Winter
 In
February of 1999 we took our second winter trip to Ouanaminthe.
Colleen Ward, a registered nurse and key Haiti team member, ministered
to many physical needs while we were in Ouanaminthe, and we took
pictures with hopes of beginning a full-fledged school sponsorship
program.
Summer
On our summer visit to Ouanaminthe, we began to visit outlying
villages to offer medical and eyeglasses clinics. On a visit to
one village, we were amazed by the people’s responses. After
people spent much time trying on one pair of glasses after another,
we handed them each a bottle of shampoo. One young man began putting
the shampoo in his hair as he sat on his bicycle. A very elderly
lady with years of hard life etched in her face, opened the shampoo
and began to drink it. We quickly realized that very few of these
individuals had ever even seen a bottle of shampoo, much less possessed
one!
This summer’s trip was once again an eye-opener regarding
the importance of basic medical care. A frantic mother brought her
young daughter to us with filthy bandages wrapped around both legs.
What began as a simple infection had spread from heel to hip on
both legs. As our nurses removed the dirty bandages, they pulled
off skin to reveal a terrible infection. Day after day, they rinsed
the wounds, packed them with antibiotic cream and re-bandaged. By
our last day in Ouanaminthe, blood still dripped to the floor as
they once again removed the bandages to dress the wounds. They gave
the mother strict instructions to clean her daughter’s legs
every day and apply more antibiotic ointment. They also left clean
bandages and oral antibiotics for the girl. We’ll tell you
the “rest of the story” in the next segment (Winter
2000)!
A highlight of this visit was our completion of the basketball
and volleyball court. The men working on the court worked from dawn
until late each night to finish it before we had to return to the
United States. One night our whole team walked from where we were
staying to the school where the court was being constructed. It
was very late (about 9:30 PM) and pitch dark, but when we arrived
at the school we heard singing. We shined our flashlights across
the court and were speechless when we saw 20 men sitting alongside
their nearly finished work joyfully singing. They were awaiting
more fuel for the generator which was providing light for them to
work by. They continued to work late into the night, because they
had to finish the court for the celebration the next day. And what
a celebration it was! Hundreds of people came from throughout the
area to see the new basketball and volleyball court. A semi-professional
team of Dominican men and women competed against Haitian teams all
afternoon. The Haitian representative of the International Volleyball
Association came from Port-au-Prince to celebrate with us. All in
all, it was a wonderful afternoon. Once again, we learned that the
secret to a successful ministry in Haiti had to be built on a partnership.
Since Haitian laborers built the court, they had ownership and great
pride in the project. Their thankfulness for our financial help
and encouragement was expressed again and again! |
