Sel pa vante tèt li di li sale…

Guest Post From Casey Zachary

That is a Haitian proverb that is loosely translated, “salt doesn’t boast and say it’s salty.”

Which is a really strange way to say that my sisters and dad are never going to tell you how devoted they are to the Haitian people and the extent by which they give of themselves sacrificially each day. God has gifted them, and they use these gifts for His glory. I am incredibly proud of them.

They are very grateful for the generosity and thoughtfulness all of you have demonstrated towards them over the years. They are strong advocates for the Haitian people, and rarely see past the acute problems they encounter each day to tend to their own needs.

So that is the point of this post.

If you have spent even a short time with my sisters, I do not need to explain the extraordinary ways in which they pour themselves out for others. If you have not had the pleasure of meeting my sisters, well then, get your passport and get to Haiti.

Many of you know that Licia and her family are expecting a baby girl in August. In addition, Lori and her husband recently finished a new home (they built after losing their former home to a flood) and are currently housing several US Navy Comfort Ship patients in their home.

Yesterday, my dad and Licia returned to Indiana, where they will be loading a trailer full of supplies to ship to Haiti. I will be taking the boys to Indiana tomorrow, and they will return to Haiti with their mother in mid April. Because it is difficult to purchase certain items in Haiti, I wanted to take this opportunity to put forth some needs my sisters have, and perhaps these items could be placed on to the trailers in either MN or IN before they are shipped in mid April.

Many of you have generously purchased items through the Walmart Wishlist, and so my wife took some time and put together a Baby Registry for Licia. When purchasing these items online, they will be shipped to an address of a friend in Indiana who collects supplies for us. We will gather these gifts and place them on the trailer to be shipped to Haiti.

Lori and her husband need some help furnishing their house, as they lost everything in the flood. They have been living with my dad since Sept 2008, and are hoping to get situated in their new home soon. Some items that would useful to them are couch, love seat, chair set – floral or pattern, TV stand, table and chairs for porch, coffee table for living room, 2 night stands with drawers, side tables for living room, dresser for bedroom (preferably with mirror), 3-4 wall fans, 3 window fans, spring loaded curtain rods (windows are 3.5ft wide), 5-6 light fixtures, and 3-4 lawn chairs.

See how excited Lori gets when people send her stuff...

Licia also thought some used items that would be helpful to her family would be double/twin bunk bed for the boys, rocking chair, baby bed, pack and play, air mattress for guests, TV stand, and bookshelves.

If you have any of these items that are used and in good condition, please contact my dad in Indiana to make arrangements.

His cell phone number is 317.517.2792.

Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated.

Comfort Ship patient updates

We wanted to give you an update on the patients at Lori and Charles house.  Most are from the Comfort Ship.  Several of them are needing assistance with their upcoming lives.  If you are interested and would like to help please contact lori@realhopeforhaiti.org for more information.  Thank so much for taking the time to read about these truly amazing survivors.

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You can read the first post about Nadiege here.  She is HIV positive but by the “rules” in Haiti not yet sick enough to receive medications.  We are keeping her and her kids here for now and praying about what to do with her long term.

 Regine had an abcess on her spine and Kwashiorkor.  She was moved around to several different locations after the earthquake.  She was suffering from severe malnutrition.  When she arrived here she was in a wheelchair and could not walk.  She could not lift up her child, she could not walk by herself.  Her abcess is healed.  Her kwashiorkor is gone.  She is strong and healthy now.  She can carry her child around.  She helps the other patients with their daily activities.  She is a joy  to  have here.

 Denise had several different injuries from the earthquake. She was trapped for four days under rubble and has injuries on her legs and hands.  She also has bed sores from laying for several days trapped.  She was rescued by a foreign rescue group.  Her daughter had to have her right lower arm amputated.  It healed well.  She could not walk when she first arrived.  She has gone from not walking, to walking with 2 crutches, to walking with 1 crutch to walking on her own.  She has an aunt that will give her land to build a house on.  Anyone interested in helping to build a small house for her and her daughter please contact lori@realhopeforhaiti.org

 Mitha had her stitches removed this week. She is keeping her stumps wrapped and trying to get her mind ready for prosthetics legs.  She will be going this coming week for her first appointment.  Her concern right now is paying for her kids to go to school.  She herself was a slave child,  and was kicked out of the house where she was a slave child at 14.  She had no family and nowhere to go she had to eat and got pregnant at 15.  She has never been able to get ahead in life.  Her current boyfriend is a great support to her and children.  It cost around $250 per year for school.  We are looking for sponsors for 4 children.

 Delva (Pierre) is cool.  He is healed, but having lots of memory problems.  He was sent back from the US a few years ago and does not have family here in Haiti.  We are unsure of his future as it seems he will not be able to live by himself.

 Nathalie was in school when the earthquake happened.  She was attending  school to be a kindergarten teacher.   She has two family member that she is close to, her brother and father.  Her father does not even have enough tap-tap money to come and visit her so they talk by phone.  She would like get a prosthetic leg, move back into town with her brother and return to school.

 Yole was injured while attending school.  She was one of the few survivors at her school.  She has injures to her face.  She is ready to return home.

 The cuties!

Nalie was trapped in her house.  We are not sure for how long.  Her right ear is gone and she has injuries to her leg.  She is unable at this time to walk on her leg.  We are doing PT to help her be able to walk again.  Her mother was outside the house.  She was rescued and taken for treatment.  U–n–i—-c–e–f has sent 8 worker out twice to see her and talk to her.  They have told us multiple times they are working to find her family.  The last group that came did not seem to give us or her much hope in completing this goal.  So we hired someone to go search.  Just this weekend (only one day really) we were able to locate her mother by phone.  She, of course,  had lost hope that her daughter was still alive.  She is hoping to make the trip from across the island sometime this week to be reunited with her daughter.

 Rose-Nadine is healing and has no infection.  Her wounds look great.  She will be going to get and X-ray this week and maybe have the fixators (iron) removed from her leg.  Her parents are both here most of the time with her.

Sterley was burned on her leg during the earthquake.  Her home is still standing but her family is scared to live there.  We were able to give them a tent to stay in.  Her burns healed well and she returned home this past week.  The parents had a small business where they sold food and cold drinks.  It was destroyed in the earthquake.   They are wanting a small business loan to start over.  They will return in a few weeks for a follow-up visit.

 Louisnel broke his leg during the earthquake.  His mother died in the earthquake.  His father is not around.  The man in the picture is a family member that is taking care of him.  They were only here a few weeks and returned to Port-au-Prince.  We have not heard from them.  We were able to give them tarps and a tent.

 Laudjynie had a broken femur.  She had a IM nail in her leg.  Her father works for the Haitian Coast guard.  She was only here for a few days.  Her dad is taking her to a clinic that is close to their house to get dressing changes.  She is doing well.  We were able to give them tarps and a tent when they left.

Dieumercie had a huge leg wound that had been left untreated for 3 months.  We were keeping him and doing daily dressing changes.  His wound was healing up well.  About a week ago he decided that he wanted to return home and not finish his treatment.  He left one day without even saying goodbye

 Our first two patients from the Comfort ship were Micheline and John Doe.  You can read their stories here.  John Doe never woke up and died within a few days of arriving here.  Micheline lived for a few weeks.  We were able to control her pain with medication until she died.  She was able to wake up enough to talk to her family and tell them goodbye before she died.  Her mother and friend were with her each day until she died.

 You can read and see a video about Pierre here.  He died a few weeks ago after short illness.  His family was never found. 

Red Cross

Read here about how the Red Cross is handling things in Haiti.  Kind of makes you sick.

Running for RHFH

Audrey Ann visited RHFH this past year.  She is a long time friend of our family.  She is running a marathon to raise fund for RHFH.  You can check out her blog here, she is looking for sponsors.  Give her some encouragement to keep going.  She runs in two weeks! Go Audrey Go!

New Kids this week

This is Mackenlove.  He is 2 1/2 years old and weighs 15 pounds.  He is in the beginning stages of kwashiorkor.  His dad carried him for about 4 hours one way to get to the clinic.  His mom just had a new baby.  There are three other siblings at home.  The family has lost 2 children to fever and diar. 

Mackenlove’s dad has been losing weight as well.  They just do not have enough food to feed everyone in the house.  I have heard the comment a thousand times.  If they do not have enough food then why do they continue to have kids.  Seems logical to our minds right?  But you have not lived their lives you have not walked in their shoes.  So the easiest way to find out why is to just ask.  Don’t assume.  There is no life insurance here, there is no health insurance for the poor, there is no SS checks that will come later in life, there is no retirement.  When they get to the point that they cannot work and provide for themselves they are at the mercy of others.  They have to depend on others to take care of them and feed them.  The people most likely to do that for them is their family and that most likely will be their children.   They have dreams for their children.  They want them to have a better life.  They want them to live well.  They want them to be happy.  But what if they only have two or three kids.  The hardships of life here are real.  They are in your face real everyday.  They are thinking each day where they will find food to fix that day.  It is day-to-day survival.  It is hard to find a family that has not lost at least one child to illness.  Health care is …….well it is very poor here.  It is hard to find help.  It is hard to buy medications.  It is hard to walk miles with a sick child.  Diar and other illnesses can kill within a few days.  Most in our area farm the fields.  No tractors, combines, or equipment here.  They use their hands, hoes, machetes, picks and shovels.  They work in the hot sun.  They plant and pray that they rains will come.  They harvest by hand and carry the produce for miles and miles to sell in markets.  If they have even a few acres of land they cannot farm it by themselves.  They again depend of their family, and children to help.  It is the way of life here.

This is Jackson.  He is 10 months old and weighs 11 pounds.  His dad is dead (earthquake).  His mom is struggling to feed herself and her two children now.  She has lost two kids to diar.  She needs a few weeks to try to get things in order after everything that has happened in the past few months.  She was very upset to leave Jackson.  But she felt it was the best choice for him and her right now.  He is already getting better and eating well.

Psalm 25:5-7 (The Message)

 ⁵ Take me by the hand;
   Lead me down the path of truth.
   You are my Savior, aren’t you?

 ⁶ Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, God;
   Rebuild the ancient landmarks!

 ⁷ Forget that I sowed wild oats;
   Mark me with your sign of love.
   Plan only the best for me, God!

Sodlyne and Mirlene

So I always know when Lori comes to me and says “Licia -um there is a little problem in the first consultation room you should go check it out”  I know that it is something I will never see again medical wise.  This is Sodlyne.  She was in the RC in 2008.  She began to have some swelling in her stomach in December.  She was given medication and we told the family to return.  Jan came–eathquake happened–lives changes.  Her dad had to go try to find work.  Her left the kids with the mother.  They came and got him this past week.  He had been sending money up to them to live on and continued to work.  He was shocked at what had happened to his daughter.  He carried he (not sure how) for about 6 hours one way to arrive at the clinic.  She says she is not in pain.  She is having some breathing problems due to all the pressure.  The dad  will return this following week so we can make some decisions on what we are going to do with her long-term.  We are giving medications and watching her this weekend.  Will you pray for her?

This in Sodlyne in 2008.  She was burned on her face.

She healed up within a few months and returned home to her family.

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Mirlene died early Thursday morning…peacefully in her sleep.

Food dependency is poverty trap for quake-hit Haiti

Good article here on Haiti and food dependency

TIFI….TIFI….TIFI…!

These three wild boys….

and their two lovebird parents wanted to let you know….

that we are expecting a beautiful baby girl near the end of August.  We are very excited to share this news with you!  Keep us all in your prayers!

Living with one leg is living

Check out some good beginnings with the amputees here in Haiti.  Click on the link here.  Don’t you love good stories

Clinic charts

Each of these paper below represents one person that passed through the clinic a few weeks back. Stacked up that is a lot of people!  Every week each chart is reviewed by Lori and Charlie.  Each sickness is scored on a sheet of paper.  At the end of the month we can tell you how many patients were seen, adult, children, prenatal.  We can tell you how many people had heartburn, cold, eye infections, malnutrition, anemic, malaria etc.  It takes many hours to record all this info.  After it is all recorded, all these charts have to be put in numerical order and then filed.  That takes a lot of time.  So if you are coming for a visit do not be surprised if we ask you to sort and file because this task has to be done at the end of each week.