24 Oct Canadians in Haiti: Day 5

A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Joan Sider is sending daily reports for the team. She previously wrote about Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Here is her report for Friday, October 21.

Joan Sider

We had very heavy rain again last night. The streets are filled with large deep puddles in many places, especially around where Pastor Oliam Richard lives. The water is rushing down the canals built along the sides of many roads.

Outside our gated community, these waterways have overflowed and dirt has been banked up to try and contain the water so it isn’t across the road. When driving, since you can’t see the depth of the holes, our driver must be very careful. He is amazing! His van is pretty new, so he is very careful not to do anything that might harm it.

Our day has been a leisurely one. While our breakfast time was still 7 am, we didn’t have to rush to load the van and go off to a clinic. We went to a metal craft works place to look and purchase some unique art pieces. The metal used comes from sheet metal and old metal barrels which they cut by hand and straighten–it was truly amazing. There were many different pieces in all sizes with quite intricate designs. I think most of us bought something there.

Then we headed for the store to purchase things like coffee, vanilla, etc.

We have one suitcase in which we will load all of our purchases. It will be our only piece of checked luggage since our personal items/clothing came in our hand luggage. We are grateful for this suitcase because most of us couldn’t cram one more thing into the carry-on pieces.

Gaston then took us on a tour of downtown Port au Prince. Michel was with us and it helped a lot to have him explain various things. We learned that after the earthquake there were about a million people living in tents in PauP–now there are 250,000. Of course, some people are in tents in others part of the country, so they are not in this count.

We passed the jail and in spite of the damage, there are 5000 people in it. You might remember that at the time of the quake, many prisoners (about 70%) escaped–the guards having run for their lives. They caught and returned some, but since the quake, obviously new prisoners have been sent to this downtown jail. By the way, did I tell you the jail was built for only 700 inmates? They sleep in 4-hour shifts so everyone has a chance to lay down.

We passed by the terminals where various goods are brought for the various stores and vendors–fruit, vegetables, clothing, animals. You name it, we saw it.

The palace looks very much the same–but we did note that at the back, work is being done to clear the rubble and bring down existing damaged buildings. We’ve never seen the back side of the palace before.

Those of us who have been to Haiti before and travelled downtown, have noticed that there has been much effort in clearing the rubble and rebuilding. Being a Saturday, it was a hub of activity with many traffic hold-ups.

We came home to a delicious pork dinner.

We rested for a short time and then prepared to go to our Delmas 33 church for a wedding. We sat in the balcony and enjoyed this experience so much. Another time, a team had witnessed a wedding down in the south. This was so different. It was happy and joyful. While I couldn’t understand the message Pastor Richard gave, those who could were very impressed with his instructions and guiding principles given to the couple. Audrey had an extra quilt along, so that was given to the bride and groom.

Getting home from church was interesting. Many people are out on a Saturday night, both in vehicles and on the street. When we were almost to our gate entrance, we noticed cars turning around and coming back. The reason was that a tractor trailer was blocking the road–it wasn’t a deliberate act, but somehow he could not get straightened out. We took a very long way around to get to where we needed to be. Wherever we drove, there were rough roads and much water.

We had a light supper, had our debriefing “God moments” time, and prayed for Kara-Lynn. She has many important decisions to make over the next few days. We ask you to pray also–that she will have the mind of Christ for her future.

I’ll send this now–the pics from today will come later. I haven’t begun to download any cameras–that takes a while and then choosing pics will also.

24 Oct Off to the Philippines

Global Ministries director Jeff Bleijerveld (right) and Bishop Brian Magnus of the UB Church in Canada are on their way to the Philippines. They leave today, October 24, 2011, and will return October 31. They will attend the Philippines National Conference. Brian is chairman of the UB International Executive Committee.

22 Oct Canadian Medical Trip Participants

Participants in the Canadian medical trip to Haiti. Top row: Kelly Chafe, Kara-Lynn Ferguson, Audrey Fiederlein. Middle row: Dr. Athus, Margie Blackler, Kerry Walsh. Bottom row: Joan Sider, Jordan Jackson, Bob Chafe.

A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Here’s a nice collage of the participants.

Joan Sider, from the Toronto UB church, is sending daily reports for the team. You can read her reports on UBCentral from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

21 Oct A Chinese Team in Poland

Donna Delik, UB endorsed staff in Poland (sent October 16)

We are very thankful for the Hong Kong Chinese mission team that has come to minister with us in Poland. We have done meetings in different places like school, church, and community center meetings, and got very positive response. Rev. Chan from Zion Church (my home church) has presented the gospel very clearly with the teaching of Taoism and Chinese character. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in people hearts.

One more day to go and I will take the team to Krakow. After the service this afternoon, Arek left to see his parents, as his father’s condition is getting very critical.

We will appreciate your prayers:

• For Arek, who is going to take care of his parents, especially dad, and try to find someone to take care of them.
• We still have one more school meeting on Monday. I will be taking care of the team all on my own. Thanks God that there are 2 Polish girls help me out, but when we travel to Krakow, I will be all on my own. A whole van of Chinese with an American driver, who has come with the team. It will be challenging. And we still haven’t found someone to bring me and the van back to Kutno.

21 Oct Canadian Trip to Haiti: Day 4

A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Joan Sider is sending daily reports for the team. She previously wrote about Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Here is her report for Thursday, October 20.

Joan Sider

We’ve have had another terrific day. We were in Siebert, about 45 minutes from Port au Prince. It was really a short distance from here, but the roads, along with the traffic, made it impossible to travel quickly. If any of us have a need for a chiropractor–we don’t anymore.

The clinic went really well. Dr. Athus organized the set-up and 127 patients seen in four hours.

When we arrived, we first encountered a woman holding a very young baby–three days. Sadly, her mother died in childbirth, leaving her four other children with the father and the father’s sister. The sister is 8 months pregnant herself–her first child. It broke our hearts to think of this little one. Could you pray for this family?

Another great moment was when a lady received Jesus. This is a first for us. So pray especially for her.

We all remarked tonight how the atmosphere of this church was caring, loving, open, and receptive. We felt a bond with them immediately.

I need to update you on some health issues. Audrey’s leg is healing nicely, Margie’s voice has returned pretty well, and Kelly’s rash is lessening and being helped by something the doctor recommended.

The rest of us are doing just great!!!

Have I mentioned yet that it is hot! We have felt the heat all week, but today, it was exceedingly warm. We aren’t complaining, mind you–but just felt you ought to know. Someone has remarked that it will be cooler when we get home–and we’ll likely be complaining about that!

The meals have been very tasty. We eat twice a day–breakfast and mid-afternoon. That seems to be very satisfying.

This trip has been different from others in that we have not attended any services yet. We are not sad about this, because each evening we have quite a bit of prep for the next day. Everyone pitches in and helps.

That’s it for now. We are so grateful for your continuing prayers and support of our ministry. Don’t stop now.

20 Oct Canadian Trip to Haiti: Day 3

A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Joan Sider is sending daily reports for the team. She previously wrote about Monday and Tuesday. Here is her report for Wednesday, October 19.

Dr. Athus joined us today. It is obvious that he has done many clinics. He organized us very effectively, and once again in about 4 hours we were able to see about 115-120 patients. We had three doctors–Dr. Athus, Dr. Germaine, and doctor to be, Ludlande Baptisin. Ludlande is the only one who can’t speak English. The other two speak both Creole and English.

Our interpreters once again helped us a great deal. Evena and Jimmy have been with us each day, and we share them around to the various needed places–but especially with triage.

Each evening we spend time organizing the meds for the next day. This is a great time of camaraderie. We had our debriefing and prayer time once the work was done.

Since many hands make light work, we had time to just visit before heading off to bed.

19 Oct Canadian Trip to Haiti: Day 2

A United Brethren work group from Canada traveled to Haiti on October 17 to conduct medical clinics in our churches. Joan Sider is sending daily reports for the team. She previously wrote about Monday, Day 1. Here is her report for Tuesday, October 18.

Day Two was a full, but rewarding day. It started with an awesome breakfast of spaghetti and sausage, freshly squeezed juice, hard boiled eggs, and bread. Of course there was tea and coffee.

Evena and Jimmy, the interpreters, arrived. Together, we helped load the van and set off for our first day of ministry. However, before getting to Canaan, we saw the main road many times–since we had to return home, turn around for gas, find a store open that sold generators, and pick up our doctor.

A generator was purchased, and after about two hours, we actually made it to our destination. What a great time we had. Audrey set up her quilting, and before actually beginning with the ladies, injured her leg on a piece of wire. Would you please pray that no infection will get into the wound and cause further problems. We will have the doctor look at it tomorrow.

She was able to get two quilts done, and one of the men used the sewing machine to sew the binding. That is why we needed a generator. We will choose which church will have this machine at the end of our stay.

Usually, Audrey has a draw to see which quilter will get the quilt. This was done, but unfortunately the two ladies who won didn’t seem to stay around to get them. We were sure that we communicated correctly. I’m wondering if they will receive them. The lady who took them–we’re not sure if she’ll pass them along.

The health clinic was phenomenal, with 105-115 patients. Dr. Germain was our doctor today, and Ludlande, a medical student, was on hand as well. Margie did her usual great job at nursing, and Kelly dispensed the drugs most capably. These two work so well together.

We were so impressed with today’s doctor, Dr. Germain. Sadly, he lost his mother, wife, and daughter in the earthquake. He stopped to watch a soccer game for a few minutes on his way home that January 12th. This kept him from being with his family, and thus saved his life. We found him to be a very compassionate man. He worked in a hospital here in Port au Prince before the earthquake, but gave that up afterwards and is now working for a mission. We have yet to find out which one. We are so pleased to have him on our team. Dr. Athus will join us tomorrow–and Dr. Germain will continue too.

We were in Canaan today, a church plant of Pastor Wilburt–he pastors Croix des Bouquet, Canaan, and another church plant of his, Jerusalem. We will be in Jerusalem on Friday. Both of these works are outside the city and are in areas where Port au Prince tent dwellers were encouraged to move. They are building houses for many of them, but there are a lot of tents, too. Living in tents there is quite different from living in Port au Prince. They have space and are not all clumped together. Still, not a joy to be in one–but better than what they had before.

One little girl we met has a hole in her heart. So concerned was Dr. Germain, he has offered to give her a needed test here in Port au Prince, make the test results available, and hopefully see if the surgery required can be done in Canada. He will send the test results. I think it would be great if somehow we could find a willing doctor who would offer his services like the charity cases you’ve seen done. It is usually quite well publicized on tv/radio when this happens.

Two of our team members have contributed the payment for the test that Dr. Germain will do here in Port au Prince. Not only is he seeing to this test, but he will go to Canaan to pick her up at the appointed time. Pray for Alexis.

Another lady, a diabetic, needs our prayers too. Her blood sugar levels were dangerously high. Dr. Germain wrote out a prescription for her. We’re trusting God that she will be able to have it filled.

After 5 hours in Canaan, we headed home–ready for supper. While hot and tired, we didn’t complain because we all felt rewarded by what was accomplished. Our debriefing time again highlighted the many “God moments” from the day.

The rest of the evening was spent preparing for tomorrow’s clinic and quilting time. We will be in City Soleil.

Pray for Kelly. She has a rash, the same kind she had a couple trips ago. It is very itchy and spreads across her whole body. We will ask the doctor tomorrow if he knows what it is and how it can be treated. I know Kelly won’t complain, but it is not pleasant.