Couldn't happen to me!

Well, maybe it could. I got an email from a lady on the west coast that I knew very little about other then I felt she was a good person and was basically interested in humanity. She was originally an Australian but I came to know her when she visited Haiti a number of years back and spent a day at one of my clinics. That happened to be one of those sort of unforgettable days that we have occasionally at the clinic. On that day a mother brought her three week old baby of whom she had given it nothing to eat for the past five days because the baby was sick and she thought her milk "wasn't good." We spent most of our afternoon pumping the mother's breast, collecting the milk, and giving it to this almost comatose baby via a 3cc syringe. Since Kay had little else to do she was the designated syringe/milk handler. We took lots of pictures and have used that picture of Kay's hands at work trying to keep this extremely little one alive at almost every church where we visited for the past four years. I have kept in occasional contact with Kay and we even recently became official Friends on Facebook. You should know that a friend on Facebook is almost one step above marriage if you know what I mean.

So now to the email. Actually it was not an email but rather a direct message that was sent to me through Facebook. She first told me that she had something very important to talk with me about as soon as she heard from me. I wrote back and asked her about her problem.

Kay introduced it by letting me know that she had been traveling in Africa with a group that visits one of three extremely impoverished countries and works with clinics that deal with the HIV problem. She was in the country of Nigeria for the past couple weeks but yesterday she was riding in a taxi, forgot her purse when she got out, and had the purse, all her money and credit cards stollen, and her passport was gone. Knowing Kay, this could all be credible.

Then she went on to tell me that the management of the hotel where she was saying was irritated with her knowing that there was a chance that they wouldn't their money. She went on to say that she didn't know what else to do except write to me to see if she could humbly ask me to loan her $1050 for her hotel bill and $1350 to help her get another plane ticket and also for food until she make it home.

Now Kay is a friend of mine (I did say that we were friends on facebook didn't I)but not one that I would think of as a last ditch effort to keep me from being roughed up by hotel owners in deep dark Africa. So, I told her I'd get back with her.

I then wrote to her via her Hotmail account which I didn't think would be used by anybody but her, let her know that I thought someone else had probably stollen her Facebook account and was using it to try to get money out of her friends. BUT, if it was really her in need that I would try to get some money to her in time for her to hold off those evil hotel thugs.

A couple hours later I got the followup via Hotmail that she understood why I had question but that it was really her and she was still in great need.

I responded that I needed her to send me the name and address of the hotel where she was staying along with their phone number. Also I needed at least her home phone number and the phone number of at least one other friend that is near her home on the coast.

Then it hit me that I had the email of the person who first directed Kay to my work here in Haiti. So I wrote to Sandra, sent her all my emails both received and sent from "Kay," and asked her to try to get hold of someone who could confirm this awful story before I began to break my piggy bank to send it to Africa.

Well, Sandra called kay at home. Someone had stollen her Facebook account, did away with all her contact information, and somehow got the password to her Homail account.

So, there you have it. I just let them, whoever them is that I will call them soon as I can when I get in from my clinic tonight. Would love to get these guys.

And so it goes

A little wind for a couple days

ONE OF THOSE GOOD ONES

There are those weeks that just go by but occasionally I find one that helps me feel that maybe there really is a reason for my existence. Don't get me wrong, it's not all that frequent.

This past Sunday after church I was asked by a friend if I could help them out and give a shot to a young boy for them. He was 17 years old but when you're 60 he was still young. It seems that he needed some penicillin Benzathine Penicillin as a prophylaxis for a mitral valve regurgitation that he has been under a doctor's care for for a couple years. I said that I would do it but I wanted to take the time to listen to his murmur before giving him the shot. I am rather personally involved with mitral valves since I had a rather massive prolapse in my 40's and would have long gone by now (or at least displaced) had it not been for a number of very loving and proactive friends of mine who happened to be in the medical field.

When I listened to Robert's chest I heard nothing but a normal chest with no murmurs. Well, since I was there to give a shot and not to play doctor I went ahead and gave it which was no fun. This type of penicillin is almost a glue-like substance especially when it is given in 5cc doses. Needless to say this young man was not without complaints about his treatment. I didn't blame him.

Just to satisfy my personal questions I asked Robert's mother if I could get a copy of his medical records to look at and possibly have someone else to check through. By last Wednesday she got them to me and since they were in French and also in detailed medical terms they were basically useless to me but when I stopped at Dr. Theard's office on Friday he was kind enough to look at them for me. He wasn't surprised that I couldn't hear a murmur since he discovered that Robert's heart was still of a normal size and this mitral regurgitation was extreme minor at the present. Not only will Robert not have to have the shots every other week but he would not need the expensive echo cardiogram every 6 months but would have to be checked out when he had time in "five years or so."

I wish you could have seen the shear relief and tears of joy when I told Robert's mother that Robert wouldn't have to have those shots and that he should have a relatively normal life. It was giving her a new son back.

Sometimes we have these days! I'll take them.

And so it goes. John

The Deluge

We didn’t know anything about a low pressure system until we woke up, checked the email, and found a few people who were concerned for our safety because a hurricane named Gustav was supposedly passing through Haiti. You couldn’t prove it by me but we did check the weather websites and did see that Gustav was heading to the southern coast of Haiti. So of course we got breakfast in preparation to go to school and out to our daily chores. That idea ended when we got a call from the school telling us that school would be canceled because we were to get 20” of rain. I know, you would say that there are no such days as rain days but you just don’t live in Haiti I guess.

As we sat finishing our breakfast it quickly became obvious why we didn’t go to school. The mountain in front of our house disappeared in a huge rain cloud and the rain began falling at a horrendous rate. That was five hours ago and it is yet to leave up.

Feel sorry for us? Don’t. We are still warm and dry. This gives us a chance to catch up on some things that needed done. Since we returned from our Home Assignment in the States just last Wednesday there is still a lot to unpack and clean up. I’ve done some of that but feel that this little article for the blog is more important. I stopped writing sometime last Spring since I just couldn’t get motivated to do it. I am now writing because I have a mother-in-law who continually wants to know “why do you have a blog and not write on it?” Well, this is for her. My life’s obligation for the week is almost finished. Thanks, Jacq, I needed to do this. Now back to the rain.

If you’re a praying person do ask for protection for the many Haitians who because of the rain are now or will later be struggling to keep the heads of themselves and their children above water. We are so blessed to have the mountain to our backs to protect us from the rain, wind, and flooding and also a dry cement block house to keep us dry. Most of the people here live in houses in low lying areas that are very vulnerable to flooding. Their tin roofs don’t protect them from the rain like ours do, and their floors are made of packed mud. Even the foundations are in danger of being swept away by the raging flood water.

And so it goes, Not always the way we like it to go!

John

Instead of Bringing Down the Prices
They Brought Down the Prime Minister

Well, it has been a fun week! We spent most of it inside our house since it was too dangerous to get out and run around. School was canceled for the week and I went ahead and gave into the obvious and canceled the Thursday clinic.

One thing that made it particularly difficult for us was that we had visitors. Jessica's friend from South Carolina was here. They spent most of their week watching DVDs of Gilmore Girls. Now wouldn't you like to take your spring break and fly to the Caribbean and watch old videos? Also Jess, a young teacher from Michigan who used to teach at Quisqueya was in town and was stuck in another home where we couldn't get to visit with her. Anyway, on Friday we did get out and went to see Jess,who had been sick all week. I guess if you're going to be closed up in a home for a week you may as well be sick.

So both the visitors are now gone. The looting, rock throwing, tire burning, and demonstrations are now history. Of course the prices are still going to be too high for most Haitians to purchase food for their family but they have the satisfaction of knowing that their mass destruction has led to a change in the government. It seems that those who were protesting agreed to stop if the Prime Minister was fired. So it happened. One more out of a job and a population who still can't eat. Sounds normal to me!

And so it goes!

John