August 31

AMANDA, THOUGHTS, INVESTING





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July 19

MATERNITY TRANSPORT/WE CAN DO BETTER

Women are vulnerable when they are in labor.  They can get exhausted if they labor for hours and those that care for them can get weary as well.  We are incredibly proud of our beautiful maternity center and we respect and love the women in our program.  Each woman receives quality care, lovely surroundings, sweet new baby clothes, fresh clothes for herself, a bathroom to herself, and two midwives at her service.  This is her reward for faithful attendance to our program throughout her pregnancy.  Our goal is to have a healthy mom and baby happily breast feeding within a reasonable amount of time.
Occasionally complications come our way and we have to look for others to help.  We have back up medical professionals an email and phone call away.  People with our same passion and commitment to these women and their health.
Over the weekend we had two laboring gals.  One has had high blood pressure over the last several weeks.  The other had her water break and needed to deliver within a certain amount of time.  Labor and delivery can be like a game of chess - working each move with skill, thinking through all the possible outcomes and working with what we have available to us here in Haiti.
The decision came after two days to transport to a hospital for both ladies for different reasons.   This rarely happens but when it does it is a disappointment and a concern that a woman receive higher quality care then what we can give.
Our weekend had been consumed with these ladies.  On Sunday night we headed out to find a hospital to take our gal.  For various reasons our choices are limited.  Of course it was raining, and we headed our with our little family, food and their grocery sacks of supplies loaded on their laps.  We ended up at a government hospital that has joined up with an international organization.   Rain, mud, finding parking, twists and turns  in the dark  we finally found ourselves at a very old and run down building.
The Haitian resident doctor  was kind, accommodating, and helpful.  Yes, he knew of our mom we sent for high blood pressure this morning.  We took her BP every 15- 30 minutes.  They had not taken it in 12 hours.  He grabbed a BP cuff to take it, oh, the cuff was broken.
He discussed our two cases with us,  he satisfied us with his responses for right choices and we gave over our ladies to join hundreds of other moaning, laboring, walking, sitting ladies. All vulnerable, probably all afraid, all wanting to make it out alive.
We hadn't slept in many hours, it was night, but the conditions of this hospital sent my head spinning.  I saw two doctors and one nurse for many, many laboring women.  The plight of Haiti - understaffed and overworked.  Broken equipment, no sheets, no supplies, bare, dirty, rooms, no clean up crew rushing over for every spill of vomit and blood.  Joanna spoke as an expert midwife to the doctor giving over the dossier  while I stood there, looking around, trying to keep back the flood of emotions.  I so wanted to grab our ladies and head back to our clean, sterile maternity center.  But they have what we don't.  An operating room for a possible c-section.  We know our limits, we know when care is beyond our skills.
I envisioned our ladies grabbing our bodies and hanging on as we headed our the door.  They didn't.  The hugged and kissed us with promises to call when babies were born.  They accepted this.  They are poor, Haitian and this is what hospital means to them.  They were not appalled as we were.  They were not fighting back tears.  They were not thinking human beings should not birth in places like this.  They understood.
I don't understand.  And as a person with power I have to advocate and fight for them.  We can be a voice for them.  Hospitals should have equipment, clean sheets and women should be treated with dignity.
Our prenatal program services 20 pregnant women at a time.  We lavish them with good care, dignity, love and respect.  All women should have this.  We feel ownership once a woman joins our program and we have a commitment to see her through till that child is six months old and flourishing.
Sometimes pregnancy means complications especially with an impoverished population.  We can only go so far when dealing with these complications.  I want a better transport option.  I want quality care in decent surroundings.  This should not be a luxury for the wealthy only.  All laboring women should be guaranteed good care in a clean environment.
If we can't find it here then we have to take action.  We either need more money to send our ladies to the hospitals that only the rich and powerful can afford to go to or we expand and provide a hospital ourselves.  Let's do it.  A small hospital with clean sheets, equipment that works, a caring staff and patients that come out whole in body and spirit.  Our field hospital showed us that this is a possibly.  We can do it and we can do it well.

Beth McHoul

Help Heartline help the women in our care.  Click here to donate.



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August 21

Student Sponsorship & Sewing Teachers

STUDENT SPONSORSHIP CARDS

Heartline continues to move forward in it first Student Sponsorship program. We as you can see from the Heartline Sponsorship ID Cards above have identified 51 students.  Whoa, you probably thought that we were starting with 50 students, as did I until this morning.  As I today was looking over the cards, I saw one card with the pictures of two children on it. I asked Pierre, who is doing the legwork to start this program, why this card had the pictures of two children on it.  He told me that the children are twins and they want to do everything together and if only one got her photo taken, then the other one would be hurt or jealous.  So I of course asked if we were sending both of them to school and he told me no.  So now I begin trying to figure it out.  We have twins who do “all” (watch out for generalizations) things together including having both their pictures on the id card which is only for one student; but we aren’t sending both these the twins, who do “all” things together. Go figure.  So obviously this had to be rectified and so we have added one for student, the other twin and at least for now each will have her own Heartline Student Sponsorship ID card.   Click here to find out more about the Student Sponsorship Program? 

 

SEWING PROGRAM TEACHERS

Recently Heartline honored its sewing program teachers by taking them (actually I drove them and then came and got them and paid the bill when they called me to let me know they were finished) to a cloth napkin, as opposed to a paper napkin restaurant.  We also call this the heavy plate restaurant as the plates are like a set of weights. They asked if I would like to sit and eat with them, but I’m sure that they were just being polite.  These ladies are a blessing.

We are working daily to prepare for the next sewing class that starts in September!

John

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August 20

HAIR & NAILS & LAUGHTER & FUN & LOVE & RESPECT
Haitian ladies are into hair and nails.  Serious artwork here.  Hair braiding is social, uniting women in conversation, gossip, laughter, touch and community.  American women may do lunch or do coffee - Haitian women do hair.  They work swiftly and with precision and care that would rival any pro knitter or quilter.  Their hands move with speed and perfection.  The end products are often creative and lovely.  Hair is a statement of womanhood, femininity, beauty and friendship.  Chatting over hair is what we do around here.  I'll often pop into the hospital at night and the gals, including the nurses, are sitting around doing hair.  It's serious stuff.
Not having your hair done means you can't go out or you find a cap.  Rain is disastrous.  A shower cap is appropriate hair wear in the rainy season.  Gotta protect the lid.
When a visiting stateside friend and adoptive mom offered to do hair and nails for our pregnant ladies I quickly signed her up.  Not that she would be doing the hair.  White ladies can't do hair as is evidenced by many an adoptive child once they go home to the states.  But, Kathy's Haitian daughter Magolie would be doing the hair.  Now we were talking.  Nails can be done by well meaning white ladies - not hair.
Magolie and her helpers did a fine job and ladies left looking quite lovely.  Our maternity center transformed into a beauty parlor for a few hours and feet were massaged, nails were shaped and hair was washed, conditioned and braided.
Women doing what women do - loving each other, weaving hair and weaving relationships.  Chatting, laughing and making each other more whole.

Beth McHoul




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August 11

REMEMBER THE CHILDREN
AUGUST 16, 2010

After a few months of several meetings with people in a section of Cite Soleil, Haiti's infamous slum, and after much discussion and prayer Heartline is moving toward sponsoring 50 children to go to school.  Of the 50 children, 46 will be from Cite Soleil and 4 from the Delmas area of Haiti.

WHY?  It isn't as if we are not way busy already as we endeavor to touch lives and make a difference in Haiti.  We are expanding our programs and have even purchased land where we will build among other things a 20 bed clinic.  We are stretched thin, work long hours, and seemingly have no time for another activities.  And yet there are times when God says, "I want you to do this and I will provide the strength, support group, and the finances to make this happen." And this is one of those times.







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August 13

A LATE NIGHT TRANSPORT/WE WILL DO BETTER!!!
It's near to 11:00 PM and most people are home in bed.  In my exaggerated thinking of the moment I feel like only scoundrels and midwives are out in Haiti this time of night.  Here I am doing another transport after a 24 hour labor and delivery effort that ended in no delivery.    When a c/section looms our choices are limited.  The small hospital with no doctor or the huge hospital with few doctors and hundreds of women.  I chose the later.
Carline is 18, single, sweet and eager to please.  Although exhausted she responded to our every suggestion and was totally cooperative for two full days.  She sat defeated when we explained our findings  but she understood only one thing - we meant transport.  She cried.  We cried.
In the rainy dark we loaded up my car.  Two guards, one grandma, a nurse, a cousin, the mom-to-be and me.  Off we went.  The empty streets were full of puddles, trash and the occasional group of people brave enough to be out this late.  I speed past Cite Soleil.  I enjoy the speed, the lack of traffic jam, the empty streets.  I hate the reason I am on them.
I've been to this hospital twice before, I am prepared.  I've even made an acquaintance of  one of the doctors shaking my head in understanding as he told me how overcrowded they are.  I can see that.
If I thought last time was crowded tonight seemed doubled.   Laboring women were everywhere.  On benches, lying on the floor, on beds, walking about, yelling, crying, screaming and moaning.   Every hallway had laboring women on the floor.  Blood spots here and there.  Trash all around.  The new doctor I meet tells me yes, he agrees, our gal probably will need a c/section but she has to wait in line.  There are several before her.  I'm now moaning along with the laboring women.
I'm filled with disappointment, guilt and frustration as I leave this teenager here.  Due to government legalities I am not allowed to stay and help.  My heart is sick.  The doctor doesn't want one more patient and I don't want to leave our patient here.
We drive home in silence.    Once again I am defeated by the inability to provide a woman with a safe birth.    A woman we have cared for for months.  She knows us, she trusts us, she believed we would help her through this birth experience and now I find that we are not able to finish the job.  We are a maternity center and not a hospital.  We can only handle normal births.  Explain this to a frightened 18 year old who is staring at the multitude of swollen bellies, sweat, urine, vomit, blood and amniotic fluid all around her.
We clean up our fluids quickly, we give Gatorade with a straw, we wipe foreheads with cool cloths, we hug, we check on baby and mom continuously.  Not so in this hospital for the poor.
I'm not blaming the overworked staff.  The residents are doing their jobs under terrible circumstances.  Foreign groups are making huge efforts at the free hospitals to make a difference.
It is not enough.  The conditions are like out of an old horror movie but it is all too real.  Too real for Carline.  Too real for all the women that have to go there because they don't have money to go anywhere else.  Somehow they come out with a baby.  Most of the time.
This is not acceptable for our transports.  The women entrusted to our care should not end up in overcrowded hospitals with broken equipment and filthy conditions if they need more care than we can give.
Heartline is committed to building a 20 bed hospital.  We need safe deliveries, safe surgeries and quality postpartum care.  Every transport nightmare reinforces to me how important this is.   Just ask Carline.
Beth McHoul



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August 10

PASSION



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August 09

MUCH IS HAPPENING

 

Beth and I were talking the other day and we both agreed that we could blog more if we weren’t so busy and if we didn’t have so many different things going on.

I do want to take some time to update you about some things are have happened and are happening.  Your prayers and support continue to make a huge difference.

 

AMANDA

 

 

We have been working and praying to get Amanda to the States, specifically to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for treatment of the injuries that she suffered when a larger house fell on top of the one room cement house in which she lived and then caused her house to collapse on top of her.  She suffered a broken leg and her left arm/shoulder was severely injured requiring special surgery which can not be obtained in Haiti.  You have prayed with us and have given to help with Amanda’s non medical costs and now it is my joy and pleasure to tell you that Amanda has been accepted by the Mayo Clinic and last week she received her visa from the American Consulate in Port au Prince, and she will be traveling in about two weeks to the Mayo Clinic.  Since receiving the visa, she has had a steady stream of visitors that want to be sure to see her before she travels.  Amanda who is usually loud and outgoing has been kind of quiet since receiving news that soon she will be traveling.  This will be her first time traveling by air, she will be leaving her family and country and of course there is her concern about her medical condition.  She more than once has spoken to me about being discouraged because all the other patients were getting better and leaving but she was still in the hospital and her arm was not better and she still couldn’t use it.  I several times assured her that we were working for her and dozens of people were praying and that we would not give up.  Thank you for being there with us and please keep on praying.

 

 

MARJORIE

Marjorie lost her left hand when the school she was attending collapsed on her where she stay buried under the rubble for three days until she was rescued.   Heartline recently put up a house for her as the house that she had lived in was also destroyed during the earthquake.

 

Marjorie is pictured left with the grandmother of one of our patients and on the right she is standing with some of the patients and friends who joined us as we took Marjorie home.  It was an emotional time and a time of uncertainty as Marjorie has been with us for months and now she is must acclimate back into life outside of the Heartline field hospital.  but now it will be life with a missing left hand.  She and some of the others started crying when just before we left her and prayed as the group began to tell her that they loved her and would miss her.

Praying for Marjorie

 

 

SEWING SCHOOL GRADUATION

 

On August 6th the Heartline Sewing Program held its graduation with 15 ladies graduating.  These ladies worked hard and to meet the requirements to graduate.  We already have 45 enrolled in the next class which starts in mid September.  These ladies are amazing and you can check out some of their work by going to Haitian Creations

 

STUDENT SPONSORSHIP

 

After much prayer and work Heartline  for the 2010/11 school year will sponsor 50 children from Cite Soleil to attend school. We have been working on this for several weeks and were able to nail down details.  Please go to our website for more info.

 

 

PURCHASED LAND

Heartline has purchased three acres of land on which we among others things will build a 20 bed clinic.  Stay tune for more details.

 

PRAYER REQUEST

• The remaining several patients in our field hospital
• We have had a container of supplies held up at the port in Saint Marc for a few months.  The authorities there are extremely difficult to work.  This is an issue for many organizations that have humanitarian supplies stuck at the ports.  Please pray that we can get this container out and move on to other things
• Our new student sponsorship program

Thank you for joining with us as we endeavor to be the hands of Christ in Haiti.

John McHoul

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July 31

DJENIE & KENNY: A TEENAGE MOM AND HER SON

 

We met Djenie when baby Kenny was 3 days old, weighed 3 pounds  and was very sick.  Our big, white truck was doing its rounds in lower Boston, Cite Soleil and found them among several others who were wounded and sick.  Kenny needed to be treated and Djenie who was in the midst of post-partum  was frightened of us and  wanted to go home.  She didn't know what to do with this baby and didn't know what to make of us.  Our doctors treated Kenny, we worked with her on breast-feeding and sent them home as soon as possible since she was so despondent being with us.
Three weeks later they returned on our big white truck.  He still weighed 3 pounds and Djenie had a raging breast infection.  I was attending to Djenie while nurses took Kenny who was wrapped in a blanket.  He was near death.  Our medical team jumped into action and life saving measures were taken for this little guy.  We sped him to Miami Field hospital where he stayed for several weeks.  That first night we were sure he would die.  Djenie was sure he was fine and kept wanting to go home.  When it finally sunk in that he wasn't fine she wailed with a wail that broke our hearts.  God hears.
Day after day we brought Djenie to the field hospital to visit.  They bonded.  Breastfeeding finally took.  Love was born - a love that is continually threatened.  The odds have always been against her being a successful mom.  Her family is violent and there are many of them living in a small shack.  The baby's dad died.  First we heard he was dead by gunshot and then he in fact died in a fight by a crushing blow by a cement block.  Djenie wailed that gut wrenching wail again.  He too was a teenager from one of the most violent neighborhoods on earth.
Over the months Djenie and Kenny became part of our hospital and lives.  We (Beth) kept saying he could be discharged when he weighed five pounds.  Then ten.  Then fifteen.  He's over 16 pounds and they are still with us.  He is chubby, breast fed and permanently hooked to his mom's hip.  She runs to his every whimper.  Parenting skills have been gained.  Her teenage responses to his cries have vanished and a real mom has emerged.  The mom who wouldn't rouse to feed him now jumps to his every cry.  She's grown.
Djenie goes home to Cite Soleil every now and again for a few days.  Her mom and mom's boyfriend tell her she can live at home but not with a child.  They continually advise her to give him to an orphanage.  The dad's mother has offered to take Kenny but not Djenie.
Orphanages can be wonderful places of refuge for the abandoned child and when a mom dies.  We ran a crèche for many years.  There are times when this is the best answer.  We love adoption and gave many years to making adoptions happen.   There are also overcrowded, understaffed orphanages where children do not get the care and parenting that every child should have.  Haiti is loaded with these places.
Djenie helps us at the women's program.  She is a comic and makes us laugh.  She is moody, fights with others patients and then comes running to me to bail her out.  I always do.  One of her jobs is to help with pregnancy tests.  We give a lady a cup, tell her to give us a urine sample and then we give her the news.  Eager to help Djenie told a woman to go pee in a cup but told her to pee in the yard instead of the bathroom.  We all laughed.  Djenie giggled.  The woman didn't realize what was funny - this is Haiti after all.  Bathrooms aren't always available.
Yesterday some of our patients took their babies to a local Haitian  orphanage for a government vaccination program.  I watched them take kids hand in hand down the street to do their motherly duty.  They know vaccinations in Haiti are important.  They want to be responsible.  Djenie carried Kenny and off they went.
A few hours later Djenie came to me and said that the woman at the orphanage offered to take Kenny into the orphanage seeing that she was a teenager.  Djenie said,  "no thank you".
Then the woman offered to buy Kenny saying she would give Djenie a lot of money for him.  Djenie again said, "no thank you, I have people that are helping me".   I listened and told her what a great mom she is and how correct she was not to give Kenny to this woman.  I was calm.  Inside my blood was boiling as questions raged.  Why did this woman want Kenny?  Don't they have enough unwanted children?  Why was she singling him out and wanting to buy him?  Would she turn around and sell him for more money?
They are a team - Djenie and Kenny.  With help they have made it this far and are well connected.  He is healthy - she is growing as a person.  She is not our only teen mom at the hospital.  Seirgeline and her baby Job live with us as well.  We have discharged them over and over by they keep returning.   Seirgeline had a broken arm like a pretzel from the earthquake and could not have surgery until she delivered.  Jonna and I delivered Job.  She had her surgery, healed but never quite made it home.  Her mom doesn't want her, baby's dad isn't so interested either.
As our hospital winds down we've got to figure out what to do with our teen moms.  They are successful but may not continue to be if we send them out on their own. Just building them houses is not the answer.  Their lives are complicated - solutions are complicated.  Obviously a teen mom program of some sort has to on the agenda.  If we don't  they will be swallowed up by Cite Soleil and its violence, an over- crowded orphanage, or by  a grandma who does not have Djenie's best interest in mind.   If we don't help them - who will?

Beth McHoul

 

Kenny being worked on by the Heartline team

 

Djenie & Kenny at the Miami Field Hospital

 

Djenie being prayed for by Heartline folk

 

Kenney

 

 

                                                                                                Kenny and Djenie

 

Djenie’s home in Cite Soleil

 

What does God have for us as He has brought these two moms and their children to Heartline?  What is His plan? We know that we can not send these girls and children away; and yet what should we do.  I wish that I could tell you that we have it all figured out, but we don’t.  We are praying and ask that you pray with us as we look to God for His direction in embracing and helping Djenie, Seirgeline, their children and others in the same situation.

John McHoul

john.mchoul@heartlineministries.org

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July 27

MOVING DAY


Last month Heartline bought a good size piece of land for Emmanuel and his mama and papa in the southern town of TiGoave.  Paige Porter raised money for houses by running a half marathon and Maxima a company here in Haiti run by friends is building thousands of temporary house like the one seen above.  And for every one we buy we get one free. 
Last week, we transported the pieces of the house that we would be putting up for this family out to TiGoave and partnered with Nate Yonkers and his crew to build the foundation and the house.










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July 25

ENTERING THE WEEK WITH HIGH HOPES AND EXPECTATIONS

It is the beginning of a new week.  We have high hopes and great expectations that much will be accomplished this week that will make a difference in the lives that Heartline touches and that will honor our wonderful God.

I just read LIVING THE CROSS CENTERED LIFE by C.J. Mahaney and want to share just a few tidbits for you to think about.

• Men are opposed to God in their sin, and God is opposed to man in his holiness ~ J.I. Packer
• The debt was so great, that while man owed it, only God could pay it. ~ Anselm
• The Spirit does not take his pupils beyond the cross, but ever more deeply into it. ~ J. Knox Chamblin
• Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to your cross I cling. ~ Augustus Toplady
• The glory of the gospel is this: The one from whom we need to be saved is the one who has saved us. ~ R.C. Sproul
• Like nothing else the gospel creates joy; it's both the source and object of our joy. ~ C.J. Mahaney

MOVING DAY

This coming Thursday the house that we put up with Nate and his crew in TiGoave will be moved into by Mama and Papa Emmanuel and by little Emmanuel, who is their surviving children after three died in the earthquake.  I will be sure to get pictures and to blog about this big event.  Heartline gave them money to purchase a piece of land which has plenty of room for the house and for a good size garden.
There are mixed emotions as the Heartline Field Hospital has been their home for several months and we are a real community.  The other patients love Emmanuel and his mama and will miss them terribly.  When I told the mama that we would be taking her and Emmanuel to their new home on Thursday, she appeared a bit uncertain and frightened and ask if I meant that they would be leaving and I told her yes. You see they have been a part of our lives and have depended on us for months and now they will be about three hours away by private vehicle and much longer by public transportation.  We will not send them empty handed as they lost all the possessions that they had when their house collapsed.  So we will be sure that they have beds and cooking supplies and we will give them several hundred dollars to set up house.  Please pray for this family as they brave out into new territory and as they start a new beginning.   STAY TUNE THIS WEEK FOR MORE ON THIS FAMILY.

AMANDA

Amanda has also been a part of our lives since March.  We have written about her often and told how her injuries could not be treated here in Haiti and that she would need more specialized care.  We, after much work by many people, now have approval by the Mayo Clinic and now we are getting ready for the visa appointment without which she can not travel.  Please pray with us as we are getting the dossier ready for her appointment scheduled for next week.

John

 


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July 23

MARLEY THE MAN HATING MASTIFF


Marley is a 9 year old Old English Mastiff.  Our son brought him from Florida when he was a puppy after our St Bernard died.  St Bernard's belong in Switzerland not in Haiti.  Lesson learned.  Mastiffs are a perfect fit for Haiti.  Their size intimidates, their love of sleep makes them a perfect guard dog.  A thief would trip over them as John says.   They take up half the floor and when roused they make quite an appearance.  They love kids, they love women, and men - not so much, at least for Marley.
Marley lives at the maternity center with his granddaughter Dolly.  He has weathered the change from kids to pregnant women and has settled in with new mistresses.  He made an appearance at prenatals and has decided that is where he belongs.  Right in the middle of the class.  Women who are used to rat sized dogs were not sure what to make of this lion sized animal who plops down in the middle of prenatals.  He will not be put outside.  Come try to make him.  He glues himself to the floor and will not be moved.  He probably weighs more than many adults and has the ability to weigh even more when being told what to do.  Trick him with food and he may move but he'll trick you and be right back where he wants to be in short order.
He loves the women, lays down belly up hoping for a pat or at least crumbs from their noon meal.  He lies down more than he does anything else which is understandable since he is an old fella.  All this changes when a man comes to the gate.
He begrudgingly accepts the yard man, he genuinely loves John, Robert Rice and Reynald and that would be about it.  End of the man list.
One hundred women can pass through the gate without him rousing from his nap.  Let him sniff a man and the lion comes alive!  He jumps up, heads for the gate and does a block that a football player would be proud of.  No men allowed.  He barks deep and frightening.  He uses his giant mastiff head and blocks all movement.  He shakes that massive head and slobber goes flying.  He barks incessantly with a deep growl that sends men to the other side of the gate shaking.  We women are cruel - we laugh!
We've laid down the law that Marley cannot attend births.  We locked him outside.  He was quite offended and kept going from door to door trying to sneak in.  God help the poor papa who decides to wait out the labor on the porch.  This will not be pretty.
The women are figuring out that Marley is part of the house, certainly part of our community of women.  He's our guard, protector and garbage disposal.  He forgets to chew when eating, shamelessly bothers people until they pet him and rolls in the mud right after his bath.  Everyone's safe with Marley in the house - unless you're a man.

Beth McHoul




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July 16

FINDING GOD IN A TENT CITY
PATRICK:

Received this message from Patrick, the 14 year-old boy who we, last week, sent to the Shriner's Hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts for surgery on his injured, infected leg.  He was injured when a out of control truck struck him during the earthquake.

Patrick writes in his own words and showing off what he learned at our hospital's  English lessons: "hi how are you ?i miss you so much all the time.can you say john i missed him so too.i ask god please ,blessing your family ,every times . thank you so much,beth and john ,god bless you?" 

 



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July 15

THOUGHTS FROM BETH

 

Here we are six months after the earth shook Haiti and our world.  Just now we are starting to slow down a little, let go of the adrenaline that has kept us going, and breathe a bit.  Crisis mode has past and here we stand in the rubble trying to go forward.  Now we have to live.
We all put our normal lives on hold.  No seeing the grandchildren, no time away from Haiti, no evenings at home reading a book (although John still squeezes book reading in during the night while the rest of us sleep), no down time.  Dokte Jen has become the person with the most frequent flier miles known to American Airlines with her trips back and forth.  Her love and relationship with the patients is extraordinary.  We wait for the return of friends stuck stateside.   Here we are at the six month milestone.
We are pretty far along in the care of our patients.  Prosthetic legs are made and working on fitting well and becoming comfortable.  Land is being bought and houses are being built.  Long term patients futures are being discussed.  What to do about the teen moms who made Heartline Hospital their home and now have no other home to go to?  Complicated.
What we didn't plan on is that a hospital would become a community, a family, a place of refuge after the healing.  Who could have predicted we would love these people who ended up at our trauma center so much?
The earthquake was a terrible thing and the clean up will outlast my lifetime I'm sure.  It cost many their lives and cost many their lives as they knew them.  On my morning runs I check out the clean up of a hotel that fell.  Cars smashed in the parking lot.  Cement everywhere.  I watch as each day the mess takes on a different form.  I wonder how this space will ever be cleared.  At one point I could smell death again, a reminder to the living that so many bodies are still trapped under the rubble.
But here we are privileged to work with the living.  The living who lost family members, homes, possessions.  I see them laugh at John's antics, argue and banter back and forth with each other.  I see the boys tease the girls.  I see them love and care for each other in a beautiful way.  I see them steal moments alone on the roof top where they must cherish their memories of loved ones lost and let themselves feel the sorrow.
Any natural disaster is a terrible thing that seems to change and take life in a random way.  Yet, here we are allowed to be part of all this, privileged to be in a place where we can help.  Not random at all that we already live here and could step up to the plate and be a little part of what makes Haiti heal.
As the adrenaline fades and moments of silence set in I feel enormously privileged to be part of all this.  I see heroes every time I walk in the hospital gate.  I see the Lord and HIs faithfulness at every turn.  Shaken but not broken.

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July 12

SIX MONTHS LATER

It has been six months to the day that the earth shook and in that 35-43 seconds of time it is estimated that three hundred thousand people died, hundreds of thousands were injured, tens of thousands of homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed and over a million people were left homeless.  All in less that one minute of shaking.

 
Can any nation be truly prepared for such a cataclysmic event?  I suspect not, and Haiti a nation with little infrastructure  and unable before the earthquake to meet even the basic needs of its people was rendered stunned and helpless by this catastrophe.  Even as the international community rushed to give assistance,  they encountered a government that was largely broken and unable to help facilitate the enormous amount of aid and aid workers being held back by a lack of infrastructure and a working government.   And now six months later the struggle continues as humanitarian aid is being held at the ports while exorbitance customs fees must be paid before the containers can be released and the supplies made available to assist people who otherwise would not be able to secure help.


I have copied some links below that may help you understand some of what is happening here


LINKS

THE LOST CHILDREN OF HAITI

HAITI'S CAMPS OF DESPAIR

NO JUSTICE FOR HAITI'S WOMEN INMATES


Progress is being made albeit slowly and seemingly without a plan.  Yet volumes could not contain the heroic acts of kindness and bravery of the Haitian people and the international community as they worked to rescue those still trapped alive under falling buildings and to treat the injured.

It is not by intent to criticize the cleanup and rebuilding efforts that are slowly coming into play.  The task of just cleanup alone is enormous.  I want to tell a bit of what Heartline has been doing.



LOOKING BACK A BIT (THE BLINK OF AN EYE VERSION)


A few days after the earthquake the Heartline people here in Haiti met and talked and prayed to see if there was a need for us to open an emergency clinic.  We also went into the inner city to see if there were still people who had been injured and had not been treated.  Little did we know that we would still find such people even weeks after the earthquake.   It was clear that there was still a  need for an emergency clinic and in what I can only attribute to God, Heartline four days later opened its clinic with a group of docs and nurses that came in from the States and Canada and we started seeing people with horrific injuries and in the primitive settings the docs performed some pretty amazing procedures.  This clinic continued for about 3 weeks where we saw hundreds and hundred and people that were injured in the earthquake.  And with the tremendous support of the Heartline people in the States, medical personnel and supplies just kept coming during this remarkable, amazing, hectic time.

After about three weeks we were no longer seeing as many patients with severe injuries due to the earthquake and now we faced some hard questions. What do we do with the patients that need aftercare?  Can we really send some of them back to their inner cities homes in such fragile conditions?  What about those that no longer have homes?  Should we open up a field hospital where we can offer aftercare?  It was ultimately my decision and yet I was probably the one who understood the least what that would mean.  And yet there was no other choice.  We had to see this through to the end for each patient.  And that decision has brought us to places and relationships and struggles that we could never had imagined. 

Some nights we would have up to 100 people sleeping at what once was the girl's house and now it became our field hospital.  Most people would not sleep inside due to the fear of aftershocks and so the yard would be full of patients on mattresses that we rounded up and then on cots that we had brought in.  We still needed a steady supply of docs and nurses and physical therapists and supplies and the Heartline people in the States worked tirelessly.  We estimated that we would keep the Heartline Field Hospital open until March 1st.  Well it is July 12th and we are still open with several patients still with us.  We of course had to feed and care for the patients and so we needed a lot of help and resources and wow did people who heard the cry of a nation respond with finances and by coming and giving of their love and hearts to the broken, crushed and wounded.

We as well developed relationships with other organizations that would take some of our severely injured patients and from whom we would take from them patients that needed aftercare.  There were several articles written in which Heartline was mentioned as a place where the patients received loving quality care.  God was doing some super stuff and was honoring our effort to do the best that we could, relying on Him and honoring Him by caring and loving those that He entrusted to us.  These were uncharted waters for us and we clearly knew that we had to trust in God.

Probably the most rewarding things is the relationships that we have developed with the patients.   And the Heartline Field Hospital truly became a community.  We are still open as we have patients with lingering infections, others who are getting used to their prosthetic limbs, and other that will leave us after we put up a new home for them and then there will be a few that have become a part of our community and will be with us for years to come.


HIGHLIGHTING

Amanda

We have often written about Amanda who suffered severe injuries to her leg and left arm when the three story house next to her one room cement house fell on it while Amanda was inside.  She was dug out by neighbors and brought to several hospitals until she found a home at the Heartline Field Hospital.  It is Amanda that we are working and praying to get into the Mayo clinic for the specialized surgery and care that she needs for her arm.  We are still working at it and very much need your prayers and support.

Patrick





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July 02

A NEW HOUSE FOR MARJORIE & FAMILY

 

Marjorie lost her hand when she was trapped for three days under the rubble of her collapsed school.  When she was finally pulled out, it was clear that her hand was damaged beyond repair and that it had to be amputated.  We at Heartline received Marjorie shortly after the amputation of her left hand and she  at that time was not the cheerful, easy to laugh young lady that we now know.  It took a lot of care by the Heartline medical personnel and community treat her injury, and help her not give in to despair or discouragement.  And so now Marjorie is an encouragement to us as she bravely faces the future.

This past week the Heartline crew was privileged to put up a house for Marjorie. This was our first try at actually putting up a house ourselves and instead of taking one day as we were told it should take it took three day.  But it was a group effort with several Heartline folks joining with relatives and neighbors of Marjorie to put up this house where once stood a cement house that was destroyed in the earthquake.

HEARTLINE through the funds given by generous donors and by those that supported Paige Porter as she ran a half marathon have so far committed 35 houses to those who lost their homes in the earthquake.  We as well have purchased several plots of land for those who were renting and then we can put a house on their own land for them.

Each person who receives a home is personally known by Heartline or by the other ministries that we are privileged to help with homes for those that they are close to.  We soon will be putting up more Creole homes manufactured by our friend at Maxima here in Haiti.

 

 
Taking the pieces of the house off the truck that we rented to transport it to the job site.  Notice how hard Troy is working.

 

 

Putting the house together

 

To those that gave and will give as Heartline provides housing, thank you for allowing people to escape living under tarps or in tents.  This could not happen without you.  We will continue to help people with housing.  Click HERE if you would like to help Heartline help others.

 

John McHoul

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June 28

PATRICK GOT HIS VISA



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June 26

WHAT’S UP AT HEARTLINE

 

CITE SOLEIL WITH THE GROUP FROM INDIANA WHO PUT TOGETHER OVER 200 BAGS OF FOOD THAT WE SHARED WITH TWO COMMUNITIES

 

CITE SOLEIL: We continue to slowly make inroads into Cite Soleil.  We specifically are working on three things.

1. Having water trucks (3000 gallons per truckload) delivered into the area twice a week.
2. Sponsoring 100 children to go to school for the 2010-2011 school year.  We are still working out the details and will keep you informed.
3. Getting Beth and her women’s program into the area to teach the ladies.

        

        WOMEN’S PROGRAM: Do we ever have a lot going on here.

1. The sewing school with be graduating its current class in July and the next class will begin in September.
2. The literacy class will also be graduating its current class in July and the next class will begin in September
3. The sewing program is doing well as the sewing ladies continue to create beautiful purses.  Right now all of the sewing is being done at the women’s center but out plans are to add 50 ladies who will sew in their homes and only come to the women’s center once a week; and to add to the number of those that sew at the women’s center,
4. Beth’s Pre-natal/Child development/Midwifery program will move into its own place instead of sharing a house with the sewing program.  The house that was once the girl’s home is being renovated by some amazing people who have come to make repairs, build, paint and encourage.  They are doing a fantastic job and we hope that Beth’s program will move into its newly renovated place within several days.  This gives them more space and then as well opens up space for the Sewing/Literacy program.

 

FIELD HOSPITAL:

     

The dome made out of tarps has been taken down as the Heartline Field Hospital now only has a handful of patients.  We are working with these patients as some need continued follow up, others need housing, others we are working to get to the States for further treatment and others need a family.

 

HOUSING: We are working on providing housing for some of our patients and others in need.  Just yesterday we reviewed the site where the houses of two of our patients collapsed.  We are having them do some prep work that we are paying for and we hope that on Monday or Tuesday that we will have one of the houses put up, so Marjorie, our patient who lost her hand when the earth shook will have a home to go home to.

Paige Porter raised about $52.000 when she recently ran a half marathon.  Within the next several days, at least 30 houses will be delivered to people in need.

 

HEARTLINE GUEST HOUSE:

 

The Heartline Guest House is a beautiful, peaceful, safe, and secure place that we spent several weeks working on and now we are by and large finished and waiting for you.

You can check out the Guest House by clicking here

 

LAND: We are in the process of negotiating the purchase of a piece of land on which we can build a clinic, house the various women’s programs, build a simple facility where  groups can meet, and more.  Your prayers are very much needed as we look to God for His will and direction.

 

PORT AU PRINCE FELLOWSHIP is our English speaking church of 300 plus people. Our worship is vibrant and lively and it would be great to have you visit is.  We are located on the Campus of Quisqueya Christian School at Delmas 75/77 Delmas.  Our worship service starts at 9:30 AM but you should get there before 9:00 if you would like to sit inside.

Please pray for our upcoming youth retreat scheduled for July 9-11.

 

OTHER STUFF

We continue to have the rooftop garden, the hens that lay eggs and the tilapia.  If we are able to purchase the land that we are looking at, we then, will have a bigger garden, more hens and more tilapia.

Still looking to God to start a ministry to men.

 

SAID BY BETH TODAY: Now Beth and I have been married for 35 years and she still doesn;t get it.  This morning as I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t find shorts to wear, she looked in the drawer and saw several pairs, but I told her that I didn’t want to wear any of those ones and that I wanted to wear the ones that I always wear.  She proceeded to find the several pairs that I like to wear and then hold them up for display to show me all the holes.  She then said that I should throw them all away because they had lots of holes and she then told me that someone came to church and wanted to know what the homeless man was doing on the platform. Her words don’t bother me as she simply lacks understanding.  She doesn’t understand that each hole was well earned and although ratty looking, my clothes are like fellow travelers or partners and it is unthinkable to discard them because of a few holes or tears, or bleach stains. I continue to hope that she someday sees the light.

John

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June 23

FALLEN HOUSES BROKEN BODIES

 

MARJORIE & AMANDA

 

Yesterday, I went with several of the patients to check out their houses or what remains of their houses after the earthquake.  Three of the patients were severely injured when their houses fell on them and two were injured while at school and their schools collapsed on top of them.  We also went to determine if we can put up a wooden house in the place where their cement house once stood.  Now when I use the word “house” you perhaps are thinking of a multi room house or apartment similar to what you live in but in the cases of these patients the houses are more typically made of cement with one to two small rooms and no indoor plumbing and with an outhouse located on or near the property.

MARJORIE and AMANDA pictured above actually knew each other before the earthquake and lived in the same neighborhood.  These photos taken today are of Marjorie getting ready for English class at our filed hospital and of Amanda shuffling along to get to English class before it begins 

Marjorie lost her left hand when the school she was attending fell on her and Amanda suffered seriously injuries when the larger house right next to the little house that she and her cousin rented fell onto their house and destroyed it with Amanda inside.

 

RUBBLE OF AMANDA’S HOUSE

 

The Salmon colored walls and the rubble is what remains of the much larger house that collapsed and fell on Amanda’s house.  The remains of Amanda’s house are actually under the rubble seen in this picture. Yesterday when I returned from seeing what remained of Amanda’s house, I showed her the pictures and she grew silent and stayed that way for quite a while as she perhaps was reliving the moment when the earth shook and her house fell and her life changed forever.

 

OTHER HOUSES DAMAGED IN THE AREA

 

We very much need your ongoing prayers and support as we continue to care for our remaining patients and look to help them with housing, school and their future.

Please continue to pray for Amanda as we endeavor to get her to the Mayo Clinic for needed surgery.  We are still waiting for approval.

 

John

 

 

 

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June 15

THE GREAT CROC GIVEAWAY AND PATRICK

 

Today we made another Cite Soleil trip as we continue to make inroads into ministering in the communities of Ba Boston and Tecina.

We were there on Tuesday meeting with a committee that we are trying to work with and we then came back today to give about 377 pairs of Crocs and to meet some more.  The Croc distribution, coordinated by the local committee went quite well and it was well organized sort of.  We also made the rounds and visited people in their homes.  With me on this trip were men from Indiana, Michigan, and Manitoba, Canada.  I will be going back on Thursday to do a quickie HIV test on a man and to prayerfully walk around a bit to try to get a feel for what God’s plan is for us in Cite Soleil.

 

We, this week, will go to some local schools to find out the cost of sending a child to school for the upcoming school year.  We are thinking and talking and praying  about sponsoring some children to go to school and to give the money directly to the school.

 

THE GREAT CROC GIVEAWAY

 

 

PATRICK

We have been working to get Patrick’s passport so that he can travel to the Shriner’s Hospital in Springfield, Mass where he will receive treatment on his injured leg.  It seemed that he was doing well but actually he had a raging infection going on and had some work done on his leg here and an exfix screwed back onto his leg.  This 14 year old is a great kid and we are fighting to save his leg.  Please fight with us in prayer as we hope that Patrick will soon travel to the States for treatment.

 

John McHoul

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