Nearly One Month in Haiti

Well, January is nearly over. The time has flown by and we have been busy. We have hosted several teams and have been doing some more to make the Guest House a welcoming and comfortable place.

A new white plastic table and 4 chairs have been added to the downstairs veranda. This makes a good place to play games in the evening and to have meetings in the afternoon. Bright tropical motif fabric cushions have been added to the white rocker and the wicker chairs there as well.
Some of the wicker furniture was moved to the upstairs veranda and bright fabric cushions and pillows added. This makes a good place for teams to gather in the evening or for reading and "sunning" in the afternoon. Both places are very colorful and inviting.

Our Botique is set up on the corners of the dining room. We have a variety of local crafts and some of our jams and jellies for sale. Actually it has been very well received and we have over sold our original investment.

A serving table has been added in the dining room so that we can serve buffet style meals and folks can set where they want including going to the veranda. This has been a real time saver and makes mealtime much smoother.

There was a team of 12 here for overnight last night. They had been doing a medical mission north of here in the mountains. They brought down 5 active children. Four of them were on their way to an orphanage in Port au Prince due to the inablity of their families to care for them. The one older boy had suffered a stroke at age 10 so will stay here in Cayes for some therapy and the treatment of a severe burn on his leg.

The sweetest part was that they also had a baby with them to go on the PaP to an orphanage. This baby was 3 months old and weighed only 5.5 pounds. He was smaller than a new born. When the mother brought him to the team he had not eaten in 8 days. She had no milk to nurse him and there was no formula to buy in the store in their village. This is not an isolated case. It happens more times than we would like to believe. It was a tough decision to not keep him here to be sure he would get the care he needed. Feeding was nearly constant due to the small amount he could take at one time. We will continue to pray that he continues to thrive.

A team of 18 will be here next Friday. That will be a real test of our abilities.

Please continue to pray for all of us, the Haitian people, little Johnny, and others who have no "daily bread".

Catch the next edition in a week or so. Virginia and Jack