Good morning from Oriani, Haiti! It is a beautiful sunny morning here. Yesterday was market day and the village was full. We always see more patients on market days. Today, the village center was a little more quiet without lots of people setting up for market. There were 15 people sitting in the benches this morning. I’ve been noticing that as we stay open from 8 - 2 every day, we don’t have as big of crowds in the morning. Instead of everyone coming early to try to be first, they come throughout the day. The mountains are still peaceful with people going about their lives. There is plenty of food in the markets, but prices are high enough that people struggle to buy food. Our dry season wasn’t as dry as some and we had some rain in February and March. This helped people start their gardens and for weeks we could see groups of men hoeing and planting. We didn’t have people begging for water like last year and the moto wash up the street was going every day, so it seems people weren’t hurting for water. Rainy season started 2 weeks ago, but it hasn’t been extreme either with gentle rain most afternoons. Hopefully this will allow for people to have a good harvest.
It really seems like a different country from the reports of chaos and violence in Port au Prince. That does affect us of course. The “toll” charged by the gangs on trucks bringing garden produce to Port and rice and other items to market here is part of the reason food prices are high. Our agent who buys medications for us in Port was able to find some in March, but April has been too dangerous for him to travel. We are having to rely on our stocks and the limited medications we can get from the Dominican. The Dominicans’ response to the situation here is quite frustrating. While it is understandable they don’t want the chaos to spill over, they don’t seem to make an exception for humanitarian agencies. I spoke with a Dominican immigration lawyer who made some inquiries for us. He said there are no exceptions granted for humanitarian agencies. Instead we have to negotiate with local officials if we need to cross. Another issue is the gangs like to cause havoc by shutting the fuel terminal in Port, making fuel harder to find and more expensive.
The violence in Port has led to most hospitals there shutting down. I saw an article that there are only 2 still open. This makes it very difficult to know where to send patients needing a higher level of care. We had a man with wounds on both his legs that has been coming to the clinic for years for dressing changes. His chart goes back to 2021, but Fre Willy thinks he has been coming longer. He needed a skin graft if the wounds were ever to heal. But he had no money to go anywhere. In January we decided to give him money to go to Port. I told him this money was given to God by christians in the US to help people in Haiti and now that I was giving him some, he was responsible for how it would be used. In the past when I gave money there have been times when I fear the people did not use it to seek help like we wanted. So I tried to impress him with the responsibility. He asked us to pray with him before he left. He went for a consultation at Benard Mevs in Port in January. He came back 2 weeks later and said he had an appointment in February for the operation, but needed more money to pay for it. We generally don’t give money for other hospitals as it equals us funding larger organizations, but since he has been coming for years with no progress, we decided to make an exception. So I gave him more money in February for the skin graft. Fre Willy said he had stopped by in March while we were in the Dominican. They still hadn’t done the graft but he had another appointment and was going back. Now I didn’t see Benard Mevs as one of the hospitals still open. Was that money wasted? Hopefully not, but we will see. This is the question I try to understand, how to help. By helping people go am I sending them into a dangerous situation to look for help that can’t be found? Sometimes the choice is easy when I know they can find help in Fond Parisien, for example. Last week we had a very malnourished 5 year old boy come in. If it was only malnourishment, we could have taken care of him here. But he also had a palpable mass in his belly. The little hospital in Fond Parisien has surgeons that can take a look and decide if it needs surgery. A decision I am not qualified to make. So I offered the ambulance. The mom of course didn’t have money, but when I said she didn’t need to pay for the ambulance, she went to find some money and see to it her other children were taken care of. I gave the ambulance driver some money to give her in Fond Parisien and told her, if the hospital didn’t want to do an operation, to go to Love a Child as they have a malnutrition program. This time the ambulance did make it back under its own power, but barely. There is a problem in the fuel system that hopefully we can find and fix.
Friday night we had some frantic women come to our gate with a 4 year old girl. It had been raining and a large branch fell on her. They weren’t able to say where it had hit her and I couldn’t find any injury. She was not responding normally, drooling with her eyes fixed to the right, right side with reduced strength, and left side contracting spasmodically. I gave her some water and she was able to swallow, so at least her airway was ok. I couldn’t do more for her and there is nowhere to send a patient like that. We told them to go home and pray and we would pray too. The next morning they brought her again. They had found a little bump on her head, but otherwise she was fine, standing up and holding up both arms to her mom. A mild concussion? Or a miracle? Either way, thank God! Sometimes we feel so helpless here. Yesterday we had a 2 year old girl come in with second degree burns on about 20% of her body. Family said she dumped a pot of corn. They said it happened 6 days ago. Why didn't they come then? I wanted to yell at them, but held my tongue as I didn’t think it would help. We sedated her with Ketamine and debrided it, then covered it with burn cream and non adherent pads. The burns really didn’t look that bad considering they have been uncovered for 6 days. I can’t imagine the pain the poor girl was in. We gave her antibiotics and protein and vitamin supplements. She will come back every day for dressing changes. I just finished it today, and I think she will do well. Thank you for your continued support. Despite the less than ideal conditions, God is blessing us that we can continue here.