Tuesday, February 17, 2005

Janice, Hope, Cathy and I went to work at the Alpha Omega Clinic today with Drs. Vlad and Merline.  Seeing the fixed clinic was awesome and knowing how hard the doctors have worked to make this happen was so exciting.  They are truly God's people who love their country and their people.  The lived in a tent and still managed to practice medicine after the earthquake taking care of others.  They established mobile clinics and went to the people to provide healthcare.  I was fortunately enough to work with them on my three previous trips.  I love them so much and am so proud of them.  They are in the process of buying land to build an official clinic and eventually a surgery center.  God has used them in a mighty way.

When we arrived, a lady came in who was pregnant and was dilated but the sent her to walk a little bit and try to progress even further.  She came back in around noon and was ready to be hooked up to the IV and begin to deliver her baby girl she was going to name Mary Laura.  She pushed for 4+ hours with no pain medicine, no modern conveniences that our hospitals have.  She is a tough woman. Through her labor, Dr. Merline was able to share her story of how when she found out she was pregnant, she wanted to have an abortion.  Dr. Merline refused but did provide her with an ultrasound and then she left.  A few days later, she called Dr. Merline and said she was keeping the baby.  She is a second year law student in Haiti and if she had the baby, she would lose her funding for school. The people who were helping her, would not help any longer. As she was in labor, she shared that she wanted to go back to school and finish her law degree.  We were able to meet her mom and husband through her labor although they were not in the room with her.  

At 4:08 PM, her 7 lb (estimate) baby girl was born.  She decided to name the baby Julie Marceline, after me.  I was honored to be a part of this special day and praying to continue to be a part of her life as long as God allows.  

Since I was not a part of the construction team this time, I don't have alot of updates but I do know from sharing time at night that they made alot of progress and got the materials they needed to continue working on the chicken house.  God is using Romil in a mighty way and it has been exciting to see him grow over the last 4-1/2 years!  He needs all our support (financially) we can provide and continual prayers!  He is doing great things in Haiti by providing a church in a community that practices voodoo, providing a school that hopefully one day will also provide school to learn a trade (brick laying, sewing, etc).  He has become a pastor, which is a huge honor in Haiti to be recognized by the government as a pastor, taken in family members, teaching Haitians how to be self sufficient, etc.  

Prayers:  Baby Julie and family, clinic tomorrow, construction team.