The 40 day fast….

 

I am participating in an event called the 40 day fast.  Different people are writing about many different organizations around the world. Inspired to Action is giving the opturnity for many people to get involved in learning about the needs of many different places and countries in a hope to Inspire them to Action.  Whether that means praying, fasting, giving of your time, or giving funds we all want you to be touched in some way.

Our family has been working in rural Haiti since 1994. We are currently ministering in an area two and a half hours northeast of the capital in the village of Cazale. There are approximately 10,000 people living here and 70% of the children are malnourished.  With 70% being malnourished we have a small percent that are near death and need some extra help to recover.  Most parents really love their children and want to keep there families together.  We offer a place for the kids to recover and regain their health and then return to their families. We call this facility The Rescue Center.  This facility houses 50 to 60 sick and malnourished children.   These children are nursed back to health and then return to their families in the local villages.  We also take in children that are abandoned in front of our gate.

This is Kelly he was left outside over a year ago.

 

The Rescue Center has three main areas.

1.       Newborn babies up to 12 months, the average stay for this group of children is 2 years.  In general all the babies that are in the RC do not have a mother that can take care of them. Usually this is due to the death of the mother, shortly after child birth, or some type of mental illness.  The father works in the gardens and fields all day.  It would be difficult to take a newborn baby and work in the hot sun.  Infant formula is very expensive for the average family to buy.  By the time they are two years old; they are walking, eating solid foods and are off of the formula.  The dad can then take the child back and their chances of survival are much higher.

This is Dieuvant when he came in at 3 pounds, the next pictures is a few months later

This is Emmanuel.  He was very sick and near death on arrival.  He is doing great today.

 

  

2.     Children 12 months to 12 years old– the average stay for this group is 4 to 5 months. Many of these children are suffering from severe forms of malnutrition. The most common we see are Kwashiorkor or Marasmus.   Most are near death when admitted.  These children are given a balanced diet, love and care.  The ones that live, return home to their families.

This is Berlando.  He is suffering from Kwashiorkor.  This is his before and after pictures.

 

This is Ronel.  He is suffering from Marasmus. This is his before and after pictures.

 

This is Ilomene.  She did not survive.

 

 

3.   Last are adults in some sort of crisis situation.  Most are in some type of life crisis.  Whether it’s AIDS or some type of terminal illness like cancer.  Often they just need a place to die where someone cares.  We love them, tell them about Jesus, and help them the best we can.

 

   

 

The Rescue center is one part of Real Hope for Haiti.  This organization has been working in Haiti since 1994.  RHFH also has a medical clinic that sees an average of 1000 patients per week.  To date they have helped over 70, 000 patients.  RHFH is also involved in community development, school sponsorship, purified drink water, literacy classes, sewing classes, distributing free literature in Creole, tree planting, and medical visas for children. RHFH has a staff of 72 persons from the local village of Cazale.

 

This is Jorel.  He was burned with hot tea.  These are pictures of his progression of healing.

This is Frandy.  He stayed at the RC for about 5 months.

I encourage you to pray today for the children of Haiti, and especially those in the RC that are fighting to survive.  Thanks so much for stopping by and seeing a part of my life here in the beautiful country of Haiti. Please check out the pages on the side for more infomation. 

3 children have died this week

Sonjil died  yesterday morning. 

Because I love my brother and its been to long since I talked to him..

Going home…..

Remember Kobra……His beginning weight was 52 pounds.  After several weeks of losing the water weight, he got down to 49 pounds. 

His going home weight was 65 pounds.  We will miss you Kobra.  He is a MIRACLE!

Sophia came in March.  She weighed 25 pounds.  Her going home weight was 30 pounds.

Primane has been admitted into the Rescue Center 3 different times.   She has seven other siblings.  Every time she returns home she loses weight quickly.   She has been staying in the RC since May of 07.  We decided to keep her here so she could attend school here in Cazale and get several months of good nutrition at the RC. She will return to the RC in Sept after spending summer vacation with her family.

 

 Remember yesterday I talked about Begendy’s sister that was admitted into the RC?  Here is Begendy.  He had Kwashiorkor, two of his siblings have died from Kwashiorkor.  He recovered quickly and should do well if he continues to have a normal balanced diet.

 Sadrack went home this week as well.  I will miss all of  these kids—–but I have to make room for the new ones.

 

Inspired to Action…

Have you been checking out the link to Inspired to Action and the 40 day fast?  I hope that you have if not your missing a blessing of learning about different places around the world. 

Today’s Inspiration comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children

Haitian books

Here is a link where you can find some Haitian/Creole books.  Here is the catalog link for the description and price list.  Happy reading.

Denied

Carmelo was denied his approval of his I-600 this week but the USCIS.  Carmelo was near death and was left in our care in 1999 after he was SEVERELY burned.  He did not pass through an orphange first and sign the adoption papers.  We were not thinking adoption then.  We were thinking that he was not going to live.  So they did not like that.  I can appeal the decision.  It will cost us $585.00 and can take up to a year.  So we are planning to apply for a vistor visa.  Then after he has been legally our child for 2 years, which will be March 2009, we can file a I-130.  I have not even had time to check the info out in the I-130 yet.  Oh yeah, BTW if I go today and pay the fee of $131.00US for the vistors visa the app. will be at the end of October.  Life is grand!  So while I was very upset last night, Carmelo said “mommy if it makes you cry that much I do not even want to be an american citizen, I will just stay in Haiti”  I am not really loving the USA and its goverment rules right now, but that is life.  Se lavi.  Just wanted to keep you updated.  Enoch will return on July 29th for his visa app. 

 

New children admitted this week….

 This is Melene.  She is 5 years old and has a twin sister.  There are 6 other children not counting the twins.  So the mother has 8 children to take care for.  Melene has been behind in gaining weight for several years.  It has caught up to her and this makes the third time she has had the swelling with Kwashiorkor.  Notice her fussy blond hair, another sign of malnutrition.  She weighs 24 pounds.

 This little boy, Sonjil, is 2 1/2 years old.  His father and mother work in the gardens all day.  They left a cousin that is 13 to take care of him.  She became very sick and was suffering from malnurition.  She has been in the RC for about a month as is recovering.  So while she has been here, no one has been with Sonjil to take care of him.  His dad was very upset and worried.  We decided to admit him.  He has been having a difficult time just breathing and living.  This is the 5th time he has suffer with a round of being swollen like this. Pray for him.

Nagemene’s brother is in the RC.  His name is Begendy.  He has been on the list to go home for a few weeks.  There father came and brought his sister, Nagemene.  Their  mother is sick.  She is unable to care for the kids and cannot work in the gardens right now.  Begendy went home on Tuesday.  Nagemene was admitted on Tuesday.  The have one other child that lives at home.  They have lost two children to kwashiorkor, one of which died in the RC a few years ago.

Remember to check out the Inspired to Action  blog today to read about an orphange in Africa.

Today’s Inspiration comes from the first chapter of the book of James:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Lavi……life

Liberson died this morning around 8am. He was talking to us at 6:30am.  His mom was here yesterday and they were able to talk for a while.  She brought him three eggs.  He wanted to eat them last night at 10pm.   Something major was wrong with his mouth and digestive tract.  His mouth would bleed if you just touched it.  He has been having something that looks like puss coming up and out through his mouth for the past 5 days.  He could not eat, it was not possible.  He wanted a radio.  I bought him a little one yesterday.  One with headphones and a little flashlight on it.  It was small and it did not work well.  He called me and told me thank you for buying it but he really wanted a bigger one.  I sent someone early this morning to buy him the exact radio he wanted. It did not make it here in time.  He knew what color he wanted and what kind of batteries it took.  He wanted a nice pair of sandles.  Even though his feet were opened up and raw.  He put them by his head so he could wear them when he got better.  He wanted a ball and a car.  I do not understand the suffering here.  I do not understand why he did not just die last week.  They did not teach me how to deal with this in school.  It is hard.  I had one child die yesterday and I have another child that we admitted yesterday that is struggling to breath and live.  Malnutrition has no easy solution, no easy answers to solve the problem.  Most of the parents here really love their children. They want them to live , they want them to grow and be healthy.  But almost everyone you talk to has lost a child.  Usually more than one.  It is almost a normal part of life.  I do not want it to be normal.  I want it to stop.  I want the parents to have better options for there families.  I want every child to live and feel loved.  Will you pray for me today and pray for our staff.  They have had a rough week with several sick kids.

I do not want to die… until I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown.

Kathe Kollwitz

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Don’t for get to check out the Inspired to Action  post for today.

Today’s inspiration comes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

Let everyone sweep in front of his own door and the whole world will be clean.

 

Liberson

Guest blogger Graham, that is here for a month, wrote this about Liberson.

“I want a ball.  No….I want a truck……..I don’t want that one.  I want one that is bigger.”  Liberson demanded.  His body is but an assemblage of twigs with a basketball for a stomach and his eyes sunk far back in his wasted, dry skull.  Bulbous sores cover his lower extremities, a sign of severe kwashiorkor.  And even looking like this, Libersons present demands are an amazing turning point from just a few moments ago. 

A few moments ago his eyes were fluttering, his pulse weak, unable to eat or talk as sores in his mouth began to bleed.   These were more immediate signs of a more impending death.  As long as he did not die like Henrius, whose eye popped and rooting flesh fell off his bones as he begged for life right up to the very end.  These are the images of malnutrition that you don’t see on TV adds for feeding programs in Haiti or Africa.  The end game of malnutrition is often a messy, long, painful experience for all involved.  Even these words to not convey the reality of the experience…smells, sounds, and fragile movements of life about to end.

But Liberson’s demanding attitude is a sign of determination that is needed by those who suffer severe malnutrition and neglect to recover.  And it should be an inspiration to all of us who have the privilege of helping those who for too long have suffered from such violent, unnecessary deaths.