probably would have but I wasn't sure they were coming. They had all seemed so excited to be part of the program and I had even turned others away. Louisana and I talked about the importance of only giving her son breast milk for the 1st 6 months of his life. We also started talking about how she could improve her nutritional status and produce healthier milk for him. I gave her a kits of goodies and explained what each item was. We closed in prayer asking God to watch out for her son and thanking Him for sending her such a beautiful child.

I was walking back out to leave and passed 2 of the mothers coming to class. They were confused as to why I was leaving. I explained to them that I told them class started at 1pm. It was now 2pm so I was leaving. Class was over. They tried to convince me to stay especially after they saw me holding a bag of goodies and do the class again with them. I knew if I did it would never break the pattern of lateness. So I told them I would be back for class next Monday at 1pm and if they weren't there I would be replacing their spots with other mothers who could come to the meetings on time. They said they would be there and they would tell the other mothers that Miss Ginny's class starts on time! I had to laugh.

I was pretty discouraged on the ride home. I had spent so much time and hard work into that class and only one mother showed up on time. I thought all the preparation was a waste of time. I really thought this would be a beneficial program in this area. Then I started thinking about the sand dollar story. I'm sure there are many variations and you probably already know it but here is a brief version:

While walking the beach, a man saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the sea.

As he came closer, he saw thousands of starfish the tide had thrown onto the beach. Unable to return to the ocean during low tide, the starfish were dying. He observed a young boy picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean.

After watching the seemingly futile effort, the observer said, "There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. It would be impossible for you to save all of them. There are simply too many. You can't possibly make a difference."

The young boy smiled as he picked up another starfish and tossed it back into the ocean. "It made a difference to that one," he replied.

Hopefully my preparation and effort to get to the village made a difference to Louisana and her baby boy, Gibson. We'll see how next Monday goes.