It is with excitement that I can report to you on how we are coming with our plans on opening Confidence Health Center in the southeast corner of Haiti. This has been an interesting journey so far, and yet we are just beginning. I was in Haiti a few weeks ago working at getting some buildings rented for this, and as the community started catching on that an infant and maternity clinic will be setting up…. I was blessed to feel the swelling warm excitement of the people there. Some of the expecting mothers could hardly stop grinning after I answered their questions in the affirmative that “yes we will be helping mothers safely have their babies”. J Some of these mothers literally have been fearful for their lives every time they get pregnant, because they have seen the death toll in their families and community. Bottom line is that these mountain people need help or else especially the under 6 yr old kids and their mothers experience way too much suffering and death.

To tell you some of the recent developments and where we are right now…

We have rented a 4 room block building that will serve nicely for a clinic. It is written up as a 5 yr rental and renewable. The clinic is one of the nicer buildings around there, but yet it needs alot of work to get it in shape. It’s built of rough unpainted block and has a leaky tin roof. First priority will be to paint, patch roof, and build a yard wall, and set up water sterilization and a few solar panels for very basic electrical needs. It will be a nice, clean, even cute place yet though! J
There wasn’t many choices for a house to rent to live in, but we did locate one which will be serviceable for us as a family as well as a nurse. A school room and extra bedroom is being built onto the property, and a new roof is needed for the house. We will all live in the little outbuilding while we do these modifications.
We were able to purchase an older 1998 Suburban 4×4 for a reasonable price, and it is in the shipping process from Miami to Haiti next week. (Help us pray that this vehicle will be durable enough for the 2 hour, incredibly rough, rocky, riverbed road up into Oriani)
Kimmie from Idaho, who is a nurse with some midwife training, is ready to come start working the first of November, and we as a family plan on going mid Oct. The Haitian “doctor” is ready to start as soon as we can get the clinic building ready.
We are consulting with a couple other clinics and a Canadian midwife who lives in Haiti, trying to establish what kinds of medical supplies and equipment we will need. Fetal dopplers, microscope for blood tests, and smaller instruments etc will for sure be needed, but a portable ultrasound machine would also be very useful for checking for complications in baby etc. These items may have to be brought in from the States yet. Other small supplies like vitamins, medications and antibiotics, dewormers etc all seem to be available for purchase in Port-au-Prince or in the nearby cities of Dominican Republic.
Bank accounts are opened here as well as in Haiti, and we are getting the bank to bank transfer working. There is an independent accountant who has offered to look after our accounting, and a couple of church brethren here in St.Marys are ready to assist with managing the funds.

So, it’s looking good! It has taken a few months to get to this point, but it has been very interesting to me how God has opened the door for all this. We want to prayerfully continue as He leads, and we beg for a little place in your prayers as well. That’s all I can think of for now, but I will keep you updated if you wish.

Sincerely,
Keith and Candace Toews and family
St.Marys, Ontario (yet)