There once was a boy who fell....

My first lesson in true reliance on God in Haiti.

Today was a good day. No, I take that back… today was a GREAT, AMAZING BEYOND WORDS day!!!!!!!

Let me tell you why…

So today began like any other day. Medications given first thing in the morning, grabbing a bit of breakfast and coffee (oh, and TANG!), and working hard to get all the children’s ears cleaned before we had to wash their hair. Just after happily finishing cleaning 40-some sets of ears, I was ready to wash hair with Amy for the rest of the morning. One glance out towards the gate to our compound proved to me we would have a few “patients” to see before we could start. I went out to ask why they had come and what they needed as quickly as possible- distracted by my own drive to get what task I thought was important done (hair washing, but of course J!). God had other plans, which I’m finding more and more that He always does.

At the gate patiently sitting was four different situations in need of help. One boy was hoping I could give him a small “pansman” (bandage) for a cut on his sister’s foot, another young girl was suffering from mumps, one gentleman was talking too fast in Creole for me to understand (Thank God for Amy fluently speaking Creole), and then, finally, there was a boy with an EXTREMELY swollen wrist. He had fallen and probably broken his wrist on Monday, and was now seeking help on Friday. I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to do with his case, because generally we have to send them on to the hospital to get treatment since that is beyond what we can really treat.

A few questions later, I realized that the woman who brought him was not his mom, nor was she able to take him to the hospital. Amy, COTP’s seasoned nurse, told me that the hospital probably wouldn’t be able to help him too much anyway. We decided to bring him into our pharmacy (A.K.A. the coolest clinic you’ll ever see!) to evaluate what our options were related to our resources. As we were walking back with him, I kept looking at his swollen-to-the-brim wrist… the skin was entirely taunt with how filled it was. My heart was sinking fast because he was in so much pain and I wanted to help him SO BAD, but how!? How could I? I didn’t have an X-Ray machine, I didn’t have any cast tools, I didn’t even really know enough to help him honestly.

I started praying as we were walking and kept praying for the situation and for him once we had him sit down in our pharmacy. If I couldn’t help him, surely God could. I wanted to at least splint his wrist so it could begin the healing process, so Amy started cutting cardboard boxes up to create a make-shift splint. We discussed options—we could tape it so it didn’t have rough edges, we could try to find something to make it harder, etc. We would do our best, but the cardboard just wasn’t hard enough to splint his wrist and it was looking grim.

But there’s a reason I’m so happy today!!! Amy started looking through a box of supplies donated a while ago for something else to use a splint when there it was… plaster splinting supplies EXACTLY like I had used in the emergency department to splint people last year. I was seriously so excited I could have burst. A few minutes later, we had managed to find every single supply needed to make a stellar splint for this suffering boy! We had absolutely everything we needed, including the know-how to make one. All credit be to God, I had painfully learned how to splint during my time working in the ER. It was never a task I necessarily liked at all, and I struggled to ever perfect the skill. But now… now God was using that to help this boy when he didn’t really have any other options.

I kept on saying “MWEN KONTAN!!! MWEN KONTAN!!” because I couldn’t keep my excitement in.. meaning I’m so happy! I’m so happy! I tried to explain to the woman and boy that I had prayed for this situation and this boy, and God gave us what we needed at that moment! The woman kept giving me a “you-are-crazy” look, but I was bouncing off the walls with joy!

It took a chunk of our morning, but I had the help of faithful COTP people. One cleaning employee who is extremely helpful handed me supplies as I wrapped his hand, wrist, and arm with a Kerlix gauze to help protect his skin from the splint. Thankfully, the plaster splint roll already had a thick pad on the back of it as well. I remembered how to wet the plaster, roll in a towel to dry it enough to put on the skin (something I ALMOST forgot about since it has been so long), and carefully mold it to his wrist without making indentations with my fingers, which would leave dangerous pressure points. I wrapped it in an ace bandage (exactly what we use at the hospital). This boy officially had an official splint that was not too makeshift after all! There it was! My face was all smiles and I kept thanking God over and over again in my head… surprisingly in Creole J. I noticed I have started thinking simple thoughts in Creole now, which is kind of amusing to me. Mesi Bondye. Thank you, God.

I honestly still can’t get my heart rate to slow down. This boy probably would have lost all of his nerves in his hand if the swelling continued like this. Without a splint, the swelling would have never had a chance to go down. We gave him ice for his hand while he was sitting in our pharmacy, which showed improvement while I got everything ready to splint his wrist. Amy was able to tell him, in perfect Creole, that he needed to buy a little ice to keep the swelling down, and I later explained his needed to keep his arm elevated at all times. We were able to give him some Tylenol to help with the pain, though I’m sure no amount of medicine could help his level of pain completely. I honestly have never seen a hand so swollen in my short life.

I cannot believe God provides like He does. It makes my eyes swell up with tears when I truly think about how much He loves that boy who had nothing and show him where to find help and give the people able to help everything they needed. All credit belongs to God… this story is truly one of His.

Sa tan pou AYITI (This time for Haiti)!

I'd like to preface this blog with saying that Shakira's song "Waka Waka" has been stuck in my head all day. I change the words to Creole and make them about Haiti instead of Africa, but oooh I cannot get this song out of my mind! It makes me want to dance! In fact, this whole culture makes me want to dance... :) Sometimes I happen to go into the childrens' rooms when the nannies are playing music and dancing a bit-- I like to show them white girls can dance too!!!!

A few nights ago a nanny asked if she could braid my hair! Well who am I to tell her no! So we sat down and had an incredible chat while she braided about love, life, and everything in between-- IN CREOLE! I am not fluent in Creole, by any means, but I definitely enjoy the joy of being able to communicate and laugh with the Haitians very, very much! My hair is pretty legit, let's call it.... I have corn rolls (spelling?) on the top half of my hair. Now I'm used to having the messiest hair possible, so it is a bit of a change to have it braided as tight as it could possibly be. I don't think Haitians really go for the messy look!

My roles here at Children of the Promise have changed. I added on the very important role (wellllll, maybe unofficially..  and I still have some competition with Jenn) of resident hairdresser. I cut another staff member's beautiful hair today... can't say I ever finished it before we had to get back to work. BUT I received reports that it was at least pretty even! :) Whether or not I'll ever be asked to cut hair again, I just don't know....



The bonding the with other girls on the COTP campus has truly begun! I'm beyond excited about that! I love having friends to joke around with everywhere I turn! There are 4 other girls my age here who are all very uniquely fun. When it was time to draw up meds for the next two days earlier today, we all gathered in the pharmacy to have a good ol' time listening to music and talking.

Today hosted one of my favorite things. An IV!!! Now I truly wish that no kid ever had to get sick enough to need one, but I realllllly love the whole concept of IVs! When giving morning medications this morning, I noticed that a baby had become extremely dehydrated- his fontanel and eyes were sunken in, skin dry, and body "stiff" (for lack of better word at the moment). We first put a nasogastric tube in him to start the hydration while we placed an IV in his tiny little foot! By later that day, he was doing much better and drinking well. Kids can get extremely dehydrated here between vomiting and diarrhea. We generally use a oral rehydration serum first, but sometimes have to place an IV before the condition gets worse if they don't improve with just the serum. Especially with tiny babies, hydration is of utmost importance.

My newest project with be helping expand an existing formula program serving the community. If a baby has people who are able to take care of them but just sick and isn't gaining weight (mother isn't able to breastfeed, mother died, etc.), we will enroll them in our formula program. They come every two weeks to have their baby checked up and to exchange their empty can of formula for a new one. We are able to monitor their health status and weight gain. In the next coming months, Nikki and I will be putting together an education component for this so that we can teach the caregivers about vaccines, when babies can eat solid foods, and other essential topics that are not discussed with them often. I would also like to do an assessment each time the babies come in to make sure we are ending up with healthy babies. Yesterday a mom came in to seek help for her baby. The tiny girl was four months old and weighed as much as a new born. She had dry, extra skin around her thighs and had almost no fat on her. One look at her and I immediately fell in love! This precious, tiny life was so innocent, yet her whole body grieved her with renments of scabies scars. Sores or not, she was GORGEOUS! I asked if I could hold her and the mom was happy to allow me. I cannot describe what it is like to look into the eyes some of these malnourished babies... or to be able to hold them in your arms! I LOVE IT! This tiny girl just weakly held on to my finger with her whole hand and blinked slowly with her dark eyes. Precious beyond words. We get to watch babies go from sick and skinny ones, covered in scabies and sores, to healthy, fat babies!

Aside from the formula program, I've been fortunate enough to learn the basics of nurse role at Children of the Promise. Amy never ceases to teach me such incredible things and I'm so thankful to be working with her. I can now officially draw up medications for all the kids who need them-- which is no small role! We have a lot of oral medications that the kids are on 2-4 times a day, so we have to draw up all the medication for two days every other day. There are always children needing assessments, and quite often people at the gate waiting to be seen and treated medically. I get to perform dressing changes for burns, stasis ulcers, and MACHETTE wounds! Sometimes when people come in for other ailments, we have to do our best to diagnose them with what we have to work with-- there is often a lot of research involved. Any free moments are almost always spent with babies in our housing who need to be fed, changed, or just soothed--- not counting the 40 some children in the "baby house" who desperately need to be held! If I ever have a free moment, I try to get out to the "baby house" to just cuddle-- which just so happens to be my favorite thing in the world!!!!

Speaking of cuddling and relaxing, I need to sleep. Sleep is a precious commodity around here, so I better get mine for the short time my "little roommate" will allow me tonight. Some nights I miss my pretty solid sleep schedule of the past and the staying of late and watching movies with Tess.... but I just read this verse tonight that I hope to someday day with confidence:   "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content." -Philippians 4:11-12

HAITI: 1st week feeling!

When I have heard people utter in the past "God is good", I never really thought much of it... I never thought about what that truly could mean to someone! But I can honestly say those words with confidence right now!!!! I'm loving the precious babies and people at Children of the Promise, I love how the humidity affects my hair, I eat mac-n-cheese every morning for breakfast, and I get to save lives... :D Mmhm..yeah, God IS good!!!!!!!!!!!

I arrived in Cap Haitian, Haiti this past Saturday on a pretty tiny little plane. Coming from dry Arizona, the humidity hit me like a brick wall when I stepped off the plane! It is always so confusing to land in a country where the rules of life are different and the language is overwhelming to understand at first. I made it through customs without any problems and there was an incredible surprise waiting for me just past that-- AMY AND JENN! I was so thankful they were there to help me recover my luggage and get through the crowd of people gathered outside the airport. Local young boys walked us out to our truck and we made the, shall I say FUN, drive to Children of the Promise! Driving is Haiti is very, very different.... there aren't rules to the road at all. And the roads, for the most part, are pretty torn up. The experience of traveling through Haiti in a truck is a very unique experience!!!

When we got to Children of the Promise, there amount of short-term volunteers at the moment was shocking! I didn't even know where to start learning names, let alone names of the babies and nannies. But we'll just skip to the good stuff... stories of this place called Haiti :D.

One of the most special moments I had the other day was when a few children came in the gates seeking treatment for a wound--- After Amy and I worked with her, I walked her back out the gate holding her little hand and speaking softly in simple Creole with her. For some reason, that just made my heart happy!

Nursing in Haiti is a whole new battlefield. The resources at Children of the Promise far exceed what I anticipated, and I am so thankful for the supplies and things that we have to help give these babies medical care. The work day starts just before 7 am, and it does not end for the nurses until 8 or 9 pm. Now that day is filled with energizing and exciting things, but some nights are left without solid rest if a sick baby has to stay in our rooms and requires treatment throughout the night. I know some days in the future we will all go to take a day off and get outside the campus, but medications and sick babies never take a day off ;)!

We have had a few emergency situations with babies in just the few days I have been here-- the first story being of a baby who started experience respiratory distress... so much so that they were grunting! In nursing terms, that is a scary sign of a desperate need for immediate treatment!!!! We were able to give her breathing treatments and medicines to open up her airway. It is incredible to watch a baby struggling to breath and pretty much limp with no fight left transform into a strong, stubborn, and active one.. IN A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!!!!

I'm going to close this with this realization I had with this baby.. Say she wasn't at Children of the Promise and there weren't any people or supplies to save her life... Would she have lost her life in her "hut"? Babies and people here lose their lives' to pneumonia, sepsis, starvation, dehydration, etc... all completely treatable things. The babies here don't just want attention for a second then squirm out of your arms to go play with toys. No... the babies here crave to be held and cuddled like I literally cannot describe. They cling to you with everything in them. I may be able to use medical things to help them, but I consider it just as important to just cuddle them tightly. They need to know they are important and safe to thrive, just like every other child in the world! We underestimate love, attention, and affection sometimes. It is truly essential to life.

I shall post again soon... I cannot thank you all enough for your support and prayers!! I can't wait to share more experiences with you about the Haitian life. For the whole weekend until Tuesday, the other nurse will be gone out of the country so I'm going to be "on my own" not even a week into this! There is a sick baby staying with me tonight and I imagine I'll be up quite a bit taking care of them so I better try to catch a wink of sleep while I can.... :)