Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye,
My oh my what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine coming my way,
Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye.
I wonder if Disney took the Haiti sun in consideration when they wrote this song. Humph, a thought to consider.
Well, off again to a wonderful day of praise and worship. It’s the kind of worship that gets you to the Holy of Holies. If you don’t get a breakthrough now, I don’t know what it will take to get you there. After our daily walk to Danita’s place, we quickly grabbed our supplies, and headed for one of my most favorite places, Le Bon Samaritan.
Now you need to know something about me. At one point in time in my medical training I wanted to be a geriatric doctor, but when I moved to Sarasota, I quickly realized who needed to specialize in this when they were ALL old.
This gets me to Le Bon Samaritan, a Catholic mission house for aging adult widows. Let’s face it; the oldest member there is 110. I love this place because though they are old, don’t move much and are frequently blind, they hear my voice and they greet me with a tone of familiarity. I feel so loved. Just like coming home. Dr. Daniel Kassicieh of Sarasota, FL, and our team injected joints and helped treat their arthritic pains. I helped to treat the other 30+ folks that had shown up to see all the excitement.
Sitting and talking with one of these folks is like talking to your grandma who knows the whole history of her surroundings. Time since stopped. The Caring4Haiti team joined us to love on the folks. We also supplied them with The Proclaimer (http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/proclaimer), a portable, solar-powered, digital machine dedicated to playing Bible verses in local languages. We are so blessed to have The Proclaimer ministry offer this wonderful instrument of discipleship. Since the majority of these folks are blind but not deaf, it allows them to hear the Word of God.
We also ran into Jen, a full-time missionary in Haiti helping run agricultural projects throughout Queniminthe. Take a look at her website. She is an awesome Woman of God bringing love and food to so many starving people here in Haiti. We had received hundreds of seed packets from Hope Seeds. Between Jen and Hope Seeds, via Hearts Afire, we will be able to provide sustainable gardens – with appropriate teaching, follow up, and then further planting – for more than 200 families.
After finishing my day at Bon Samaritan … oh wait I forgot to tell you my favorite part was THE RIDE. Oh, you ask me, what’s that? Hmm, well let’s just say that poor motorbike will never be the same after having me on the back! We went up and down hills, over puddles, zig zag zig zag, sideswiping a few bikes and pedestrians until we finally arrived both at Le Bon Samaritan and back; and all for $1! It puts NASCAR driving to shame.
So after my behind recovered I walked carefully back to the clinic, which was already moving at Danita’s place, and I was enthusiastically greeted by my compadres (other medical providers whom I had left behind to take care of my old folks), who promptly told me, “GET MOVING.” We had, I think I heard him say, 200 patients to see. Oh oh oh. How will we make it through this day, and all before 4:30 p.m., when we must leave to cross the border on time, unless we want to cross barefoot via the river? No, not such a good idea.
Somewhere in my infectious disease courses I believe I learned that there are some pretty nasty buggers in those waters. Well I guess it was time to dive in.
We were so blessed because today we were met at Danita’s by another group from California, and guess what: half their team was medical and they joined us to help.
God doesn’t waste one person. He uses all to create the unified body and His divine plan.
Well, you ask me for the stats. Drum roll please. Almost 200 people evaluated medically, more than 50 people who came to Christ, and many healings. Although these numbers are great, I must say that it was the least of these that touched my heart the most. I am not a physical mother but yet God has given me a mother’s heart. This is difficult for me at times because I mother so many, sometimes whether people like it or not. Well my mother’s heart was deeply moved today when I saw two children. One was two months and the other was six months.
For the first time, I actually thought about what it would be like to adopt one of these children, who was in such desperate need of medical help. She was covered with a severe rash, was dehydrated and chances are that she would not make it past the next few weeks, if improper nutrition is continued. So we asked her to get to the main clinic where we could give her vitamins and hydration. Then there was the case of the 6-month-old child abandoned by her mom at birth due to her disabilities.
She was born with an enlarged brain with too much pressure. She had a condition called hydrocephalus and was drinking very poorly. This child would have undergone several surgeries by now, but there are no neurosurgeons in this region. We were limited to vitamins, antibiotics, and prayer. No one would take this ill child anywhere in Haiti or outside of Haiti for that matter. So what does one do when you encounter such a pre-terminal condition? You call down on the one who knows us and loves us and stand on faith for this child.
The last child we had with a similar condition, whom we saw more than one year ago here in Haiti, was brought in on the first day of this trip, still alive, and still physically able despite her hydrocephalus. The last time we saw her, she had a blocked shunt (a device that goes from the brain to the abdomen to drain excessive fluid). It was not working and this child was not expected to live. Yet we all prayed and believed, and she is still alive today! Praise the Lord!
I know that this blog was much heavier today but it is reality on the mission field. But if asked what was the most inspirational moment of the day, it definitely was the debriefing at the end of dinner. We have about 12 youth from Tampa on this trip and today they had a universal theme, which was that this trip has changed their perspective about life and THINGS!
What if we all just thought a little more before driving to that fast food restaurant and asking to supersize it? What if we saved that money we spend on Starbucks and used it to help a child through school? Finally, what if every person who ever goes on the mission field is radically changed and their Hearts are set Afire to do God’s work here on Earth? Then perhaps we would get rid of world hunger quickly, and the problems we see out here would be alleviated. But most importantly, we would see love in some of the darkest areas and perhaps we would see HEAVEN ON EARTH.
Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye,
My oh my what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine coming my way,
Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye.
Vilma Vega, MD
Co-founder, Hearts Afire Inc.
