Hopewell in Haiti

Jen Lisowski-- Bonswa from Haiti. It is a beautiful evening at the Mission of Hope site and we are all reflecting on our week and preparing for our departure tomorrow. Jan Smith and I had a different experience from the rest of the team as we worked with the mobile medical clinic all week. There is a full clinic on the Mission of Hope campus staffed by Haitian doctors and nurses so volunteers are used to run clinics in rural villages away from any formal medical center. On Monday and Tuesday, we set up in a church in the village of Williamson and Wednesday and Thursday took us to Messaye The church in Messaye was a new church and they are hoping to have money for a permanent building. Right now their house of worship is made of tin.

Our mornings began by piling into the open air truck and loading it with all our supplies for triage, wound care, and pharmacy. Before pulling away, our ‘medical pastor’ would share an encouraging message with us. Thursday’s message was “stay at the feet of Jesus”, a reference to the story of Mary and Martha.

Once at the church, we set up tables and chairs and quickly began to see patients. Our Haitian doctor could see 60-70 patients per day so we worked hard! After checking in and getting height and weight, the patients would come to one of four nursing stations. Each of us had our own translator and we took vital signs and listened to the patients’ stories. We heard of diseases that had been untreated for weeks or months, and those who have suffered from injuries without relief for years. There were children struggling with the normal cold and flu symptoms and then those more specific to Haiti – worms, typhoid, and malnutrition. On Wednesday I administered Tylenol to a baby while her mother held her as they waited for the doctor. The baby had a fever of 104 and we wanted to treat her as soon as possible. On Thursday, I worked with a young mother and her baby. The mother was 88lbs and unable to breastfeed because of malnutrition. Her three month old girl was only 10lbs. They were sent home with the medications they needed and the promise of formula the next day (we had run out by the time she saw the doctor). Jan worked so hard in the pharmacy dispensing much needed medication to the beautiful people who came to the clinic. We both witnessed how great the need is for basic medications – many of which were generously provided by Hopewell donors for us to bring on our trip. Thank you!! They make mobile clinics possible. Once the nurses had seen all the patients, we’d either help in the pharmacy, share conversation with our Haitian translators, or play with the kids hanging around outside (see picture from yesterday’s post J).

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement of this team. It has been a week full of meaningful moments and we have seen God at work in Haiti. We have learned so much from the faith and perseverance of the Haitian people and are looking forward to sharing that with you when we return.

Jen Lisowski

Alo or hello in Creole from Steve Harvey! It has been a beautiful day similar to the beauty of the Haitian peoples’ smiles. It shouldn’t be any surprise about the Haitian spirit since I experienced their beautiful smiles and spirit a year ago.

I wanted to tell you about worship on Tuesday night when the pastor suggested we find someone and pray for them. Next to me was a very nice Haitian lady that grabbed my hands and started praying for me. I couldn’t hear her very well and even if I did I couldn’t understand what she said. But it was a very spiritual moment because I could feel her passion flowing over for Jesus and directed toward me. This was just one of many God moments I experienced.

Today we went to the beach for our last day and had a great time. Haiti really is a gorgeous country and we all enjoyed the water and beach. Later in the day we had communion with our group and the translators and village champions from Mission of Hope. The sun was shining, the water was sparkling and the palm trees gently waved in the breeze. Communion was held with each of our pastors, Dan, John and Vicki delivering some well thought out words and then the sacraments were served. Our Haitian friends wanted to pray for us together and circled around us with joined hands. They prayed out loud and the Holy Spirit was so strong that I couldn’t speak about it until writing in this blog. Blessings from Haiti!