Hi there, Back again… Boy what an incredible day. After a delicious warm breakfast of croissants, scrambled eggs, and bacon, and of course let us not forget that delicious aromatic Dominican coffee, we headed for the border. Upon arrival there were hundreds of people crossing the border ready to sell their wares on market day.
Market Day at the Haiti-Dominican Republic Border
Market day in Quenaminthe is something like NY city roads packed with NY city taxi drivers, places to go, customers to find and all you know is go, brake, go, brake and guess what there is more brake than go. After about 1 1/2 hours between customs, border crossing on foot and the final walk to Danita Children’s organization, we finally walked through the gates of heaven. I call it heaven on earth in Haiti.
As the Pastor well said, “there is such a heaviness and feeling of great oppression before you reach Danita’s and then the magestic gates open and out come running the children with big smiles on their faces and you sense the peace and love.”
This peace and love can only come from the love of God that reigns inside each child that has experienced that unconditional love that comes from our saviour. Outside the children begged for the dollar and inside the children ran with a big smile on their face to hold your hand. What a difference. Many can say it is like the toil of the Egyptians in Old Testament times outside the gates.
Well let’s go back to heaven on earth and describe the awesome vision that met our eyes. On to the left of the entrance we saw the incredibly architected new pediatric hospital that is now 99% completed. It will be open any day now. It is constructed to appropriate earthquake codes, four stories high, with fully equipped surgical center. It will serve the poorest area of Quenaminthe which serves over 150,000 people. She hopes to make this a referral center for children. We can’t wait to bring down a surgical team in the near future. By the way is anyone interested in being a medical director for this place or helping out in the future, I am sure Danita will need it. The rest of the land was just like I had left it a little over a year ago. Incredible orphanage housing hundreds of children. By the way I heard they just took in 2 more from Port au Prince.
We were escorted to our familiar clinic building where we will hold our first clinic day tomorrow. We brought in our 700 lbs of medical supplies to run our clinic and thanked the Lord for an air conditioned clinic in this 105 degree sweltering atmosphere. Obviously 100 % humidity with 105 degrees feels more like the oven that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into. As I felt my clothes forming instant steam iron tattoos, I realized I needed God’s grace and His divine air conditioner to help me complete my tasks. He provided as we entered the clinic and later the bus. Now the school bus is a whole new thing. We packed over 50 people into a bus made for no more than 30 and drove through the city to look at the sights. We arrived to Le Bon Samaritan, where my old friends greeted us. Our little Catholic nun had been transferred, but our good friend, a Filipino long term missionary met us. Here we will run a clinic later this week. I greeted my aging friends with a “comment ca va”. And they all said ” ca va bien”, regardless of how they truly felt. All of them are riddled with various diseases of old age, but my, they have beat the odds. The odds are that 1 in 3 children will never live past the age of 7 in Haiti. We are blessed to have Dr. Daniel Kassecieh with us who is a Sarasota neurologist and he will get to inject many of their severe arthritic joints and work with them to help their pains. Remember God has especially called us to take care of widows and orphans and we take care of both here in Haiti. After saying goodbye, back on the bus over 1000 potholes every 100 feet and now back across the border we go.
I end this blog with this. One of the most incredible parts was the place I have not yet mentioned and that is the land that was bought by Christian Family Church. It leaves a special mark in my heart, because, it is part of me both from the standpoint of Christian Family Church and Hearts Afire. Here CFC is building a dream center for Quenaminthe where they will have the church, an orphanage and a recreation sports center for the community. Right now, this is the poorest area of Quenaminthe. We are standing in faith that we can collect $8000 to complete the job, a wall to be built around the perimeter. This is needed so as we can protect the land. Feeding programs have been incorporated and so much more.
Now off to sleep. Air conditioner not working but an awesome ceiling fan…and nothing that a cold shower and a comfortable bed cannot take care of especially when you are as blessed as I am to be Christ’s hands and feet to this world in need…
Vilma Vega MD
Co-founder Hearts Afire
