Church services in Haiti can last 2 hours, and the heat and humidity (and Creole language) can sometimes test one's powers of concentration, but there are also multiple choirs. . .young and old alike. . .that make the time fly by. There were parts of the service. . .songs, prayers. . .where we recognize melodies or cadences. . .things that we share in common, ties that bind us together. And while I have no idea what the lay pastor's sermon was all about, it was a stem-winder. . .a characteristic we might also recognize at times from our church home!
As noted, we visited the grand dames and gents at Good Sam. . .about 15 men and women who would otherwise have no other place to live. It isn't much. . .open air 9'x8' apartments" with two single beds. Scott, Jill and Elle. . .asisted by our translator, Daniel. . .did blood pressures, eye exams and other general assessments, and 2-3 of GS' residents will hopefully make their way to the clinic tomorrow to be treated. We brought donated clothing, which evoked smiles, and brought along bread, bananas and water for all. We were serenaded, again, with "The Lord Provides All" in Creole, and our team returned the favor by singing a hymn for them. . .which many recognized and either hummed or sang along. And, once again, we found the new toilet and shower installed by another team to be in need of repair and found a Haitian plumber to fix it by tomorrow.
Our last endeavor today was conducting mobile medical at the Jeremie jail. . .a place Nancy came across last September. Conditions are awful. . . .cells are so overcrowded that the inmates have to rotate who sleeps as there isn't room for them to all lay on the floor at the same time. The "toilet" is a bucket. . .passed around inside the aforementioned overcrowded cell. Inmates get out of their cells maybe weekly. . .to take a shower. . .in the courtyard in front of the cells. There are no lights, anywhere, including the kitchen. . .where the once-a-day meal is prepared, when there is money to do so.
You can imagine, given these conditions, that the inmates' health trails the Haitian national average, where life expectancy for males is around 45 years. So, today's half-day mobile medical brought 3 Doctors to the jail. . .Dr. Marx, Dr. Rosemond and our own Dr. Wilkinson. Others on the team fanned out. . .some doing vitals/personal information triage, some filling prescriptions from the supplies we brought, some fetching meds we forgot, others bringing in pop/juice/water for the inmates. . .to accompany the meal we had our "cook" friends at the Methodist Guest House prepare for everyone.
In about 3 hours, 60 inmates that the prison director felt were the most sickly were seen and treated, and all 347 persons fed. They were hungry, as if they hadn't eaten much recently.
There were many thank you's ("mesi" in Creole) from those we treate, heartfelt to be sure but often conveyed in a low voice, laced it seemed with a kind of hopelessness. No wonder given the conditions. Pray for them.
John Smith
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