Long Day

Long day in the field: I was asked to return to the outreach makeshift clinic adjacent to the large tent city across the street from the presidential palace - now in ruins - and saw a ton of patients.  The stench is atrocious...wafting humanity without sewage, and trash strewn everywhere in the humid heat of Haiti...   Although mostly routine acute care Gyn, it was a wonderful opportunity and to pray with almost every one of the women I saw.  Their countenence changed from cold, unsettled and somewhat indifferent, to friendly and gracious and sincerely grateful for someone to care about their emotional and spiritual health more than their physical health.  Most of them were from the thousands of tents set up across the palace, and essentially all of them had been displaced and had lost loved ones and/or were injured in some way during the earthquake. They are very stoic and very resilient.. Part of our team went with our private security team into the "really bad" areas of PAP and people basically brought out their worst cases  - one dead - and they were stabilized and tranported either to us or to the hospital.

Lots of docs and nurses and supplies abound, though organization and efficiency is, as you can imagine, very limited.  Everyone here is used to being "in charge"! But gracious hearts and like-minded common courtesy abounds - prayers are being answered left and right.  We share stories of how we saw God moving in amazing and miraculous ways when we get back to the orphanage, because the overwhelming sense of the enormity of this situation can easily  get you down... We may not be able to bring hope to everyone, but we are bringing restoration and hope one person at a time...