Here is a great update from the medical team currently in Haiti. Please continue to pray for them as they provide care for the kids!
-Erica
Hey everyone!!
We were delayed getting out of Miami and as a result we missed the charter flight to Jeremie. With no runway lights at the Jeremie landing strip they don’t like to fly too late. Dou Dou of course hooked us up with travel vouchers from AA and we stayed at a pretty nice place near the airport. It was a good test in flexibility for the team and we were able to fly out first thing Monday morning. That put us behind schedule about half a day for vaccinations but we hit he ground running and vaccinated 60 orphans yesterday. The team is awesome with great can-do attitudes and everyone is doing something. After not sleeping well the first night in PAP, we all crashed pretty hard last night. Today we vaccinated about 70 more orphans. The vaccines travelled well and were kept surprisingly cold in the cooler despite the travel delays.
Overall the orphans look well, especially considering the state of many of them from Les Cayes a year and a half ago. They were so excited to see us but of course word spread quickly that the doctors and nurses were here with shots:). It was February the first time they were vaccinated so their memories were pretty fresh. We got through it though with lots of hugs and what pediatricians call positive reinforcement and the rest of the world calls bribery:)!!! It’s amazing how stickers and snacks make things seem not so bad afterwards and they are amazingly forgiving. Most were back playing and joking around with us within a couple hours.
There have been challenges It’s been hard for a team to come in wanting to just love on orphans but instead are having to do some things that are hard to do and create tears (for the orphans as well as the team members giving the shots). You know they need them to protect them but they don’t really understand that. You’re loving through protecting them but it still hurts and only would make sense if you as the child knew what we know. Kind of like we are with our kids. Kind of like Our Father is sometimes with us. Trusting when you can’t see all the details is hard to do but because teams have come consistently and shown love in lots of practical and tangible ways, they seem to still know we love them deeply.
It’s great to be here again with the children, the Mamas, the pastors and an awesome team of 20. We are all missing our families a ton and that was compounded by communication problems but were able to at least get word that we were here safely. I will try and send updates as Wi Fi allows. We ask you pray for the next 3 days as we will have clinic for the community. This is a great chance to be the hands and feet to those who really have nothing. Humbling to say the least.
Thanks for your prayers. More to come later!
Peace,
Jason