Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Haiti Update - April 30, 2013


But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.  And when he saw him, he had compassion.  So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn,  and the innkeeper,  and said to him,  “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend,  when I come again, I will repay you.”  So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”  And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”         Luke 10:30-37

Hi! I started Coram Deo here in Haiti in 1998 with the help of family and friends. Since that time we have strived to help the Haitian people. There have been a lot of challenges but we have persevered. I strive, and teach the Haitian people who are part of Coram Deo to be the Samaritan. Sometimes we come across people needing assistance in our travels, sometimes they come to us, and other times Haitian people bring them to us hoping for an answer. We are grateful that Ed Amos set up his medical/dental clinic here at Coram Deo. Every day there is a gathering at the gate of people hoping to be seen for medical or dental problems.  He treats the ones he is able to help.
 Some people have problems that need specialized care. This morning a mother and her baby came into the clinic. She told Ed that she and her baby have HIV. They both are not in a treatment program. We will be taking them to Nos Petits Freres/Soeurs  Hospital later in the week to have them both tested, and enrol them in the anti-retroviral program once their HIV is confirmed as positive. The hospital has an excellent HIV program and medications are provided free of charge. Pray for this mother and her baby, that they both can be helped. 

Stevens Petit-Frere, a  7-year-old boy  is a child that Ed saw at the clinic a few weeks ago. He had a bad head fungus plus an enlarged abdomen. We took him for a sonogram today and the results show that he has an enlarged spleen, multiple cysts and probable non-hodgkins lymphoma. Pray for  Stevens.  He faces multiple severe health problems. Pray that we can find help for him either here in Haiti or in the United States. 
A couple months ago, Bradley, a 5-year-old boy, was playing with another child who had an umbrella. The child lunged at Bradley and poked him directly in the eye.  He  lost his eye.  Bradley lives with his grandmother in a refuge camp. His mother died during the earthquake and his father was never a part of his life. His grandmother came with a paper from the General Hospital eye clinic. The price of a prosthetic eye for Bradley is $300H (35 US$) and she didn’t have the funds for the prosthetic eye.  Johnny went with them to the hospital this morning but the doctor wasn’t  there. We have another appointment for Thursday.  Pray that Bradley gets fitted with a prosthetic eye.

We have 2 hydrocephalus babies and their mothers staying here the last couple of weeks. One is from the island of La Gonave and the other from the mountain region of Foret De Pin.  They are awaiting the arrival of a neurosurgeon who will be working with Project Medishare at Bernard Mevs Hospital. He just recently performed 8 hydrocephalus surgeries. He will be returning at the end of May to perform some more. Pray for the babies who are here, that they get stronger and healthier during this month of May.
Slade Alfred is a 9-month-old baby girl/boy. We aren’t able to identify the sex of the child because it has all the body  parts of a male or female (ambiguous genitalia). This baby will need genetic  testing to determine its’ sex. This can only be done in the United States.

2 of Marie’s relatives came with their mother from the Petit-Goave region to see Ed this morning. Both of the children have severe curvature of the spine. Both these children will need to get spinal surgery that can’t be done here in Haiti. Amos brought these 2 children and Slade over to the office of Angel Missions Haiti. We are praying that they can help us in finding medical care for these 3 children in the United States.
These are the children that we saw today.  All have serious and complex problems. I have a notebook containing many more names of children and adults who we are seeking help for. Most missions choose not to help these types of cases. The ones who do are overwhelmed with requests for help. Pray for all those with special needs here in Haiti and pray that one day Haiti will be able to provide medical care for all its’ population, and that people wouldn’t have to suffer with a treatable medical problem.

Our school program here at Coram Deo is going well. It is good to see the yard full of students, and also that there are now enough school shelters to house the children. During the week at any one time we have 150 people in the yard;  100 students and 50 people waiting to see Ed at the clinic. We are grateful to have caring teachers who seek to give the students a good education.
The pastor training seminars that the Christian Reformed Mission offers are being well-attended by Pastor Pierre and his group of pastors/church leaders. On May 8-10 there will be another series of Timothy Leadership Training Seminars. We currently sponsor a group of 19 pastors/leaders in the churches that Pastor Pierre has had contact with.

We are thankful that we are here in Haiti to try and help the people who come into contact with us. We are thankful for the prayers and financial support that people have given. Currently our funds are low. At the end of March there was a balance of $2.77 in our CDN$ account. The month of April brought to us through Mission of Tears $1,900US in donations. To function well in all our programs here at Coram Deo we need to have a monthly funding of $9000. We are not able to attain that level and have been striving to work at a $5000 level. For the month of April we are trying to work with ½ of that. As a result we can’t pay all our expenses.  We are asking that people would prayerfully consider helping us financially at this time.  We strive to be the Good Samaritan and to help the Haitian people. We can only do this with your help.
Karen Bultje,
Coram Deo

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