Abbi's Post- My Day at the Burn Clinic

Yesterday was a great experience for me. I had asked my mom if I could ask Mrs. Brumley if it was okay to go to the clinic with her. My mom said if I got all my schooling done the day before I could ask. When I finished I went over and asked Mrs. Brumley if I could come help at the clinic, she said yes! I was very excited. The next day I got up early and got ready to go. My daddy had to go to devotions that morning so my mom drove the mule over and dropped my dad off with the other workers and then dropped me off. I followed Mrs. Brumley inside the clinic. The clinic is just along the fence and road so it’s easy access to the patients. We unlocked the doors and some people came in and sat on the wooden benches in the waiting room. There are two exam rooms, a couple adult soaking tubs, and a room that holds almost all the supplies. The extra supplies are in a big orange trailer down by the repair shops. We folded some cloths and washed a couple buckets then we went out to the benches to pray and sing songs to the Lord. They do that every morning. That day the helpers were Mrs. Brumley, Mary, Madam Franc, and me. Next we got out soapy buckets and had the patients soak in the water for a while. They all had different stories like the garbage fire blew up because of all the gasoline or they walked in the floor fire, or spilt hot water. Some were worse than others because they weren’t coming regularly. While they were soaking we checked two older women who were diabetic. We gave them some rice and peanut butter, but they were all out of small jars and had to give them jumbo. After the people soaked, we wrapped their burns, and massaged their wounds with cream. There was this one man who had got an infection from an armpit hair. The whole inside of his arm from his armpit to half way to the elbow was open. It looked painful. Then a two and a half little girl named Sophia came in. She is very badly burned and dehydrated. She comes every day.  She pulled a pot of boiling water on herself. She is burned from toes to stomach and some on face and arm. She is weak. She laid in a bucked soaking for a little longer than half an hour. Her mom held her head and poured water on her. She also gave her water to drink. I blew bobbles to distract her. When she was done we brought her in and scrapped off some bad skin and bandaged her up. She got two lollipops out of us. We also gave her something to use to make it more fun to drink water. Last we had a pregnant lady come. She is due very soon, October sixteenth. But the baby is healthy enough to come any day. We gave her a checkup and a bag full of things for her and the baby, like soap, diapers, wipes, blankets and a couple other necessities that they don’t have. This is her first baby and she is twenty-one. She is excited and thinks it’s a girl. After, I gave a sucker to the lady’s little sister. Then we cleaned up and me and Mrs. Brumley went to the trailer and got some more baby food for the clinic. They give formula and baby food to some people who are taking care of babies because their mothers died. We brought the food to the clinic and grabbed a couple of small peanut butter jars that a friend donated, then went home. Mrs. Brumley asked me what I thought and I said I thought it was very sad but was very happy to help everyone and found medicine is fun. She said I can come back Tuesday because on Mondays I have to help with the elderly feeding program. I hope to be able to help out regularly, but it’s all in what God has planned for me to do. Thanks for staying updated in our blog and please pray for those at the clinic, and who help there and especially for little Sophia and her family.  Yours, Abbi :D

Well Repair

Yesterday I had a chance to head up into the mountains & do some well repair.  One of the biggest challenges is not only putting in the wells but maintaining them.  Once one of our wells goes operational it basically gets pumped 24 hrs a day/ 7 days a week until it gets broken.  Some last up to a year others get broken within a couple weeks.  Apparently we are one of the only organizations in Haiti that builds wells & maintains them.  There have been plenty of short term organizations that have gone around the country side & put in wells, there’s probably a couple thousand throughout Haiti that don’t work because the people don’t have the money or the equipment to fix them. 

 Claudel & Mesa

 Chris Brumley

 Not only is this one of the only trees I've seen in Haiti, Chris couldn't fit the whole trunk in the picture, it was HUGE!!

When we backed up to repair this well there was no one around, by time it was fixed we had about 100 or more in the area!  They were very happy & gracious that we came.  It’s amazing how such a basic necessity that we take for granite is such a life changer for them.  Some will still walk miles to get to this pump, hopefully we can add some more soon.  Please pray for these desperate families, our Haitian workers & their families, the Missionaries & our family.  God Bless!

How do you describe "Real"?

     Have we been in Haiti for two weeks already? One minute it feels like we just stepped off the plane and the next minute it feels like we've lived here for a long time!
     The kids' new best friend, Cody, went back to the states this week and the team members from Kentucky and Colorado left Saturday, so it's only our family staying in the volunteer quarters for two weeks until another team arrives. While they were here, the kids and Barrett were able to go with them up the mountain to visit an orphanage their church sponsors. It's amazing how your list of basic needs changes when you're faced with very few options.
     Would you feel blessed to receive a "safe" place to sleep, a basic meal, water and someone who shares the love of Jesus with you. These children do.. but should we feel like, "at least they have that?"  It's difficult to imagine this way of life and even more difficult to try and describe this kind of poverty. It's real. You can't take a picture of it, video tape it, bottle the smell of it or tell someone about it and make it as real as it is without living it. Try as I may, even being right here, I can still only imagine the hardships these people face. I can see it, smell it, and even hear it in the streets.
    What do I know about trying to find food from friends or strangers to feed myself and children on a daily basis, looking for someone to give my children to so they don't starve, going to a well with old plastic jugs from the side of the road just to get water for cooking, bathing, washing and drinking. (if there is a well nearby, I'd be lucky) When people say they need wells here for the Haitians, it's real. If you go by a well without anyone pumping water, it must be broken. If I could sit by a well one day, I'd ask everyone who came, how far they had to travel to get there. What did they do for water before this well? What did they eat that day? How do they survive? I watched a very small, elderly man make trips for an hour and a half one day with two full five gallon buckets of water. He could barely walk with them but he would pump them full and then as carefully and quickly as he could, he would carry them off somewhere and then come back and refill them. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. The sweat pouring off of him and his small frame shaking, he still smiled and said "bonjou" every time he passed. It was real.
     It's difficult to take pictures of people we see or places we go, even telling you about sad events, because there's just a sense of privacy you feel they deserve. How can we share what we see here and make it real for you? I can tell you it's real, but do you really understand the desperation and need? We see people of all ages malnourished and desperate for basic needs...that's real. Driving along the highway where all could see, we saw a family crouched down behind a small pile of stones. They were pouring water on themselves from jugs, bathing in water they must have gotten from the dirty inland stream. There was no privacy...it was real.
     We went to church on Sunday. The service started just after 7:30. Many had already been there for Sunday School and stayed for service. The service last three and a half hours long. The church was packed, no seats remained. Everyone was dressed in their best. It was a gazillion degrees with a very occasional wisp of air flowing past.  People prayed on their knees and raised their hands in worship. They loved Jesus and you could feel God's presence amongst us. We were blessed...and it too, was real.
 
 To those of you who have prayed for us, financially supported us and encouraged us, we are so thankful for you. You are a part of this ministry here and we keep you all in our prayers and in thought as we share and receive the love of Jesus.
    

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End of First Week- Celebration!

We really want to apologize for not getting more blog posts up. Our internet is very sparse and uploading anything is a real challenge. (they may have to be added after the blogs are written) We are still trying, so please keep checking!

Our first week ended with Anders 3rd birthday! What a great celebration with new friends! He had so much fun and will probably be asking when his birthday is again, every day. This morning the kids and Carrie helped with the Gran Moon (Eldery) feeding program. They learned how it worked so next week when they can help run it by themselves. Barrett was in Port Au Prince helping prepare ground for a new well. There is a team here from Kentucky and they helped celebrate with us tonight and Anders invited some of the kids who live on the property over for dinner, cake and games. Sunday we went with the team to a local church where the pastor from Kentucky gave the message with a local pastor interpreting. The service was  1 1/2 hours long, the shortest Haitian service they had ever gone to. (normally 3 hours) We are so thankful and blessed with great staff here at Global Outreach. They are Wonderful! The team from Kentucky was able to meet two of the girls they sponsor today. So Great! I know this is all sporadic but I'm trying to get as much info out before I get kicked off line. :)

Thank you all so much for continuing to sponsor us!

   

water pak, without the wells we provide people really have to ration their water

Love, The Todds

First Couple Days in Haiti

Thank you for all the prayers regarding our safe travels. We made it to Titanyen, Haiti on schedule and without any problems. The kids meet some Haitian children who live on the property with us. They have had lots of fun running around and they are picking up Creole quickly. Carrie has been getting our home organized, helping the kids with all their school work and trying to keep Anders busy. Barrett has been spending more time off the property. They have four wells that are about to become operational in the next few days! That will take Global Outreach to about 350 wells. Each well provides over 500 people clean drinking water, so we’re providing close to 200,000 people their only source of water a day. At the last well, the kids were laughing, dancing and splashing in the street with excitement. Praise the Lord that we have been blessed to be a part of this! We’re still working on getting good internet service so please keep checking back, we have so much to share! Thank you for your continued support, Love, The Todd’s