Cholera Outbreak Continues On

Praise God for the donor that sent us the mule! I can't even begin to tell you how many jobs have been done with the use of the mule. We have rebuilt homes, hauling cement, rock, and gravel, along with tools to do the job. Many times we have taken food to people. We have used it to pick up some people that can't walk to church and take them home. And of course it can take us into many remote areas that we could not go otherwise, and it helps us so we are not having to walk as much. This morning I took it to retrieve some information for one of the sponsors but as I went out the gate I was told of an elderly lady down the road who was very weak, and had been sick with all the symptoms of the cholera. I immediately went to check on her and then to transport her back to the Lifeline doctor, and as I was returning still another report was given to me about another one that had the same symptoms. This time on the way back I was stopped and a man ask me if I could help him. I ask what can I do for you and he proceeded to tell me about a man who had died yesterday and they needed to bury him and they wanted to know if I could give them mask and gloves to wear while handling the body. I told him of course, so we took the lady that I already had on the mule to the lifeline clinic so she could be treated and I picked up the things the man asked me for and we proceeded back down the road. When I got there they took me by the hand, and walked me back through a path past a banana field and over to a tree where the man that was deceased lay. I unzipped the body bag that I had brought for them and they lifted the already stiffened man over and I zipped it back up. The other men had began to dig the grave and I ask them how deep did they plan to dig it and they told me three feet and I explained to them that they needed to dig it 6 feet for sanitary purposes and because of the water and it was close to the banana field. I left the people to take care of the burial and I was given instructions yet to another place where someone had been ill for two days, and by this time the doctor had two more at the clinic. I quickly got someone to take all of these precious people to the hospital and we picked up still another one on the road as we were on our way. The Cholera here is real, and it is deadly! They are telling me that the funeral home will not accept the cholera bodies and they want them to burn them. The Haitian people are very concerned about all the people that are dieing and with the lack of knowledge of how to take care of their health it makes it even more serious!