Halfway Mark

“Faith is a radar which sees through the fog—the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.” Corrie Ten Boom

My Moringa trees are growing!

Halfway mark…although this has been a tough couple days, I am already dreading having to leave this clinic and my little ones. It has been rainy and unusually cool this past week. The damp air has made a resurgence of illness. I have many kids with combinations of coughs, runny noses, diarrhea, ear infections, scrapes, and burns. Every time I turn around another little one has something new. To top that off they love the attention from me so the ones that are healthy make up illnesses to have an excuse to find Miss Elizabeth.  I love them so much its hard not to smile. Today I came back to the house with one on each hand, under each arm, and hanging on to the back of my skirt. Ken said “Where did you leave your flute?”  I am not the pied piper, but I certainly don’t get lonely down here.  

Marla, Ken, and I have been present at many meals this week. We are pushing to make sure the kids get their food on time. Also are working on what they eat. Figured out that with what they cook they use a gallon of oil everyday. They use a lot of oil because it’s their culture, but also because it takes longer to digest. This way the kids don’t feel hungry as often. No wonder these kids get sick so often.  We are working on bringing about change, but it takes time. 

My Moringa trees are growing! Samantha and I cheated by cutting some branches from the old Moringa this week. It is better to use young Moringa leaves, but with all the illness I have been desperate for more vitamins for my kids. The Moringa dried well, and I now have Ken very excited about the Moringa. We discovered that it takes a large amount of leaves to get the powder to amount to anything. So hopefully, once we get our goat situation taken care of we will start a bigger grove of Moringa by the back wall.  Ken is going to build me a drying box for the Moringa when the container gets here. That is another prayer Item. We need Food for the Poor to approve our container, so we can receive many needed supplies.

Taught the high school girls how to make pizza this week. My goat cheese made a great topper!

Claire and my favorite little lady! Even in Haiti we have frequent flyers. 

Clinic Story of the week. This lady had been to a hospital for an umbilical infection. The Doctor had given her an oral antibiotic and sent her home. She then came to my clinic the following week complaining that her infection had not cleared up.  "I am using the medication the doctor gave me. I crush it and put it in my belly button." Simple miscommunication!

“It is good and proper for a man to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life. . . . God enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God” Ecclesiastes 5:18-19