Brave Young Lady

Meet Ismael....

She is one brave young lady. Ismael lives in our village and attends our church. I met her Sunday at the anniversary celebration. As I was making my way over to the church, one of the ladies met me in the way and introduced us with her story.

A day or so before Ismael and her brother had been playing and fussing as sisters and brothers do, and before long her brother hit her. So Ismael hit her brother back. Then her mother backhanded her- with a butcher knife! The church lady is their neighbor and knew she could come to us for help...Ismael was not seeking help, she was only coming for Sunday School and Church... a Sunday revival service with the promise of a meal afterward. Her arm had a dishtowel pinned over it, and when unwrapped we found the home remedy had been to pack the cut with tobacco. It took a lot of cleaning to get all the brown gunk washed out. There were no tears, no squealing or or having to pin her down. She just sat quietly, only occasionally wincing while we scrubbed away on her arm. The cut was long and very deep- it needed to be stitched- by somebody who really knew what they were doing- not me, but was it too late? Had too much time passed already? Did we get all the gunk out? Had infection already started? We bandaged it back up, gave pain reliever & antibiotics to the neighbor to give to her mom and told her to come back in the morning. We would take her to the clinic at Cazale to see the American nurses there.

It rained all night Sunday night. When morning came, we knew the treacherous road to Cazale would be impassable. We chose another clinic with Haitian doctors. They wouldn't stitch it- their treatment change the dressing daily and squeeze out the ooze & infection. 2 days later we knew the infection was only getting worse, Mom had not given the antibiotics, and we tried yet another clinic. They recommended a tetanus shot, packed it full of burn meds and told us to come back Monday. I found the tetanus med for the injection- but I knew the treatment was still wrong. I called a Dr in the US to direct us. He told me which antibiotics to administer and to just clean the wound and change the dressing daily. We were now dispensing antibiotics to her, as well.

By now I didn't trust anyone I didn't know to do anything to her or for her. My heart went out to this brave young girl who had been let down by so many. I took her upstairs, closed the door and took care of her. But what about the injection? I had only given injections to our cows back home! That's often the dilemma in Haiti- do I dare attempt something I'm not trained or skilled at- or how could I possibly know something that might help -and yet withhold it?

I said a prayer and gave her the tetanus shot. She said "Thank you"- again no tears. Ismael stayed overnight that night. No one came to look for her. All of the tears were mine.