While Jonathan was outside with the guys working on the cement project the rest of the team was busy organizing everything they brought with them in their luggage. The hydrocephalus surgeries were happening at the same time the visitors were here so we had planned to organize baby/hospital bags for the mothers of the hydrocephalus children. The clothes on the table are organized by size and for boy/girl. People eagerly donated baby clothing for the hydrocephalus babies.
The first section of cement over the septic tanks is done and now the 2nd part will be done.
The guys got busy preparing the ground for the cement pour.
All those clothes that were on the kitchen table were organized into these bags that you see on the bench and are ready to bring to the hospital.
This is a view of the 2nd section that had cement poured on.
We house mothers and their babies who come from the provinces into Port-au-Prince for the evaluations and surgeries. The baby that Tanya is holding is only a few days old and was born caesarean section. The mother stayed in the province while her sister and the father came to Port-au-Prince. In between the traveling and us picking them up from the hospital the baby had not drank much and was dehydrated. They tried giving him a bottle to drink and he didn't suck well. Everyone was concerned.
It is a good thing that there were nurses as part of the team. Jen to the right of the photo is a nurse at the nursing home where Tanya works. She is watching as Deslie is drawing up baby formula into a syringe to try and feed the baby.
Slowly and patiently the team got the baby to drink from the syringe.
The guys were working quickly outside. They are almost done with the 2nd section.
Some of the school children were watching their work.
Sandra is also a nurse. She took turns at feeding the baby. Some of the school children watched her and the baby. It is a good example for the children to see hydrocephalus babies and to watch the care that is given to them. In Haitian society hydrocephalus babies are seen as a curse and as objects to be abandoned. The mothers always talk about how their neighbors and other people tell them to throw away their babies. Hydrocephalus babies are children of God and should be looked after and loved. This is what we teach the children and the mothers too.
Sadly this baby was not chosen as a candidate for surgery. After the evaluations were over the family returned back to the province. There are only a limited number of children who can be operated when the teams are here. This time the team operated on 18 babies. The babies who are the healthiest are the ones selected. Because there are always at least double the number of babies who come for the evaluations there are always babies that are sent away. This is a difficult task for the medical teams that come to Haiti through Project Medishare. They care and try to help as many as they can but unfortunately it is not possible to help all.
The visitors are shown here dodging vehicles as they crossed main Delmas to our vehicle. They had just come back from visiting the school that Eddy teaches english at. Eddy is a haitian/american who lives here in Haiti. He also cuts my hair every now and then.
The visitors also took a tap-tap ride up Delmas 31 to do some grocery shopping. Sandra didn't get far. She bumped her head while climbing aboard a tap-tap and cut her head open on some sharp metal. As a joke we bandaged her head to make it look more serious for when the team came back. I have Canada flag curtains in my room. We are thankful for all the teams that come to Haiti. Most of them come from Canada!
The visitors made some special meals while they were here. One evening they made pizza for everyone here at Coram Deo!
When the hydrocephalus surgeries are held we usually have a few mothers who come here before the surgery to stay here. This mother and her child come from the Hinche area of the country.
The baby was born with spina bifida.
This is another mother and her son who stayed with us.
He has a large growth on his head. The doctors say that it isn't cancerous or containing brain tissue. The child just needs a general surgeon to remove the ball at the side of his head.
This mother has a very healthy baby boy! She looks after him well.
He is wearing a cute Bear t-shirt :)
Sadly, he has spina bifida, which is located at the bottom of his spine. He is parlayzed from the waist down. In Canada and the United States spina bifida is sometimes surgically treated while the child is still in the womb. Here in Haiti, these children only get surgery when the medical teams come for the hydrocephalus surgeries. Many children die here in Haiti with untreated spina bifida.
Early the next morning all the mothers climbed aboard Kimosabee for the ride to the hospital. We dropped them off in front of the gates to Bernard Mevs/Project Medishare Hospital.
The mother of the boy with the growth on the side of his head always makes sure to keep his head covered in public. She doesn't want people to make comments about his head.
Amos is helping the families enter the gates of the hospital and is escorting them to where they will wait in front of the administration office.
Here is everyone at the table eating breakfast. They are ready to go to visit the hospital.
The guys got busy at organizing the next stage of the project which was to cement the section from the top of the driveway across to the dormitory sidewalk.
Work progressed well.
The hydrocephalus children were located in a couple of rooms inside the hospital.
One of the Haitian nurses who work at the hospital is preparing to start an iv for this baby as part of the pre-op preparations.
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