Bonjour from Haiti everyone!

First of all, thank you for your prayers. They are much appreciated and felt here in Haiti. We begin every morning with individual devotions at 5:30 and a group devotion at 6:15 with breakfast by 6:30. We run a tight ship in order to be respectful of the time and maximize our ministry here even though we are on Haitian time which may or may not go according to plan. It is a definite lesson in flexibility and relying on the Lord’s timing for everything. Every evening after dinner we have a time to debrief and share our testimonies allowing us to get to know one another more deeply.

These were the highlights from today

*Half of us opened the medical clinic for a half day

*The other half tore down part of a building

*The last half we played with the children in Grace Village

Today we opened the clinic for the first time since we have been here. Typically, the clinic is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 3pm and some weeks only a few days. It is run by one doctor and three nurses for the 11,000 in the tent city and anyone else in Carrefour. I was pleasantly surprised to see a functional lab and pharmacy at the clinic which allowed us to do more follow up care and diagnostics. We were down to the clinic by 7am and rushed to set up by 8am. We got to work cleaning and setting up stations.

People were first greeted by Melinda (PT) and then would come to the first station to pay a minimal fee for the visit where Amy (RN) would use her awesome French skills along with the interpreter to ask their name and their main complaint that brought them to us. From there the patient would be directed by one of us to our vital sign station where Megan (RN), Annachristie (RN) and Elisif (RN) would take blood pressures and play hand clapping games with the children. After this they would wait to see the doctor where Stefanie (RN) would have an interpreter help her to pray for each patient. John (PA) and Curt (PA) were seeing and diagnosing patients. With all new things there are hiccups and we learned as we went.

At one point, Joe who is non-medical but was doing an amazing job finding things to help with came into the clinic and had this overwhelming feeling wishing that he was a doctor. Curt came out from diagnosing a patient with a look of exasperation. Joe said to him “Man, I wish I was a doctor.” Curt looked back and said “I wish I was too!” Overall, Curt and John diagnosed and treated 50 patients today. We would welcome any and all prayers for wisdom and healing.

That was the A-Team in the clinic today. B-Team rocked it with the rocks. There was a guest house on the property that was destroyed during the quake. I was not on this team so I will try to represent them as well as I can. Overall the team was excited to get to know one another during this manual labor. Sledgehammers, pick axes, and shovels were creating quite a ruckus and drawing a lot of attention. The guest house is in the middle of tent city and B-Team enjoyed spending more time with the residents learning more about their way of life. It was very difficult work in the middle of the hot day but not one complaint was heard.

Both teams finished the day with the children of Grace Village. There were many children shouting “Hey YOU” and running to grab hold of us wanting a “photo”. Chris K. brought Nike soccer balls for the kids and immediately a high energy game ensued. The others not playing soccer were surrounded by young children wanting to play with sunglasses and the cameras. Many children would be picked up by one of us and not want to let go, literally. When it came time to leave Jake taught the kids a new song “Oley” and the children were singing it as they escorted us home. It was very precious.

Overall a busy but fulfilling day. Again we appreciate the prayers. Thank you all!

Nikki Monaco (RN)

Medical Mission Haiti Team Member