My plans for today were to be at the hospital with Serlande for 4-5 hours, spend time with my kids, and do some computer work that I am very behind on – a large part of which was to have been e-mail correspondence. For some reason I’ve been unable to send or receive e-mails today. I sent out an SOS to Tim (the master computer geek) who was here with the team recently. It was Tim and Jim who set up the new computers and the new software and got me up to date and up and running. I knew he would know what was wrong and what to do about it. One small problem – Tim is in Halifax and I am in Haiti. Due to a multitude of things the guys did not have the chance to teach me what I needed to know. Anyway, Tim got busy working on it today and it is doing better if not yet completely as it should be. Hopefully I will be able to get this out tonight.
I couldn’t face going back to St. Marc today even to see if the bank was open. It is normally open on a Saturday morning. My daughter, Dana-Lynn, had a good suggestion. That I send an employee to sleep outside the bank for some hours and then I go in and change places in the morning. Might have to do that next week.
Early this morning I put Ti Luc in Sabine’s hands, went to the hospital and spent the morning with Serlande. I see another tiny bit of improvement today which encourages me a great deal. Obviously the antibiotic they are giving her is starting to work. She still does not respond when spoken to but she does now mouth the word “water”. Too, we can now sit her up to pee which is a far cry from having to change her bedding and clothing constantly. A ‘blan’ doctor who worked at HAS and who knows Serlande and her diabetes health problems arrived back at the hospital late yesterday afternoon. I don’t remember when I was more happy to see someone than I was to see her in the hospital last night. She is now in charge of Serlande’s care and she is someone I can talk with easily and readily. Thank you, God.
I knew I would be needed here on the compound today as well as at HAS. Having to be in several places at once is very tiring due to the constant running back and forth. Take care of one and run off to the next. Take care of that and then run to the next. I think my nick name should be “Run Run’ or in Haiti it would be “Mme. Kouri Kouri (Run Run)”.
A temporary storage depot room was being constructed with plywood today in the meeting/devotion room close to my house. I still have space left for our morning devotions and staff meetings.
Storage space in the meeting room.
Too, behind my house the land was being measured and marked for a foundation for a structure that would hold the four water tanks and give me storage space underneath. I do not like wasted space and storage is a high priority here. More planning is needed but hopefully construction can get underway soon.
Measuring the land
The hospital continues daily to have lots of new injured patients arrive from Port au Prince. Some have been released but immediately someone else takes their place. The wards are packed solid – far too many beds, but they have no choice. While I was with Serlande today a dressing was changed on a man’s arm next to her. I have watched him suffer a lot for a couple of days. Yikes, no wonder. Today I saw the arm uncovered and I almost passed out. Such suffering by so many.
A man who looked very sad talked to me about his brother. He had gone to PaP and found his body. He placed him in a morgue and notified the family. He went back to the morgue on day 3 but could not find his brother. He was told that since there was no electricity in the city the bodies had to be taken away and put into the mass grave outside of Port. He was having a hard time dealing with it. A lady came to talk to me, and ask for help. Her brother had been standing on a road in PaP and an antenna fell on him splitting his head open. She got him back here to the hospital hoping they could save him, but his head injury was too bad. She wanted a little help to bury him.
You know that Ti Luc and I sleep outside in the yard every night in one of the small mosquito tents. I was able to make my escape from the tent early this morning while my little guy was still asleep. At one point when going to check on Ti Luc I could hear the zipper opening. I stayed out of sight but watched what was happening. He was chatting away, the way he does, saying he was coming in the house. He was opening the zipper himself with his feet. When he got it open he had the biggest smile. I could not resist a photo.
One proud litle boy
Despite all the running around I did trying to take care of everything I made some time for my precious kids. I am adding a photo of my newest one – Judel who is two years old. When he joined this family he was terrified. Not for long though. He is the cute, mischievous and very lovable. Ben, one of our team members, who came back for the second time, is grandpa to Judel. Ben’s son and daughter-in-law are sponsoring Judel for the orphanage.
Spending time with the kids
Our newest addition: Judel
Thank you for all the support that is coming. Thank you. Continue to pray for me please, for health and strength so I can continue to do what is required here.
~Karen
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