Early Wednesday Team Update....

Received this email early this morning from Kirstin Leigh.

'Well the team is doing great. We've had no real problems. Marv went to the island of La Gonave, where we were all planning to go originally. His skills as a psychiatrist are more helpful there so I know he was really glad to go. The team says that he's been saying all along that he feels there's one person he's supposed to help here. Please pray that he finds that person!

We've had a couple rough nights. Last night 4 people came-- two women in labor who went home (maybe today!), a younger lady with malaria and an old lady who had typhoid. So Corey, Brenda, and Dr keiser were up a lot of the night. Corey and Brenda are the only nurses, so please pray for them. There's a nurse and doctor on call every night, so neither of them get a lot of sleep.

Dad is on a great adventure right now! We had to send a lady to get a csection at the nearby army hospital and dad went with her to care for the baby. The baby couldn't breathe, so they had to send them to Port au Prince to get a respirator. I heard that it's the only one or the only place to get one in Haiti and before the earthquake there weren't any. So dad manually helped the baby breathe on the three hour drive to Port au Prince. They made it and the baby is doing well. Dad stayed overnight. Praise God a team is flying in today with a skilled ER pediatric doctor who will take over for dad and dad will come back to camp and rejoin the rest of the team today.

Over all, what the team does is different every day. Right now we're joined by a group of 10 men, from Michigan I think, who are helping build a new hospital. We're also going to be joined by a group of nurses. A pharmacist is also coming - thank God he's highly needed. Groups come and go, but I think were getting used to the flow of things here.

We start the day around 7:30 with breakfast (and coffee woohoo!!!) And by the time we open the clinic there's usually at least 50 people waiting silently at the gate. Also the Spanish army comes in every morning, so we have spanish, creole, french, and english flying around and being translated--all with medical lingo too! It's pretty crazy as you can imagine. We actually usually end clinic hours before noon. They're trying to close the clinic and help the new hospital nearby pick up speed, so we're slowly taking less and less adult patients and making more and more referrals. Next week they'll take less pediatric patients, and lastly will refer all births.

Its been a beautiful time. I woke up really early this morning and Chuck was already up outside reading the Word. I sat next to him, not quite awake, and we talked for a while and marveled at how a group of near strangers can seem as close as family in such a short time.

Of course living in rustic conditions help. We have bunkbeds with mosquito nets inside U.S. Army issued tents, which is great. Nights actually get quite cool though its HOT and humid in the day and we all sweat and stink (Haiti is not a place for the vain). We have nice cold showers and toilets! Yay! They are bucket flush, but still a thousand times better than the cement hole in the ground outhouse where the honored placenta bearers take the placentas.

Food is wonderful! I think I'm gonna come back weighing more than I left! Bread and peanut butter, bananas and hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Lunch has some kind of hot noodles. Yesterday was like a really tasty veggie ramen Haiti-style soup. Then dinner is usually rice with a stew or fried chicken. Its all really tasty!

There's a family here who helped start the clinic. Kris is the mom and she's a doc and speaks creole. We wouldn't survive without her. Anna is 9 and the spunkiest little thing! She also speaks creole-actually I think they all do- and has adopted me as her "buddy," "best friend", or "sister." She's so adorable :) She has a brother a couple years older as well. Their dad just arrived late last night.

Okay my fingers are tired and I'm ready for some coffee.'


I also received this report from a phone called received from one of the team members:

'Marv called to report that he is currently serving in a location separate from the main group, at La Gonave, an island just west of the main island of Hispanola. (Pre-earthquake, this was the site where the entire team had planned to work.) He’s providing help to those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including staff. He’s also helping set up a PTSD clinic, training staff to recognize the condition & provide ongoing treatment after he leaves. He is delighted that God is allowing him to serve in this capacity.

Marv also reported that the other 12 team members continue to work at Petit Goave, a town located on the main island, west of Port-au-Prince. They’re primarily doing medical & pharmacy work in much more primitive conditions.

Marv requests that we continue to pray for the people of Haiti, the staff who are serving longterm, and our team.'


Stay tuned. I will keep you posted on updates as they come in.