Henwoods In Haiti: Mountain Top Ministry's

We were able to go back up the clinic again and this time IS joined us. She says she wants to be a nurse and after watching her today, I think she may have the guts and heart for it. Silly HIPPA, I wish she could work alongside me in the States. I feel like she is learning a lot.

The not so fun part of the day, telling a woman she is pregnant. She has sickle cell anemia and she does not want to be pregnant. She is not excited at all! Not fun.

My happy place. The Mom was in for her first check-up 18 days after giving birth at home. She walked hours to get to the clinic with her newborn. These women are AMAZING!

Seeing this picture makes me laugh. People asked me all weekend if Kait was my daughter. People ask me if Rachel is my daughter too. As you can see, Haiti is aging me. Oh well.

Kait came to visit yesterday and we hit the ground running! She is excited to see Haiti and serve.

We have some friends here named Beth and Willem Charles. She has been a wonderful mentor to me since being here and I think they are really amazing people who have a wonderful vision for helping Haiti. Willem is Haitian and has started a ministry here. Across the river bed from where they live, which is about a 45 min really long walk or a 15 min really rough truck ride, they started a ministry. They have built a church, a school, and run medical clinics. He even has a book written about him.
So today Kait and I went to help at the clinic at Mountain Top Ministry's. They run free clinics when they have medical teams in. Today they had an eye doctor and one MD in, but that was it. Kait and I went out to see patients. It was a little overwhelming at first seeing people and then writing scripts for them, but most everything we saw was pretty obvious or pretty mild. And there was a doc there to check if I had questions. We treated everyone for worms and almost everyone we saw was anemic.

This is a picture from the ministry. To the right is where we live, in the middle is the river bed, and the picture is taken from the ministry on the other side.

When we pulled up to the clinic about 9am this is what we saw. About 150 people waiting for us. It was really humbling and overwhelming. A lot of these people walked hours to get there and a lot would not be seen while we were there.

There was a man laying in front of the door having a really long awful seizure as we walked up. It reminded me of the scripture in Jacob;"And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good- to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted."

There is such an acute incredible need here. We are bombarded by it daily and feel that if we were able to there would be service opportunities all day every day. We recognize the blessings that have been put in our lives that allow us to be here at this time.

The clinic. It has 4 "beds" with sheets hanging between them for privacy. It was basic and primitive and yet everything we ever needed. When I worked ER working in these conditions would have been a little insulting. Today it was absolutely wonderful.

I am going to blow this picture up and put it in the kids bathroom for when they fight me on brushing their teeth. It is funny because when I worked in the ER I would have freaked seeing this. It was a little different looking at this man today and remembering he is someone our Heavenly Father loves and knows. For some reason that is so much more poignant here.

This sweet woman came in and before I had the chance to examine her I was read her vitals and her wt. which was 190. I looked at her tiny 5'2 frame and thought there is NO way. Then she lifted her skirt to show me the problem. Apparently there is a mosquito born parasite here that causes the lymph system to shut down and cause elephantitis. It is untreatable and once people get it in your town then the mosquito will pass it around. We have driven through areas where everyone has an enlarged something.

We saw lots of babies and expectant moms. It is funny that the two areas I have spent time in as a nurse are what come in handy here. Babies, pregnant women, and the ER. I again recognize my Heavenly Father's hand is being prepared to serve here.

Some of the kids from the town that were on a lunch break.

The clinic, school, and church area.

I thought this little kid was too cute.

Together Kait and I saw over 30 people today and we only stayed about 4 hours. Although I have to admit 1/2 of the people we saw were there for rx refills and pregnancy checks. Quick stuff.