Shoes for Samuel

Today Samuel, a boy that lives in La Digue, the village where Lifeline is located, came to the mission with our Pastor. Pastor told us that Samuel’s parents had both died and he and his 3 sisters and 2 brothers had moved from the mountain to our village. Pastor had taken in one of his sisters and the other siblings are living together in a house just behind our compound. The boy had a pair of flip flops on that the heel had been torn off. The terrain in Haiti is very rocky and dusty. The people go through shoes very quickly because of all the walking they do. We were very happy to give Samuel a brand new pair of blue Crocs! We are so thankful for the donation of these shoes! The people love them and they seem to work really well with the conditions here!

And the good news doesn’t end there! We are very fortunate to have Stacey with us for a month. She heard the story about Samuel and said she wanted to sponsor him through Lifeline which gets him in the feeding program and pays for medical treatment.

In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 (NASB)

If you would like to learn more about the sponsorship program, please visit www.childrenslifeline.com.

Construction in Barbencourt

Last week we had a construction team here, half of the team was from Tennessee and the other half was from California. They were here to build individual homes for our upcoming orphanage in Barbencourt. Each morning at 6:00, they would leave our village in la Digue and head over to the worksite in Barbencourt. The team would also bring all of their tools with them. Screws, drills, hammers…. You name it!! Everywhere you looked, you saw someone either drilling or cutting wood for the sides of the house. It was just so neat to see how the homes were coming together. The Haitian people would come and watch us work. They looked at the houses with approval looks! At the end of the day we would step back and look at what we had done. We were progressing with our work! The last day we were there, we put tarps, windows, and doors on each house. That was the last step to do. They look so good! They are now ready for the children. They now have a house where they can cook inside, take showers, and be warm!!

Stace Jarvis

A Changed Haiti

As we look back on the past week, and think about all the wonderful experiences that we have had we are amazed by all of the changes we have seen. For many of us this is our second trip to Haiti and so much has changed. Roads are paved, political change is on the horizon, and new life is evident. Today, we were able to work side by side with the Haitian physician at the Lifeline clinic where we assessed and treated about 150 patients. We were blessed to be able to perform several ultrasounds which revealed healthy mothers and babies! It was amazing to see the mothers' faces light up when the translators explained that the muffled noise they were hearing were their babies' heartbeats. It is stunning to witness the change that our group and so many others like ours have made half a world away. We all feel truly blessed to have been given such a wonderful opportunity.

-Brittany Kellum, Jessica Wells, Jade Campbell, Brittany Johnson

See pictures of the ultrasounds at http://www.flickr.com/photos/60783408@N02

Teamwork, A Big Mountain & 700 Patients

Half the team (7 nursing students) was up at 3:30 am, out the door by 4:30 am and had a blast trekking up the 2,100 ft mountain in the dark. Thus began day 4 of Haiti Spring Break 2011. The terrain was very steep and rocky, and thankfully not muddy from the rainstorm during the night. While hiking up the mountain, we were surprised to see that so many Haitians were making the journey down the mountain so early with little footwear and heavy loads, many of which the women carried on their heads. A beautiful sunrise about halfway up the mountain and a breathtaking view greeted us upon reaching the top. We were in awe of the view of the Haitian countryside, which alone made the climb up the mountain entirely worthwhile. We made excellent time and reached the mountain top by 6:15 am and everyone was feeling exuberant and ready to take on our next challenge: treating the patients of Petit-Bois, the village situated in the mountains.

We were very surprised to learn that the people of Petit-Bois had not received any medical attention since August 2010, when the first batch of MSU nursing students had made the very same journey up the mountain. We assessed and treated over 500 patients of all ages with a variety of health disparities in the small church of Eclise Evancelique de Petit-Bois in the mountains. All of the people were very appreciative of the care they received, although it felt to us as if there was so much more we wanted to do for them. We have to mention how thankful we were for our translators, with whom we could never have accomplished as much as we did. It was an incredibly productive and rewarding day.

Meanwhile, back in La Digue Matheux, the other 7 nursing students traveled down the rocky dirt road into the village to a small church. It was there that we set up a clinic for the people of La Digue, where we too saw patients of all ages. The people of La Digue were a physiological paradox. Many of them had very little issues with some of the more acute health disparities we had seen in other areas, such as skin conditions. Conversely, they seemed to have more chronic conditions such as hypertension and gastroesophogeal reflux disease (GERD). By the end of our clinic, we had assessed and treated nearly 200 patients. Upon returning to the Lifeline Mission, we continued our work by organizing and taking inventory in the storage room of the Lifeline Clinic. We were amazed at the sheer amount of supplies and medications that people had donated, but also discovered that there is still a significant need for many other medical necessities, such as antifungal ointments, various pediatric medications (Tylenol, Motrin, antibiotics and oral rehydration supplements); Diflucan (fluconazole); and other basic medical supplies such as thermometers, and blood pressure cuffs of various sizes. If anyone would like to donate any of the above supplies, please visit the Children's International Lifeline website at http://www.childrenslifeline.com or call 606-663-3459.

After reflecting upon our days with the group re-combined, we both agreed that we have become much more proficient and have strengthened our team. We hope to continue this trend as the week continues to progress.

Please visit our Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/60783408@N02 to see our photos from today!

Written By: Connie Yan, Tonya Drake and Joseph Caldwell

Barboncoure

Today started off quite eventful when a father brought his six year old daughter to the lifeline clinic just after sunrise. He carried her down the mountain, a two to three hour hike, seeking care for a systemic fungal and scabies infection. The diseases had progressed to the point that over 75 percent of her body was covered in sores. Some of the lesions, especially on her head, had become infected, further exacerbating the problem. Several of us jumped in, calming and caring for her until the doctor arrived. She was given a medication regimen free of charge, and follow up care will be provided when we hike to her village tomorrow morning.

After the initial excitement of the morning, we packed up and headed to Barboncoure to set up another clinic at Lifeline’s school. The hike there was absolutely beautiful and included weaving through banana trees and over streams. Following our arrival, we set up vitals, assessment, skin and wound care, and pharmacy stations. When we opened the doors, an incredible crowd was awaiting our help. In total, we cared for 235 patients. We saw various problems, including fungal, wound, and vaginal infections. All of our patient were dewormed and given vitamins.

When we finished our scrumptious lunch of MREs, we headed off to another orphanage not far from the school. When we visited in August, we provided care to this same batch of children. It was a true gift to get to see them all again. We dewormed, gave vitamins, and treated skin infections. The children had a great time singing Father Abraham for us, just as they had last year.

The day finished off on a high note, with a total of 285 patients treated by our group. The mission had a wonderful treat fixed for us this afternoon: fried bread served with french vanilla icing. We finished off the evening with a hair braiding and pedicure party, which the girls AND guys participated in! We have to get to bed early tonight though, because tomorrow at 4:30 AM is our big hike up the 2,200 foot mountain!

For today’s pictures, go to the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60783408@N02

Caleb Dean, Angela Hall

Beans, Rice, and Jesus Christ

Today began with another chance to catch a little extra sleep before being awakened by the beautiful singing and worshiping of the Haitian people. We also realized we were fortunate enough to stuff our bellies with delicious pancakes this morning (thanks Pat!) before heading down to church. We were all once again amazed by their tremendous faith in God despite their everyday trials and tribulations. Immediately after the service, several people followed us to the mission porch for general medical attention, such as for fungal infections, dehydration and fevers, and worm infestations. During this, we all realized that the mission porch was too crowded and unorganized to properly care for the patients in a timely manner, so we put our OCD skills into effect and began cleaning house!

We divided into teams to tackle the task at hand. One team cleared off the porch and properly stocked it with all the necessary medical supplies while two other teams went to the storage building to gather supplies to pack for medical clinics outside the mission. Some of the supplies in need of severe replenishment included antifungal creams (like what you would use for Athlete’s Foot), calamine lotion, and de-worming medication, such as Albendazole, which can be purchased at your local pharmacy (hint hint)! For children who walk barefoot, like those here in Haiti, the de-worming medication is especially important. When these children become infested with worms, the food they eat is completely insignificant to their well-being because essential nutrients and vitamins cannot be absorbed. Because of this they become very malnourished.

For example, the previous night a young girl was brought to the mission with complaints of diarrhea, not eating well and a distended belly. We suspected worms, so we gave her a dose of the de-worming medication. This afternoon, as we were organizing the medical supplies, the girl’s parents brought her back with proof of the effectiveness. Wrapped in a blanket was a large tapeworm (check out the photos on Flickr) that the girl had passed this morning. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case…all of the children here need to be treated for these worms in order for them to survive.

To wrap up the evening we went to the cross and all shared a bit of our stories and how important it is for us as nurses and people to care for those who are less fortunate than us, regardless of where they are, what they need, the language they speak, or the color of their skin.

To see pictures from today, go to the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60783408@N02/



Megan Neal, Morgan Oetken, Mike Flesher

Obamaville

Here we go again! After a long trip back to Haiti, we have all made it here safely and are ready for Haiti Version 3.0. For those of you who didn’t tune in last time, we have been blessed with a wonderful facility to host us for the week here at Children’s International Lifeline in La Digue Matheux, Haiti. When we arrived last night many of us were surprised at how cool the temperature was, as compared to when we were here in August!

Donald was in an especially good mood last night, and actually let us sleep in until 6:30 this morning! After a small gathering we headed out to Obamaville, which is a tent city located on a mountainside seen on the way from Port Au Prince to our village. After the 30 minute trip, we all filed out of the tap tap (basically a glorified cattle car) and were greeted by a village full of smiling faces. After our fearless leader Dr. Gross got us all in order, and we split up into 5 different work stations including triage, wound care, skin care, pharmacy, and de-worming. We saw a wide range of patients from age 2 months to older adults. After everyone received medical attention, we took a tour of the tent city and hiked up the hillside with the children of the village. Each one of us having at least 2 children latched onto each hand, while others had even more hanging any way possible. After the tour we all went back to the tent where our clinic was held and we had A-packs for lunch, or M.R.E.’s (Meals Ready to Eat). After we had full bellies, we crammed back into the tap-tap and we were on our way!

Our next stop was at a small school in Titanyen, where we quickly saw 16 more children and some of the adults who worked in the school. While waiting for their vitamins after receiving medical care, the children sang us songs both in English and Créole. Before returning back to the mission we made one brief stop at an orphanage right down the road from the school. 20 orphans received medical care, as well as a few more who filed in to claim their candy and toys. Afterwards we finally headed back to the mission for some Haitian food and some relaxation before another busy day tomorrow!

If you want to see a few pictures from today go to the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60783408@N02/

Orevwa!

Blogged by Chris French and Bethany Split

Perfection

What’s the perfect way to begin a day in Haiti? Whole milk. Now I’m not talking about the water inundated Hiland product found at your local Wal-mart, this stuff had the consistency of ranch dressing, and let me tell you it’s amazing! Life changing. Follow that up with fifty awesome Haitians that show up for work, a beautiful shady day, and a hike through gorgeous sunset filled banana fields and you wind up with perfection. I can’t decide whether it is more fun trying to learn Creole with a thick American accent or pronounce and remember all the kid’s names. There is not a minute of the day where the cutest little Haitian kid is not standing at your side asking your name and going on and on in Creole. That has to be the best part of every day! The second greatest moment was definitely when there was no food for lunch. I know you are probably thinking this sounds like it should be on the “Worst part of the day list,” oh, but just wait. Half an hour later Jonathan, one of our teammates, comes walking up with two big black sacks full of traditional Haitian food. Mind you the first rule we were given upon arrival was “Do not eat the food.” So we all look at each other, give a simultaneous shoulder shrug, and dug in to the most amazing concoction of rice beans and mashed vegetables you have ever tasted. If productivity, awesome food, and wonderful people weren’t enough, the day ended with a short hike across rivers, through Haitian villages and banana fields all back-dropped with beautiful mountains and a gorgeous sunset.

Logan R.

The Awakening

For a while I like you have heard so much about Haiti, but seeing things with ones own eyes confronts ones heart and mind on a whole new level. On our way out to Mission Lifeline we saw a number of tents where people are still living after the earthquake. Then someone pointed off in the distance to a place where there was a mass burial of some 20 to 30 thousand people! As the day went on we started doing some construction which was great because we initially had one or two tools and about six people! Because of this the locals and I had to resort to using rocks to break up the concrete! It was such an enjoyable experience because I was able to interact with the locals as we did the work. Later on in the evening I experienced a very dark reality. Donald brought me outside the compound and showed me many women who were pregnant because they have sold themselves for food. It is hard to grasp this in our minds and even more difficult when you see them standing in front of you. In all my travels around the world this is one of the most needy and destroyed countries I have seen. Praise the Lord that though there is so much darkness God’s light is shining and changing lives!
Jonny Hawk

Gospel On A String

Every Sunday at 2:00 children from La Digue, Barbancourt, and other villages around the mission meet to sing praises to God, listen to Bible stories, and do activities. Today, the "Kids Club" children were given "The Salvation Bracelet." On these bracelets were 5 different colored beads. In order, there was a black, red, white, green, and then yellow. The teacher told the children how these colors stood for something. The black represents our sin. The blood of Jesus was symbolized as the red bead. He told the children how Jesus washes away your sins and makes you clean again. The cleanliness was shown by the white bead. The green bead was to signify spiritual growth and the final bead, yellow, was to remind us of our hope in Heaven. The children were so happy to receive these bracelets and we are so thankful to the people back in the United States who took the time to make these for the Kids Club at Lifeline! What a unique way to remember the Gospel and teach these wonderful children about their hope in Jesus!

A Wonderful Day for Haiti!

Lifeline has been working for almost a year with the city of Chicago and the United States Air Force to donate a fire truck and ambulance to the city of Port au Prince, Haiti. These vehicles will help build the nation's capacity to respond to emergencies!!! On Saturday that finally became a reality. 

What makes this whole thing better is that fire fighters from Local 270 of Florence, Alabama has agreed to provide a training group to go to Port Au Prince and train their Haitian counterparts on the vehicles. 

There was a lot of coordination between everyone involved and we truly appreciate everything that has been done to make this project possible. The City of Chicago for donating the vehicles, the United States Air Force and all the military that assisted in transporting the vehicles, as well as the Alabama Fire Fighters Union 270 who will do the training. 


We at Lifeline have been working with the Haitian National Police Department on this project and we are so happy to see this vision be a reality! 

After speaking with the head officer of the Air Force that brought the vehicles, I know that God had His hand on this project. The Captain told me that because of the expenses being cut that he was told that they could not make this trip, HOWEVER He was working on this plane for inspection purposes and told them that he needed to make some test runs AND that is how he was able to transport these vehicles to Port Au Prince today! Praise the Lord for His Wonderful Greatness in ALL the things!

Another Convention, Another Success!

During this year’s convention, we had approximately 3000 people come from all over the country of Haiti to Praise God through hours of music as well as listen to various sermons. Those sermons included people from the United States as well as Haitian Pastors. Lifeline was also able to hold a Pastors Training Seminar in addition to Children’s Church every afternoon. The children learned Bible Stories and even songs! Their voices were so sweet and beautiful!



James 2:16 was exercised again during this year’s convention. The attendees of the convention were fed physically as well as spiritually. The cooks of Lifeline labored very, very hard to make sure everyone received a good meal daily. One day they worked nearly 20 hours straight preparing and cooking the food.

One of the highlights of convention was the band that led the crowd to the dam where 20 people were baptized! After immersion, one of the Ladies jumped up and down and repeatedly said “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” It was a blessing to see so many give their hearts to the Lord.

Convention Report

Hello from Haiti. The team from East Campbellsville Church of God was Judy Draper and Judy Bright. The entire team was 11 strong. Three days of the convention gave us the opportunity to mingle and worship with not only the locals, but hundreds of folks from surrounding areas. Those living in the mountains arrived Thursday and Friday. These folks are amazing! They are so friendly and helpful. The children want to hold your hand and they love hugs and kisses. The mothers want to give you their beautiful babies to hold. The first day of our mission trip was preparing for the convention. With two nurses on our team, Judy Draper and DeDe prepared the clinic for patients. We cleaned and organized the clinic while here. Sorting medication and cleaning was hard work but so fulfilling. God is so good! They saw approximately 200 patients. It was an exciting day for all of us period. Three patients practice voodoo and asked for prayer. The team stopped our work and laid hands asking God to heal their bodies and their spirit. The week has flown by. Other church activities included Bible School Services, Devotional Services at the Prayer Rock, and Sunday School. The children left with a bag of candy. How excited they were!

Judy and I have had a wonderful trip, God has used both of us this week. Personally He has taken me out of my comfort zone but never left my side. We have grown closer to God and pray that our presence, our smiles, hugs and work has helped plant seeds for the Lord. A special event was the opportunity to meet with our sponsored child. It was so nice to visit and play with the children. They were excited with the clothes and toy they received.

Judy and I will leave our heart in Haiti hopefully to find our way back to this place that has so many needs. We would like to thank the staff at Children’s Lifeline for their hospitality! The food was delicious! Thanks Donald and Pat for driving us out to see the many neighborhoods and country folks. The needs of the people is much and your kindness to take the time to explain the programs that Lifeline has, is appreciated. Donald and Denise Curtis, you are both truly amazing. Thank you so much for making that trip one we will remember. God has used you to give us strength of spirit to take back home and remember always. We pray that God will bless these people and that he will use Children’s Lifeline in a might way.

Judy Draper and Judy Bright

Children's Lifeline: Convention Report

Children's Lifeline: Convention Report: "Hello from Haiti. The team from East Campbellsville Church of God was Judy Draper and Judy Bright. The entire team was 11 strong. Three day..."

Everyone should experience this!

Greetings from Haiti.  This is my second mission trip to this country.  Everyone should experience this at least once.  There are so many things to take in.  The sights, smells, and sounds.  But, one thing you realize is that people are people no matter where you go.  Everyone has needs and wants.  These people have many needs, but what a lot of them want is attention and affection.  The children run to us just wanting to hold our hands.  Most all of them want to know your name and then tell you theirs.  The laughter and the smiles are enough to melt even the hardest heart. 

I am not familiar with any other mission on a personal level but I know many people have doubts about where their money goes when they donate to a cause.  If you are not physically able to go to the mission field, bring the mission field to you by donating and praying for the work at Children’s Lifeline.  


Dee Arview, RN MSN