December 3

After looking at this post I think I should have made it into two separate ones. I just got carried away with uploadig pictures!  We have a team of four guys coming in tomorrow.  One has been here many times and the others are all new to us and Haiti.  Lots of things will be happening this week. 

So Lori and I and the boys went on a walk on Sunday.  We checked out the progress on the road and visiting a sick employee.  Here is part of the new road.

Here is a picture of me for Jeanne, our fabulous volunteer, that is now left to return home,boo-hoo–I miss her!  Anyway she bought a pair of these walking shoes for Lori and I.  They were great!

heading up a hill

The red and gray that you see in the  background are tents.  They have shifts that are working days and nights.  So these tents are used for them to sleep and rest in.

Henley standing in a doorway of a house that was destroyed by a mud slide

 

This used to be a banana garden.  The flood waters left it full of rocks. 

This rock was washed down by flood waters.  Imagine how strong the waters were to carry this rock into this garden.  The garden is several feet above the edge the river bed.

Digging out in front of our house

 

loading up rocks and gravel to be spread on the road

This is Berlande, the baby with Spina Bifida.

Here is what his back looks like uncovered

 This is Lissa (lisa).  She is three months old and weighs 4 pounds.  Her mother went to a doctor and they told her not to breastfeed the child becuase she was not healthy.  The mother did as the doctor sadi and did not breastfeed her only daughter.  She has kwashiorkor, at only 3 months old.  She is in bad shape.  Babies do not recover from kwashiorkor well. Pray for little Lissa. 

This is Nerlande.  She is 12 months old and weighs 9 pounds!  She has a very sad story.  Her mother died when she was 22 days old.  She was taken to the fathers side of the family.  They tried to take care of her for 2 months.  They said she cried to much and they passed her onto another family member.  They kept her for 1 month.  Again they could not take care of her.  They took her to her uncle’s house and left her on the porch.  The uncle’s wife found the baby and was mad at Nerlande father for not taking care of her.  She said it was his responsibility.  So she took her put her in a banana field next to a nest of fire ants.  Someone in the village found her.  One of her arms was covered with fire ant bites.  They took her to another lady in the village they thought might take care of her.

This all happened when she was about 4 months old.  The lady in the village that decided to help Nerlande told me this today.  She heard that if you take the seeds from inside a cotton plant and drink them, it will make your milk come down so that you can breastfeed.  She did this and began to breastfeed her.   But she became pregnant herself and stopped.  This was a few months ago.  Nerlande has been losing weight and is not doing well since.  What a story!  She just melts into you chest when you hold her.  So much pain and suffering in only 12 months.

 This is Smith. He is 6 years old and weighs 31 pounds.  This is his 3rd time with kwashiorkor.

 

This is Isaac.  He is 13 months old and weighs 12 pounds.  Isaac’s mom left him with the father and 7 other siblings and went to the Dominican Republic.  The father has not heard from her in several months.  He wanted us to help out for a few months so he could get back on his feet and try to find a job.