photo update

Roseline

Agathe teaching on introducing solids

Mickey

Melissa and her newest namesake

Jude and Jean Daniel

my Christina

Lovely and her doll from Carly :)

Agathe and Beth welcoming new women
to the prenatal program

what I looked like after my first trek
through Clercine "lake"

the first few days

we're in Haiti! together!

I have a ridiculous problem when it comes to blogging about ongoing events/trips: I tend to start writing, go way too in-depth, get overwhelmed with how much [I think] is still left to write about, give up for awhile, try again the next day (by which time I'm even farther behind), give up again, try again (again), etc, etc.  Sometimes I manage to finish and get these posts up on the blog...sometimes not so much.  The latter appears to be the case for the post that I started writing on Friday...continued on Saturday and Sunday...looked at on Monday...and am giving up on today.  If anyone really cares about all the little details of our journey to Haiti, I'll email it to you.  But for everyone else (and so that I actually post something), how about a much shorter (yes, believe it or not, this is shorter), less detailed update:

thursday/friday

shortly after arriving in FLL

- Paul and I left CS around 3pm and arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 1am ET.  We "slept" (ha) for the next 4 hours on benches in a freezing cold baggage claim.  Shortly after 5am, we headed over to another terminal to re-check our bags for our flight to Haiti...only to be told that we were too late; check-in had closed for that flight.  Yes, we did indeed manage to miss a flight when we'd already been at the airport for multiple hours. Embarrassing, and rather disappointing, to say the least.  We were then put on stand-by for the next flight, which was at 1:45pm.  Fortunately, that was a pretty empty flight, so we didn't have any trouble getting seats.
- We landed in Haiti at 3:30 and actually had a very easy airport experience, for Port au Prince.  Immigration and customs were both easy, we found our bags quickly, and we didn't have much trouble with red caps wanting to "help".  And as soon as we got out of the airport and made it down the long walkway, we saw Asher (Heartline's current driver) waiting for us.  All in all, one of the most painless PAP airport experiences I've ever had.
- When we got to Heartline's guesthouse (run by the fantastic Ryan and Melissa), we discovered that we were the only guests for the night (for the next several nights, actually). We spent that evening at Ryan and Melissa's new apartment playing a hilarious game with several other Heartline-associated people, which was a lot of fun.

saturday

Petionville (this photo's for you, Everly!)

- Paul and I met up with our friend Jenny, who was kind enough to come into Port from Grand Goave so that we could see her.  We didn't really have any sort of plan for what we'd do once we met up, but after a bit of discussion we decided to taptap up toward Petionville and find somewhere for lunch.  We ended up at Muncheez and had just enough time to enjoy some pizza before heading back down to the place where Jenny was meeting up with another friend to go back out to Grand Goave.  Though we spent most of our time together in transit, it was fun to get to see Jenny again and catch up a bit.
- After we left Jenny with her friend, Paul and I decided to walk over to Notre Maison.  Normal people probably would have taptapped, but we walked.  It really wasn't that far, and it didn't really seem worth the hassle to take three different taptaps just to go a couple of miles.  Plus it was fairly overcast and relatively cool, so it wasn't bad.

with my Ti Nina

- We were able to spend about an hour at the orphanage before we needed to head back to the guesthouse.  It was so good to see the kids again!  I may or may not have held my Ti Nina the entire time (while visiting with the other kids, too, of course)!  It was kind of strange to be there for such a short time and then leave, but at least I knew I would be back.
- The most exciting adventure of the day occurred right before we got back to the guesthouse...  Clercine Road, which leads to the neighborhood where the guesthouse is, has some major flooding going on, especially right around the neighborhood entrance.  This means that getting in and out is rather difficult, as going through on foot is not ideal, and a lot of vehicles are too low to successfully make it through the "lake" (maybe "river" would be more accurate--it has a current, after all).  So I wasn't sure if we'd be able to get a ride into the neighborhood.  I ended up asking one of the motorcycle taptap drivers if he could take us in, and he said yes.  We hopped on, and off we drove toward the lake/river.  When we got to the edge of the worst part, he stopped, and I was sure he was going to say we had to get off and walk the rest of the way.  But after a minute, he kept going...right into and then through the murky/disgusting/don't-want-to-think-about-what's-in-there water.  It was pretty epic.  And it was also Paul's first time on a motorcycle.

a view of the Clercine lake/river from
the neighborhood entrance

sunday
- We started out the day by going to the first service at Port au Prince Fellowship.  Originally the plan was for Paul to leave from church to go to Cazale to work with Real Hope for Haiti for the week, but it ended up working better for them to pick him up from the guesthouse later in the afternoon.  After we got back from church, we pretty much spent the next few hours just sitting around reading, which was super strange but super nice after how hectic the past several months have been (especially for Paul).  As great as the concept of "rest" sounds, it can be surprisingly hard to actually put that into practice when given the opportunity!  I'm so used to always being busy or having things to do that just sitting still was a bit hard.  But it was definitely a gift to have that time where I literally had nothing I needed to do, so gradually I was able to enjoy and appreciate it :)
- Later that evening, Melissa came over, and she, Allison, and Asher taught me how to play Monopoly Deal, which may not won't likely end up on my list of favorite games, but it was fun nonetheless.  Maybe if I were more competitive...

to be continued with monday and tuesday...

Thanks to all of you who are praying!

happy mother's day, Mom.

we love and miss you.

Happy International Day of the Midwife

from the International Confederation of Midwives

World Health Organization (WHO): 

Every year 358 000 women and 3.6 million newborn babies die due to largely preventable complications during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period. In addition, every year, nearly 3 million babies are stillborn. Most of these deaths occur in low-income countries and happen because women – often poor and marginalized – have no access to functioning health facilities or to qualified health professionals, notably midwives and others with midwifery skills. 

Among the 38 countries most desperately in need of midwives, 22 need to double the workforce by 2015; seven need to triple or quadruple it; and nine countries - Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan - need to dramatically scale up midwifery by a factor of between 6 and 15.

UNFPA:

The probability that a woman will die from a maternal cause is 1 in 31 in sub-Saharan Africa compared with 1 in 4,300 in developed regions. The risk of stillbirth during labour for an African woman is 24 times higher  than for a woman in a high-income country.  A proficient, motivated and supported midwifery workforce is a major key to success in tackling this heavy toll of death and disability. The evidence is unanimous and clear: midwives and other health workers with midwifery competencies are essential to saving the lives of women and newborns. 

Seeing these stats, I am so incredibly thankful once again for the amazing work that the Lord is doing through Heartline in Haiti.  Lives are being changed.  Lives are being saved.  Check out their stats for 2011.  Amazing.


By contrast, this is an all-too-common birth experience in Haiti:

Most Haitian women give birth at home, attended by matrones — untrained birth attendants — most of whom arrive equipped with only a razor blade, a piece of string and Latex gloves. The result: more women die during childbirth in Haiti than in any other country in the Western Hemisphere. A lot more. For every 100,000 live births, 630 Haitian mothers perish — more than triple the number of mothers in Bolivia, which has the next-worst maternal mortality rate, at 200 per 100,000.  (Read more)

Want to learn more about what Heartline does and their heart for those they serve?  Here are just a few links:

The women in our program don't have to fight for follow-up care.  There is no armed security guard waiting at the gate for them to talk into allowing them to enter. They don't have to run their medical needs past any random stranger. They are treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve. They are greeted by other women that care about them and their story. (Read more)

Esther, a young girl in our program called that her water had broken.  We waited for labor.  While we did her blood pressure rose to dangerous levels, meds were started and she eventually delivered her baby with us.  She hemorrhaged after the birth.  More blood than I had ever seen at a birth.  We knew, she knew, both she and baby would have died if she had delivered at home.  We used many medicines, and highly skilled midwives saved her life. (Read more)

We care deeply about prenatal care and each woman's pregnancy and delivery.  We care even more about love.  We want our program and staff to client ratio to always allow us to get to know each woman fairly well by the time she is ready to deliver. We want each Thursday to be seen as an opportunity to invest time  in their lives, their stories, their pain and struggle. The very best and the very hardest part of the program is making time to truly hear from them and build relationships. (Read more)

born at the Heartline Maternity Center, October 2011

happy birthday, mr. monster!

may 3, 1991

Dear Paul,

I'm not really sure that I can put together the right words to tell you how thankful I am to have you as a brother, but I guess I'll try.  Since it's your 21st birthday and all.  Just this once ;)

From the time you were really little, it was already evident that the Lord had given you a caring heart and a willingness to serve others.  Even as a child and, for awhile, the youngest in the family, you were always helping out.  Now, at 21, you are one of the most compassionate people I know, and I love seeing the ways you live this out.  Whether you're working across the street in the ER or across the ocean in Haiti, you are always quick to do all you can to care for those in need.

september 2011

You also have a ridiculously awesome sense of humor and can always make me laugh.  Your goofy accents, splendiforously unique words, and willingness to just be downright silly to get a smile ensure that life is always more fun when you're around.

You exemplify I Timothy 4:12 so well: "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."  The way you seek the Lord through His Word and your desire to honor Him in all that you do frequently remind me to do the same.

You build crazy amazing things.  Despite the fact that this is a newly discovered talent of yours, the incredible pergola/pallet swing in our backyard is evidence that you gotz skillz, yo.  (Sorry.  Couldn't resist.  Moving on.)

You are an incredibly hard worker (and always have been).  When you decide to do something, you do it wholeheartedly and don't give up.  Becoming EMT-certified your senior year of high school is just one example of many...

I could probably go on and on, but I think I can safely speak for everyone who's ever met you in saying that you're an amazing kid. (Shush. I don't care if you're 21.  I will call you a kid forever.)  I am super duper proud of you and am so incredibly blessed to have you as my brother.

I love you lots!!

may 3, 3012

Eight days and counting

Paul at RHFH (August 2011)

One week from tomorrow evening, Paul and I will start our journey back to Haiti.  This will be our first time traveling to Haiti together in nearly four years!!  Though we've each been back multiple times since that particular trip (sometimes even within a few weeks of each other), this is the first time that we've both been able to go at the same time in far too long, so I'm pretty excited about it.  We'll actually be going our separate ways on the third day of the trip, but it'll still be nice to travel together and to get to spend at least a few days in this place that we both love.

We'll be flying from Texas to South Florida on the 10th, spending what I'm sure will be a comfortable and restful night at the airport (<---sarcasm), and then arriving in Port au Prince in the morning on the 11th.  We'll both spend the first two nights of the trip at Heartline's fantastic guesthouse, and then on the 13th, Paul will head out to Cazale for the week to work with Real Hope for Haiti.  As I've done on my past two trips, I'm planning to split my time between Notre Maison and Heartline, though I will probably be spending more time at Heartline this time.  We'll fly back to South Florida on May 20th, and then we'll be renting a car and driving up to North Florida to visit our family for a few days before returning to Texas on the 22nd.  It's going to be a full 12 days (and I'm sure it'll all go by too fast)!

with baby Raphael at Heartline
(November 2011)

As always, we would greatly appreciate your prayers as we travel.  A few specific requests:

1. That we would joyfully, humbly, and selflessly serve those around us.
2. That the Lord would use this trip to teach us more about Himself and His heart for those in need.
3. For me, for wisdom in deciding when to be at Notre Maison and when to be at Heartline. I very much want to be both places the whole time, which obviously is not possible.  Since this is a shorter trip, I'm especially aware of time constraints.

Due to the craziness of the past few months, pretty much the only trip preparation I've managed to this point -- 8 days before we leave! -- is setting up the travel arrangements.  My boss and I had been planning to take advantage of Starbucks' month of community service in April to collect items for Heartline at our store, but unfortunately that ended up falling through.  So instead of already having suitcases full of donated items, I have...nothing.  Not the end of the world, because I can (and will) go buy as many of their requested items as possible, but if anyone is interested in helping me finance this, it would be greatly appreciated!  Click here to donate.

Again, thank you all for your prayers and encouragement and support.  I'll try to update as much as possible from Haiti!