Haiti Journal

March 13th/14th, 2010: Travel Nightmare
I checked my flight on the computer before leaving to go to the airport. It was on-time. All was golden. Until I got to the ticket counter at US Airways. The nice man behind the counter spotted the three of us in line with our camper backpacks and our 300lbs of medical supplies we were going to check at the baggage counter. He shook his head as I handed him my itenerary and he said "I've been waiting on ya'll to get here. There's a problem". Apparently our Nashville flight was going to be very delayed. We were supposed to catch our next flight in Philly and fly to the Dominican Republic, but there wasnt enough time between the flights and we were for sure going to miss it. The man behind the counter said "All the other flights are full, but I can get you to Port Au Prince by Thursday".......WHAT!?!?!?.....it was Saturday....Thursday seemed a week away. And my brain immediately started adding up how many plane tickets I had already charged to my Visa. Our inital flight thru Delta had been cancelled just 5 days prior to the trip...now this. Brad, David, and I stood there shaking our heads, "This can not be happening"....."Spiritual Warfare", I muttered. We were not gonna take no for an answer. I called my stepdad and had him look on travelocity to see if there was any tickets from anywhere near us available. I knew flights to Port Au Prince (PAP) were only out of Miami or NYC. He found 3 tickets from Miami to Port au Prince but no flights were available to Miami because it was spring break. We had 15 hours to get to Miami to make the flight and we were gonna make it happen. The 3 tickets were purchased and we raced downstairs in the airport to the rental car counter as I googled the map from Nashville to Miami.....1,000 miles....15 hours of travel time....We were gonna have to book it. No only did we loose an hour because of the timezones, but we also lost an hour because it tonight was daylight savings. We rented one of the last cars they had available for out of town travel and hit the road. I prayed alot on this day. I prayed for no traffic, no rain, no car problems, no wrecks, no tickets, no roadblocks.....you name it I prayed it. We made a pact that there would be no stops, no drinking water, no meals...only 2 gas tank fillups.  We made it to Miami from Nashville in a little over 12 hours....there must be some type of record we broke. I just say it was God's mercy after struggle and perseverance....yes, I realize it was on small scale...but still...I believe it.  


Arrived in Port Au Prince Sunday morning at 1020am. Brad, David, and I were awake for 52 consecutive hours. :) 
We were just so blessed to have made it....especially after being told it was not possible.




March 15th, 2010: Medical Clinic

Today was our first day setting up medical clinic. We awoke at 5am to roosters outside our tent, we ate breakfast, and then had a devotional led by Bobby, our leader from GCOM. He was born in Haiti and thrown into a dumpster as a newborn, there he was found and taken to an orphanage and later adopted by a Jamacian woman. He now is a pastor of a church in Indianapolis.
We loaded up into the 'tap tap' (see pictures) and drove about 2 hrs to the village where we would setup in PAP. The roads in Haiti are very rough and the countryside is mountainous, making travel time much longer than normal. The ride in the back of the tap tap with 20+ people is rough and my butt was very sore even after the first day. Many of us became green and nauseaous from the rocking back and forth. The air in PAP is very smoggy and dusty because of the rough roads and destruction. The drive is scenic especially the rocky terrain near the orphanage where we were camping. Last night we awoke to wild dogs right outside our tent getting into the trash. They were chewing loudly on chicken bones or something crunchy and dragging things around. It was very chilly and I had a difficult time sleeping because of the cold and because I had to pee but was afraid to leave the tent bc of the wild dogs. We had been told to stay away from all dogs because of rabies. I hadn't taken into account that we would be sleeping on top of a moutain and it would be cool at night, I had not packed accordingly. I only brought a thin sheet sleeping bag liner. Before the morning came I had layered all of the clothes I had available over my pajamas trying to warm up.
So we arrived at a tent city on the side of a hill in PAP. We setup a triage area where vitals would be taken and a complaint would be recorded on a notecard. After the patient was seen here they would move the treatment area for an examination by a provider my friend Jason, who is a NP. Then the provider would fill out a scribbled prescription on the card where they would take it to the pharmacy to recieve their medications. Today I helped see patients and dressed wounds, started IVs on the very sick, and located various medical supplies requested by the providers. The tent we were in looked like a revival tent. It had rows and rows of seats and was covered with a tarp. The people started lining up in droves. They were very very welcoming and you could tell they were so thankful that someone cared about them. Someone of them had minor or vague complaints and really just wanted to be touched. Those we examined just like anyone else and gave them vitamins to take home. Then juice and sandwiches were made by David G and some others and handed out to the Haitians.
It was extremely hot and humid and I was having trouble adjusting to heat. I hadn't really been drinking alot of fluids and after several hours I became extremely weak, light headed, and nauseated. I had sit down for the last hour of clinic and when Jason saw me he was concerned. My heartrate went from 80 to 125 when I stood up, which is indicitive of being pretty dehydrated. When we got home I let David try to start an IV - he is a Pilates instructor....it was unsuccessful :) so Jason started one and I got 1L of IV fluid. I began feeling much better afterwards and was able to eat dinner late that night while everyone had gone to a Haitian revival service at a church down the road from the orphanage we were camping at.


March 16th: Medical Clinic

Today we woke up around 530am and had breakfast then a short devotional led by Christine (from brooklyn ny). Then we all loaded in the tap tap and drove 2 hours to PAP near the airport. We set up clinic in a abandoned French Red Cross tent that was stationed at a neirborhood basketball court surrounded by chain link fence. Around us was collapsed buildings and tent cities where people had set up their new homes, mostly with tents distributed by different organizations. We unloaded about 8 suitcases of supplies and organized the clinic setup with a triage area, a doctor assessment area and then a pharmacy area. As we were unloading the bags we realized our large bag of medicines and well as most of our IV supplies was missing. We had no option but to make do with what we had so we primed a few bags of saline and hung them for only the very sick (a woman with a heart rate 175bpm, a young man with a bad pnemonia, ect). The medicines we did have included IM rocephin 1 gram, multi vitamins, Tylenol, lortab, and motrin. There was a near by pharmacy so we pulled together about $50 and sent a few team members to buy miconozole (we were seeing lots if yeast and vaginal infections) and some Amoxil. I was stationed at the pharmacy with Erick. We distributed medications and i gave IM rocephin shots and started the few IV lines that we had available. One woman who came to be treated had a breast mass the size of a grapefruit, the mass was hard, immobile and had an irreguLar border- which is indicitive of breast cancer. She was only about 32yrs old. Unfortunately with cancer in a 3rd world country like Haiti this woman has no options available. We didn't tell her the obvious, why ruin the last year or so of her life? She was smiling as I handed her a bag of Women's Multivitamins. She was standing in the middle of a destroyed city with breast cancer and a family...and she was smiling over the vitamins I gave her, saying "Merci, Merci" (thankyou in french). How do I mentally walk away from a situation like this? 

 At the pharmacy we had a translator who translated our medication instructions and coached the haitians while I was starting their IVs (they are very afraid of needles). We treated about 300 people at clinic today. After we packed up our supplies we waited on our ride for about an hour and a half. During that time we played with the small neighborhood children and the young men started a basketball game on the court. The drive back took about 2.5-3hrs because there was lots of traffic. Upon arrival home we ate a delicious fish stew and a corn dish with drk gravy, all prepared by the children at the orphanage and the orphanage keepers. After dinner we organized our supplies and medications for clinic the next day. Thieves raided our tents while we were eating dinner and stole Brads camera, video camera, coffee, clothes, headlamps, and flip flops.

March 17th: Medical Clinic
Today we left the orphanage around 7am to go to a tent city near PAP where significant destruction had occured. We arrived and were told to stay in the truck & that we were not setting up clinic because dangerous behavior had been noted by our haitian leaders. We drove another half mile and setup clinic in the middle of a large tent city. There was hositility almost immediately from the Haitians because they thought we were charging them for medical care - apparently another medical group had previously set up in our tent and were charging for medications and treatment. We cleared everything up and then began to set up shop in an abandoned UNICEF tent. People lined up in droves.  We treated about 350 people with medical care, prayers, and food. We saw many many vaginal infections, skin infections, and URIs. I gave many IM Rocephin injections, one was given to a brave 7 year old girl who was all alone. Brad and Denny were at the back door of the tent praying for everyone who was treated. They prayed over their health, their relationship with Christ, and their safety.
About halfway thru the day an elderly woman came thru the line with a newborn. She reported she had just found the baby in a dumpster. She decided to care for the infant, she couldn't pass it by knowing it had been left to die. Bobby our GCOM leader shared a very similar story. He too had been left in a dumpster to die as a newborn. He was found and taken to an orphanage, later he was adopted by a Jamacian woman. I thought about the irony and knew this infant was born to do great things. Bobby could've died alone in the trash 30 years ago but God had plans for him. Now Bobby is making disciples of nations, just as we were instructed. We encouraged this woman that she was doing the right thing by taking responsibility of this child. We prayed for her and the infant and we sent her with a large can of formula and a make shift bottle. If I could've taken the infant home I would have. Everyone deserves love. Everyone deserves a chance. Especially an innocent child.
Another patient that stands out in my mind is a man who appeared to have smallpox. Which if he, in fact, did have smallpox,  this could mean huge risk for wide spread epidemic....especially with everyone piled on top of another in these tent cities with no sanitation options....and the rainy season just around the corner.
There was another baby that was brought thru the line near the end of our day - he had been crushed in the earthquake and broken his femur (thigh bone). The French Red Cross had placed the baby in a cast going around his hips and down his right leg to his toes....two months ago....now this mother had no way of getting the cast off. This baby was at risk for losing his ability to use his right leg or walk, as well as skin breakdown from the cast, not to mention the cast was very snug - babies grow alot in 2 months. He could of lost his leg. We tried with many different tools to get the plaster cast off but we were unsuccessful. Frustration was rising and we were exhausted from the day. Jason was working so diligently and insisted on getting this cast off so we loaded up our medical clinic and took the baby to the hospital in town. Jason took the baby inside and used their cast saw. The hospital was nearly empty...abandoned ambulances were sitting in the parking lot with flat tires. It was a crazy sight to see an essentially vacant hospital with so much need outside their doors.


March 18th: Medical Clinic
Today we awoke at 5am and left the orphanage at 6am headed to a remote village 4.5hrs away from our location. Last night was the first night that there was no dog digging thru the trash and crunching chicken bones into the wee hours of the morning.  We had a quick rain for about 10-15 minutes around 11pm, which was surprisingly the first rain we have seen thus far. So the ride to the remote village was long and bumpy in the back of the tap tap with 20 people packed in like sardines....but the scenery was amazing. It was quite a tranformation driving thru the dusty colorless mess of PAP to a beautiful winding road with a mountain back drop and palm trees and cacti lining the road. After the long drive we arrived at a impoverished village which had only recieved medical care once before, which was given by GCOM. Bobby told us at there last visit the need was so great they were unable to see all of the people who waited in line and a riot broke out and people became violent. This made us a little nervous - but at this point in our trip we were use to being on our toes. Word must have spread about our visit because as we entered thru the cinderblock entrance the people were already lined up waiting. No running water or eletricity was available, which was pretty normal to us by now. However we were disappointed because enroute we noticed a few powerlines and were hoping we'd be able to plug in our nebulizer to give treatments for those in respiratory distress. We setup clinic in a small two room cinderblock shelter and made a triage area with a large tarp and tall sticks to keep it covered and cooler. It was significantly hotter inside the shelter than outside, and it was high 90s outside. I was sweating like crazy the entire day. No matter how much we drank we never quenched our thirst - I never did not feel thirsty the entire trip...I can't imagine how the Haitians battle this constant struggle of finding water. I remember the children outside the airport when I first arrived...they were begging for water, not money but water...now I understand.

We treated the children, pregnant women, and the elderly first. I have never seen so many preggos in my life. At one point Erick, Christine, and I looked at the line in front of us waiting to get their prescriptions filled and there were about 7 pregnant women in there 8th month standing consecutively in line....I made a comment to Erick and Christine, "look at all the pregnant women". The 3 of us immediately busted out in Beyonce spirit singing and dancing "All you pregnant women, (All you pregnant women), put your hands up!" Those waiting in the line looked at us as though we totally lost it and soon they were laughing just as we were....they didn't know what we were saying. :)

We saw child after child that was malnurished. Babies that looked 12 months and were 24 months. Children had rashes all over there bodies, scabies in the webbing of their fingers, and skinny frail extremities with large heads. The elderly looked...well, elderly...and many had chronic conditions like hypertension, heart conditions, cataracts, arthritis, etc. We treated and bandaged several burn victims - most burns caused from their cooking fires or spilling boiling water. We also saw many very bad wounds that had started out as small scrapes and cuts but had developed into oozing large necrotic wounds due to poor hygiene and no basic first aid care like neosporin. We irrigated and dressed these and showed them how to do this at home, also sending them with supplies for wound care.


March 19th: Sight Seeing & Orphanage Visit

This morning we awoke around 530am and left the orphanage after a devotional led by Denny (born in Haiti, lives in brooklyn) at 730am. We drove to downtown PAP and saw the collapsed cathedral. The massive destruction in the area was so great that it was very hard for me to imagine what this area looked like before. Most of the cathedral was caved in and now in large mounds of rubble and wires, however part of the front face of the church still stood as well as the large crucifix statue with the body of Christ upon it. What a scene. Thousands of pounds of rubble surrounded the base of this statue and just 10 yards away was the remains of the outline of the church. Standing around the area were a wild collage of people. A voodoo preist walked by with insanely crazy eyes and his body covered in white dust, head to toe. This voodoo religion is very prevalent here and was kinda creeping us out. The Haitians believe these preists can cast binding spells on them. Nearby we saw a mother walking with a newborn in her arms and a toddler at her side. The toddler was filthy and completely naked, no diaper... no nothing. The newborn was swaddled in 5 layers of clothing, it was 90 degrees. I had a small stuffed animal in the tap tap and I went to get it for the boy. Another GCOM volunteer dug thru our supplies looking for clothing for the boy. We took her a canister of formula and told her she could feed it to both children. We only had a few diapers so we gave her a few for the boy and went ahead and put one on him. We instructed her not to layer the infant so tightly in the heat. Then we prayed around her that God would bless this family and provide for their needs. Tears were dropping from all of our eyes onto the dirty ground below. It was a very emotional moment for all. I felt once again ashamed for wasting precious time on meaningless decisions about stuff that I don't need in the states - this mother had nothing but what was on her person and she had two bellies to feed everyday. I wish words could express how I felt standing there with her...in the presence of God...and how utterly disgusted I was with myself and my selfishness...but I simply can't find words powerful enough to do it justice.

Next we drove to see the Royal Palace which looks very much like our White House. It was an eery sight to see it collapsed and think of what this symbolism implies for the country of Haiti. Locals told us after the earthquake the president of Haiti fled and was unable to be located for 4 days....I can only imagine the outrage that would occur if this happened in the states.

On the ride to the orphanage I sat by Pastor Ronald, one the leaders of GCOM and a Haitian. He is 28. I asked him where he was when the earthquake happened. He told me he was sitting in a classroom at his seminary school when all of a sudden everything began shaking. The ceiling began to collapse on top of him and his classmates. He told me that he felt the presence of two angels lift the ceiling enough for him to crawl on his belly and escape unharmed. Thirty eight first year students were crushed and did not surive in the basement below him, as well as several of his classmates in the same room. He left the collapsed seminary and headed to find his family's house. Upon arrival the home was collapsed and the only sign of his family was their fingers sticking out from the rubble. He dug out the bodies of his 20 year old sister and his younger brother, but it was too late.

We arrived at the orphanage that housed 53 Haitian children and about 30 of them came running at us screaming and jumping into our arms. They craved touch. Immediately a sweet 3 year old held his arms up, the international symbol for pick me up :) I hadn't been out of the tap tap for more than 15 seconds and I had this wide eyed grinning boy with sparkling white teeth sitting on my hip and resting his head on my shoulder. He touched my face and petted my hair and just smiled. Moments later I had a beautiful 8 year old girl take my hand and after the boy wandered off to play, this young girl didn't let go of my hand until we left. We played with chalk and plastic lizards and my camera (the kids love having their pic made and taking pics of others). She even followed Brad and I as we toured the Special Needs room - which had about 20 children that fuctioned at a toddler level at best, though a few were bedbound in cribs under mosquito nets. One was a 14 yr old girl who had hydrocephalus and weighed about 20 lbs, her skeleton was severly misshapened and her head was small and deformed. She laid alone in an infant crib under netting in a room that was 90 degrees...beside another child with a similar condition. Somethings I will never understand.

Leaving the orphanage was completely heart wrenching for me. I was now holding the little girl and she was laying her head on my shoulder. The lump in my throat was enormous and my heart was broken. How I would love to take home this precious child and give her a home and a future. She was beautiful inside and out and she wimpered as I told her I had to go. She didn't speak English but she knew exactly what I said. I found an interpretor to tell her how beautiful she was and how much I loved her. We drove off and tears welled up in my eyes again.

On the way home we visited La Blanche which is the highest point in Port au Prince and looks over the entire city and coastline line. It's incredible and it's so high that your actually in the clouds. It was by far the most beautiful view I have seen in my life- no camera could ever capture the feeling that I had looking at a city of 3 million from up in the clouds. Simply magical.  At the summit several vendors lined the street. I bought a large detailed painting of haitians standing on a dock with sailboats from a man named John Baptiste. He was very talented and I wondered how different his life would be if he were somewhere with an economy for his art. I praised his work and then left with my find.

On the way back to the orphanage that were we staying at we were spotted by Haitian police and they pulled us over. They immediately arrested our Haitian driver and a haitian that was riding on top of our tap tap. Silence came over everyone in a matter of seconds. We stuck out like a sore thumb and they were suspicious. Our leaders got out of the vehicle and were speaking to the police, and their tone of voice was freaking me out. The police threatened to arrest us and beat us up and put us in jail, our leader Pastor Ronald spoke up bravely and said "You can not do this, you have no reason to pull us over". Things were getting loud and we were getting very nervous. I pictured the news story my family would see at home, "Americans sentenced to 10 Years in Haitian Prison"....Brad told everyone to sit still and shut up and don't say a word....and boy did he mean it, he reminded me of getting in BIG trouble as a kid, we all know that tone of voice when someone means business. Brad told everyone to bow  their heads and he led a prayer asking God to please let us get out of this situation safetly. No more than 5 minutes later Bobby & Ronald came walking back with our driver right behind them. The police had decided to let everyone go. Close call. Thank you Jesus.

March 20th: Medical Clinic
Today we setup medical clinic smack dab in the middle of a very large tent city near the airport in PAP. It had rained alot so everything was a mess and we had to setup the food station in the tap tap and the pharmacy just outside on a main road because the mud was so thick. The sun was really hot and was constantly beating down on the back of our necks and arms. Despite the heat it was a very efficient day for us. At this point our team really had it together and we saw, treated, prayed over and fed more than 400 people. After clinic we left to take Jason, Erik, and Alabama to the airport. For me this was really emotional. The bond I have with these guys is unlike most friendships I have had in my life. What we have witnessed together and the toil we've shared on this trip has created a bond like I haven't known before. The teamwork has been incredible and the compassion from each of these men is immeasurable. In such a short amount of time Im taken aback at how close we all have become, I know this is because we all have shared in this mission to serve Haiti and show them the love of Jesus christ. I'm so thankful for these new friendships and to have these guys in my life.