Tomorrow morning we will be leaving the house early to get to the airport for our 9am flight.  We are all really excited about this trip.  But the most excited is of course, Carmelo.  He said you know everytime we drop you off at the airport I never get to go in.   I just want to go in there and see what it looks like.  So now he is just excited about going into the Port-au-Prince airport.  He has no idea  what is in store for the next few weeks.  He woke me up at 6:30 this morning asking if I was done packing yet!  I have been making copies of all the papers that I have and making sure I have everything to leave tomorrow.  I am sure that Carmelo will not sleep tonight. 

Prayer request:

*safe travels for dad (flying back from Texas) Carmelo and Licia

*NO problems at the US immigration stop in Miami

*on time flights

*finances while we are there

*Enoch, Henley, Trey, Lori, Charles and the RHFH staff

*Anna as she continues school with Henley and Trey

I will not be posting when we are gone.  I am hoping to not see the internet at all and just have fun and relax.  Contact Lori at lori@realhopeforhaiti.org or give me a call at (765)620-2703.

Update on fundrasing

We have had a few more donation for the upcoming semi container.  We are so encouraged the we are getting closer to our goal.  There will be lots of medication for the sick, diapers, toys and clothing for the kids in the RC, shoes and backpacks for the kids in the school sponsorship program, medical supplies, machines for the sewing class and many, many other items.  We are so thankful to those that have given.  God is good, and we believe that this goal will be met soon!

There has been $500 donated towards the tickets.  We are still in need of $1072 to meet this need.  Thanks you all that have given to make this trip possible for us.

Pictures from the Fort

Wanted to share a few pictures from the fort.  We had a really great time and enjoyed outselves.  We are busy trying to get everything done before we leave Monday morning.  I will try to write again tomorrow. 

Lori will get some more pictures up this week  of the fort.

PrAiSeS…..

 

So I wrote the post below yesterday.  But the starter in the generator broke.  So I did not get to post it.  We are using a small backup generator now.  It is running the clinic lights and fans. I am sitting in the office with the lights off and the computer on.  If you turn on to much stuff it trips the breaker and everything goes off.  Fun times I tell ya.  Last night we had cords running all over the place.  We had to have lights in the RC for the kids and ladies and we had to plug in the freezers to save the meat.  The parts are being bought today and we are hoping to have the big generator fixed by this evening.

Lori and I went for a walk yesterday.  God gave us a beautiful rainbow in the sky. (pic above with H & T C. was still in school)

Only a few more days until Carmelo and I leave.  Excited really is to small of a word for this trip.  The questions have not stopped or slowed down.  It is great!  Enoch went and picked up the visa yesterday.

These gifts were given to RHFH on Tuesday by parents that have children in the RC.  So many are so very thankful that their children are getting the help they need.  What a sacrifice these gifts truly are for them to give.  They could take this produce and sell it or have their other kids eat it.  But they want to be thankful for what God has done for their families.

Beyond blessed!  That is what my boys get in school.  I did not think that God could find another person like Keverly for the boys.  But he has, Anna is doing wonderful with them.  They have been having a fun time this weeks getting started and getting to know each other.  We have even been able to talk with Keverly and ask her some questions about last year.  I am so very thankful to God for blessing us again this year with a great teacher!  (We still miss you Keverly…good luck on your upcoming speech)

 

 GVADK ( the community development group that Lori founded) has been planting trees and vetiver grass for several years now.  It is hard work in the hot sun.  While we were planting a few weeks ago one of the heads of the CNE road crew that is doing road work in our areas stopped by.  He was happy we were planting trees. 

 

 About a month ago there was an old fort built years ago that was found while they were building the new road.  It is on top of a huge mountain.  The people in the area knew there was something up there that was old, but really did not know what it was.  The CNE crew paid people to clear the land off and they built a road to the place.  Enoch went up with some friends a few weeks ago and got some pictures for us.  This is one of them.  It is amazing that it has been covered up by trees, and bushes for all these years.  So back to planting the trees.  The CNE guy asked if we had heard about the fort.  We said yes and then he asked if we had been up to see it.  We said not yet.  So he said pick out a date and I will send a bus to come and get you guys and take you up to see it!  The bus will hold 37 people.  So tomorrow at 7am the GVADK group are taking a field trip to see a new discovered fort.  Anna and the boys will be going with us as well.  Pray for safe travels up the steep mountain roads!  We are excited for this little adventure.

I have heard rumors that Lori has a HUGE post coming up.  Yes, Lori that has not posted regular for a long time.  Be checking out her blog in the next few days. I think the title will be Spring, summer, fall updates

They have been moving along with their house project as well.  You need to go check it out here.  The house they were living in was badly damaged during the flood last year.  They have been living in one of the rooms that the teams stay in. 

Psalm 51:7-10 (The Message)

 ^7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
      scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
   Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
      set these once-broken bones to dancing.
   Don’t look too close for blemishes,
      give me a clean bill of health.
   God, make a fresh start in me,
      shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
   Don’t throw me out with the trash,
      or fail to breathe holiness in me.
   Bring me back from gray exile,
      put a fresh wind in my sails!
   Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
      so the lost can find their way home.
   Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
      and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
   Unbutton my lips, dear God;
      I’ll let loose with your praise.

Written yesterday

 This is Jeanna.  She is 8 months old and weighs 9 pounds 4 ounces.  When she was 2 months old she weighed 9 pounds 12 ounces.  She is almost dead.  Her sister, Maudeline,  is in the RC this makes twice that she has been admitted (the sister).  She was suffering from neglect and kwashiorkor both times.  She is well and on the list to return home.  Her sister on he other hand, is dying.  Their mother lives less that an hours walk from the clinic.  The father of the kids died last year.  The mother is convinced that this is not a sickness that the doctors can heal.  She is convinced that it is because the father died and now they are paying for it by being cursed.  So she has been taking Jeanna too the local v–d– places to see if she can makes things right with the dead father. Craziness I tell you.   I always try to look at the positive side.  So at least she brought her here this morning. At least we might be able to show her a small amount of love before she dies.  We can pray for her.  I ended up not sending the sister of Jeanna home today.  I thought, why?  To pass more misery?  The mom did not care what I did.  She did not care at all.  She will have to return someday soon, but not today.  It is not that I have extra beds now no, we are full.  To full by some peoples standards.  But when situations likes these are shoved in your face and you can see and feel it, it is different.  It is real.  I cannot tell a sying child that my quote has been met and I have no room.  You can always make room, believe me you can if you want to. 

Since writing this morning. Jeanna died.  After we gave her a bath, we notices that her fingernails were stuck in the skin of her palm.  Think of when you make a fist.  When we opened her hand up it was rotting.  She was dying but still breathing.  We put a feeding tube down and started an IV.  I carried her over to the RC to place her in her bed.  She was dying then.  So I turned around and went back to the office.  I held her for about an hour.  She died and for about the first time I was glad that a child died.  Then I felt terrible for thinking that.  She suffered so much and did not need to suffer.  Her mother should be put in jail.  She neglected her child and starved her to death.  She had food but did not give it to her.  She did not seek medical treatment for her.  She just sat there and watched her die.  When it was almost the end she decided to bring her.  I will soon have to return her other daughter to her.  But this we all know ,she is with my mom and Jesus now and that gives me peace.

======================================= 

Renista is 3 1/2 years old and weighs 20 pounds.  Her mother could not remember how many times she has went through a bout of kwashiorkor since birth.  To many to count. 

Mirlande is 5 years old and weighs 26 pounds.  She is suffering from kwashiorkor, diar, fever and a cold.

Yolenste was in his house sleeping.  A sheet caught on fire by an oil lamp.  He was rapped in the sheet.  The black stuff on his burns you ask?  That would be ground up goats poop.  He is staying in the RC so his burns can heal.  He has a very high fever.  I wonder why?

 

Proverbs 3:3-12 (The Message)

 ^3-4 Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty.
   Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.
Earn a reputation for living well
   in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.

 ^5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
   don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
   he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
   Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
   your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
   give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
   your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
   don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
   a father’s delight is behind all this

Here is another video made by Harvard University. This is Dr. Paul Farmers Hospital. It is the same concept as the medika mamba. Good video!

kwashiorkor

While looking up kwashiorkor on google today I found this video.

Update on fundraising

Update for the semi container.  There has been $5,145 donated.   We are still in need of $4,855 to meet our goal.

Update for the tickets.  There has been $450 donated.  We are still in need of $1122 to meet our goal.

Thanks to all that have donated!  RHFH and our staff greatly appreciate it!
 

Changing lives-Medika Mamba

Kwashiorkor is sometimes hard to understand unless you see it in front of you.  The picture of the left is Esterline when she was admitted last week.  She was retaining fluids in all parts of her body.  We put her on the medika mamba last week.   In one weeks time she lost a little more than 1kg of excess fluids.  Can you see the difference?    Her little tiny body was able to reverse the organ failure.  This is good.  She should begin gaining muscle and fat.  She is just so tiny now.  Will you pray for her.  Medika mamba is making a difference.

Twins

Yesterday morning before clinic opened at 7am.  A lady came that had been following in clinic during her pregnancy.  She knew that she was having twins and she already had a reference letter to go into a hospital to have them.  She decided not to go into town and have them at her house.  She delivered one a 3am and was unable to deliver the other child.  The family carried her on a bed to the clinic.  We do not do deliveries unless it is an emergency.  We hired a tap-tap and sent her into town with a staff member and funds that she would need. 

 About 8:30am another lady came that was in labor.  She was 19 years old and had only been to see the doctor one time.  Her whole body was swollen and she was not doing well.  She was in labor but we had time to get her into the hospital.  We call the tap-tap that was sent in before with the staff member and they were on their way back.  So we began getting everything ready for her to go into the hospital.  The tap-tap arrived and we were trying to find her family members who had taken off and left here.  She let out a loud yell and we check and saw a head.  We all began to get ready for a birth.  I had not had time to ask Anna ( the new teacher) if she liked medical things, but I thought I might as well ask her to join us. So we were all in there and she delivered a 5 pound baby girl.  Every thing went well.  Then we looked at her stomach and it was still larger than normal.    The mother had some other health concerns as well.  Anyway about 10 minutes later here comes two little feet out.  Another girl 4 pounds 12 ounces.  Both are healthy and well.

Staff members checking out the babies

Anna cutting the cord.

The mom and the twins