Well-travelled computers

In 2006 just before we left, Bucks County Community College in Newtown, PA gave us 5 Pentium 3 desktop computers. Thank you BCCC!

We put these computers on the Box truck we were shipping to Haiti and they arrived in Port-au-Prince in January of 2007.

Since then they have been used to teach typing to about 20 girls in an orphanage and just the other day we gave them to College Evangelique Maranatha (CEM) for their computer lab. CEM is one of the best primary and secondary schools in Haiti with over 90% of their students passing the national exams every year.

CEM has over 400 students, so the computers will get lots of use and benefit lots of students.

We were limited in the number of schools that could use desk top computers because they use a lot of electricity. In addition they are very heavy and expensive to ship.

Now we are looking for laptop computers since they are lighter and don't use as much electricity. Please let us know if you know of any places that might want to donate used laptops to Haiti!

Senatorial Elections in Haiti

Tomorrow (Sunday, April 19th) are the senatorial elections in Haiti. There is the possibility of some violence because one of the political parties has been banned from participating.

In order to reduce the possibility of violence, the UN and Haitian police have said that no cars, trucks or motorcyles are allowed on the road tomorrow at all.

This will not disrupt the elections since all the polling places are done by neighborhood and people can walk to where they need to vote.

Please pray for Haiti during this crucial time in their political history!

pray for Lt. Berretti

Well, I went back to the Navy Base on Monday since we didn't have school and Dr. Berretti adjusted me again. I feel great. BUT, please pray for Dr. Berretti, he caught a bad cough and was feeling terrible, but working anyway.

Answer to prayer about my back

While I was interpreting at the naval base for the Comfort Ship doctors (see older post), there was a lull in the flow of paitents and the doctor I worked with asked “What about you? Do you have anything that needs medical attention?” I mentioned my back and he turned to a doctor next to us, Lieutenant Barretti. I couldn't believe there was an Osteopathic Dr. who knows how to do adjustments right next to us! He adjusted my back right then and I felt much better! This was amazing because not all osteopaths do adjustments. I had been praying for God to provide some way for me to get help since I’m almost positive there are no chiropractors in Haiti. And God put me in that room with that doctor! In fact, I just realized, I wasn’t planning to go on this trip until after I prayed for help for my back and the teacher in charge of the trip happened to sit next to me at lunch and asked me if I could fill in on any of the days during Easter weekend because they didn’t have enough people. What’s really neat is that Pam had no idea what God had planned. I think Pam felt like I feel sometimes when I have to ask people to take on another task when they already have so much going AND it’s a holiday, or something else—ugh! But really she was being used by God to schedule me for a surprise! We can’t forget that in such mundane things like getting people to sign up to go on community service projects, we are doing angel-type work! What a privilege.
And I'm so thankful for Dr. Barretti!

Interpreting on the USNS Comfort Navy ship

I had such a great time interpreting for the doctors of the Comfort Ship. So much, that I’m hoping to go back Monday! And the students had the same reaction—of the 8 students we brought, two were already signed up for the next day and four others asked if they could join in for another day! So today we provided 15 interpreters even though our school only got two days off for Easter.

When I got to school at about 6:15 am all the students had already arrived and the bus from the U.N. was there already. It was air-conditioned and comfortable.

Police escort was really cool! Two officers on motorcycle went in front of us and cleared the way so we didn't get stuck in any traffic and there was a police vehicle behind us with 4 officers, flashing lights and siren! The one I talked to was very nice too. At first we were taken to another site where consultations are going on in Cite Soleil by mistake, but then we were taken over to the Admiral Killick Naval Base.

We were all a little disappointed because we ended up working on the base and never getting on the ship. The military personnel were so nice with us and several of them really wanted to take us on a tour at least, but we could see it was difficult for them to make that happen on the first day. (The ship is out in the harbor; we could see it, but you have to take a small boat ride to get to it.) Apparently interpreters will be needed on the ship starting Monday when they start to do surgery. We assured the officers that we were there to help in any way they needed us to. If we had talked them into a tour, they would not have had enough interpreters. As it was, sometimes doctors had to “share” interpreters. For today, we worked in 2 rooms right next to each other and we able to help each other out if someone didn't understand something. We worked with pediatricians, ophthalmologists, dermatologists and other specialists. It was hot in there.

I worked with an emergency room doctor who introduced himself as Andy. We were expecting formality, salutes and everything, but the military medical personnel were all really nice and informal and humble. It's such a small world, he actually knows Richard's cousin Matt Pommer who is a dentist in the Navy because they are both in Virginia Beach. The doctors were anxious to treat as patients as possible and they were very respectful of cultural differences. They were open to explaining things to us if we were interested, which was an excellent opportunity for our students.

My first surprise was that our first patient was deaf! I hadn’t mentioned to anyone that I know sign language, so everybody was flabbergasted when he and I started signing to each other. That was fun. Actually I didn’t understand the young man that well. He seemed to have developmental problems too. And, even though Andy ran to get a specialist who came and examined him too, there was nothing the comfort ship crew could do for him. He looked so sad. But other cases were much more positive. Some were sent right to the surgeons for consultation and are most likely receiving operations this week. Many received diagnoses, medication and vitamins.

Hopefully I'll get to go back on Monday and I'll update you about that.
Carol

Good Friday in Haiti

The contrast couldn't be more stark: The terrible racket of home-made horns and drums of "RARA" bands versus the beautiful sining of Haitian's singing God's praises with thankful hearts for the Salvation Christ earned for them on "Good Friday" 2,000 years ago.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I listened to the song "Via Dolorosa" this morning while in the background RARA bands were playing. There are still so many here who embrace Voodoo and are celebrating today because it is the day Christ died. It is one of the biggest Voodoo holidays of the year - Satan's suppossed day of victory.

But they forget the rest of the story - that three days later, Christ rose from the dead and won eternal victory over death and Satan. They forget that Christ will return a second time as King and not as a suffering servant.

Good Friday is why we are here in Haiti, and our strength comes not from us, but from Christ's Resurrection.

So we wish all of you a blessed Resurrection day and ask you to continue to pray for our work in Haiti!

America at its best - Hospital ship arrives in Haiti

Carol and a group of students and parents from Quisqueya Christian School are helping to translate for doctors and nurses on the USNS Comfort, the Navy's "floating hospital" that visits countries in need of medical help in peacetime and support Navy operations in war.

In my opinion, this is America at its best! Using the vast resources God has given us as a country to help others, as Navy personnel and US and Haitian volunteers work hand in hand.

The ship is a technological wonder with 12 operating rooms and 1,000 beds.

Carol hopes to post some pictures later today!

Interpreting on the USNS Comfort Navy ship tomorrow

I'm excited to spend Good Friday this year helping out with translating for doctors on board the Navy ship USNS Comfort. The ship is huge! About 2 football fields long, 100 yards wide and 6 stories high. It will be here for about 2 weeks providing medical care and humanitarian assistance in general for some of the poorest of Haiti.


Joy wants to help out so badly too, but it's bad timing for her so it might not work out.


Check out this youtube video about the ship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRmKfbHQ5a0&feature=channel_page

Great Trip to Gonaives and Verettes

We just got back safely from our trip. Daniel Jean-Louis, Ronald William and Jackie Klamer (who helped us with the Jen@biz business training seminar last October) went on a long roadtrip to visit with some business leaders in Gonaives who are trying to hold a conference to encourage more people to start businesses in Gonaives after they suffered their second flood in 3 years last November.

I also visited with the Ambassadors in Sport regional committee that lost all the soccer equipment we had given them in 2007 in the flood.

I was very impressed with the 9-member committee in Gonaives and their enthusiasm for the work. On Tuesday morning at 6 AM I did a soccer training with them on a dusty field and also got to share Gospel with them and another team that we invited to train with us.

During a team meeting I told them my personal testimony of how my Father died when I was only 11 years old and also did a Bible study with them on how to live at peace with others.

Our next stop was Verettes where we did a training on Tuesday afternoon for the U-14 team we have their (That made 2 soccer coaching sessions in one day for me!). Then in the evening we had a meeting with 5 members of the Regional Committee in Verettes.

Out of the seven teams that we trained and gave equipment to, only five have participated in planning events in the past year, so we are going to try and encourage the other two teams to be more active.

Then this morning (Wednesday, April 8th) we did another soccer trianing with the boys and girls teams and then did a Bible study with them on peacemaking.

The girls team in Verettes were particularly thrilled to be able to play with Jackie Klammer since they don't often get to see women soccer players as role models.

Thanks to all who prayed for our safety!

One person's sins affect us all

Somehow we think that when we sin, it only hurts us, but this is not true. The Bible says that what we do in secret will one day be exposed for all the world to see. God punished all the people of Israel when Achan disobeyed God's instructions. (Joshua 7)

It always made me mad in grade school when one kid would do something wrong, and the whole class would be punished for it.

Well, so many Haitian young men have defected to the US after getting Visas that the US government has virtually stoped giving Visas to young Haitian men. Because a few have sinned, 94% of Haitian young men are now having their Visa requests rejected.

Therefore, we have decided not to try and re-apply for a Visa for Obias to go the the US this summer. We will continue to pray about it and perhaps apply next summer.

In the meantime, Obias will be active in ministry with us this summer, so the US's loss is our gain!