Juggling

We returned to the US from Haiti over the weekend trying to all at once catch our breath, hit the ground running & adjust to the huge difference in weather! It's a lot to juggle, but juggling is something we do a lot of in Haiti ... I didn't say we always do it well- it's just a way of life.


I don't know if these pictures will do it justice, but here is some heavy duty juggling that took place in about an hour one day last week.


While most of the team was busy providing a medical clinic, Sarah came running over to announce that the Police were at the orphanage. We've grown accustomed to their visits. Since they first brought a couple of abandoned children to us, they now stop by frequently to check on the children or just to say Hi and see how everybody is doing.

I grabbed Micheline, who was busy translating for the clinic, and we headed over to greet them, hoping aloud to each other that it was only a friendly visit, not yet another abandoned child.
It was the latter.
The local judge had come, accompanied by some local police and some of the nearby UN contingent. They brought with them a very sick baby girl. Emily Marie (as Tasha & Sarah later named her) was shrunken from malnourishment, her hair already turning blonde & falling out with huge oozing sores on her head, and covered in her own feces. She was obviously in a critical & very fragile condition and needed immediate attention. I ran to steal one of the nurses from the clinic & gather supplies while Micheline bathed her.





Meanwhile, upstairs at the orphanage- soon to be infant hospital, several Haitian workers were putting the finishing touches on the new ceiling in the dining & tool/bunk areas...





... and Rob was painting the ceiling where it had already been installed.





Kristen was the nurse chosen for the honors and after evaluating the infant girl's condition, determined that she was probably between 7 and 9 months old, even though she weighed only 5 1/2 lbs. The baby was very dehydrated, too weak to suck, and needed an I.V. so Nurse Kristen and many helping hands went to work

In the meantime, Cristina was also at work trying to get some nutritious food into the little guy who had come into the clinic a couple of days earlier also suffering from severe malnutrition and weighing just 15 lbs at 23 months. Notice the paint drapes, makeshift clinic table for treating the infant & supplies thrown about! After the I.V. was unsuccessful we looked for other ways to get nourishment into Emily Marie & rehydrate her. She would lap up formula dripped onto her tongue with a syringe, but this wouldn't be enough. One of the nannies who has a nursing baby of her own was called in and asked to also nurse the sick baby.After some education, convincing, and negotiating, she agreed. Between the breast milk, the formula, the meds given & the intense care given we were able to keep her going long enough to relocate her to an infant rescue ministry a few days later. Thank you Jesus for your provision of just the right people at just the right time to care for this precious little one.

Yes... we were all exhausted... but also elated... and oh so grateful to have been blessed to serve!