Well it is getting super hot these days!!although Ive heard its warming up in Northern Ireland??
Anyway enough about the weather I want to tell you about a patient I had today. 
 
He is 17 and in September he had a car accident and now is paralysed from the waist down. After the accident he went to hospital in Port au Prince (the capital city) and stayed there for a month, then went to hospital near his home in Cap Haitian for a few weeks then they sent him home. Except the whole time no-one explained to him why he couldn't move his legs and that he was going to be paralysed for the rest of his life and that he would never walk again. They also didn't give him a wheelchair, so for the past 8 months his brother has been lifting him and he has been thinking one day he will get better and walk again.
 
And he came to me thinking I could help him walk again. So it was a hard thing to tell him I couldn't. I got one of our doctors (Dr. Rodney who is a great doctor) to come in and to explain to him why he cannot move and to tell him it is permanent and he will never be able to walk again. Dr Rodney talked with him for about an hour, encouraged him that even if his legs don't work other parts of his body do and he can use them. He asked him if he is already a christian and he was. Then we talked about what he wants to do with his life now, the first thing he said was I want to walk again. So Dr Rodney explained again and he then said he wanted to go back to school and he wants to be a pastor.
 
I found the one and only wheelchair we have in the clinic, its pretty old and didn't have any footplates but at the minute it is better than nothing. Wheelchairs are difficult to get in Haiti, they have a market downtown called the 'pepe' which is all things imported in from america so his brother is going to look there see if they can buy one although I have no idea how much it will cost. So that was a pretty hard thing to do today. I just ask for some things to pray for.
 
Please pray for this guy, If I remember right his name in Paul Jean, pray the he will be able to accept the news, that he will trust in God for his future. Please pray for a good wheelchair and that it will not be difficult to get. Praise God for Dr Rodney who was brilliant with him today. Pray for wisdom for me, I haven't treated this before and its been nearly 3 years since we learnt it in university!!
Also continue to pray for Betty in her job, she is doing great pray that God will continue to work through her.

well busy week!!!So because I wasn't overly busy in the clinic before now we put an announcement on the radio saying I was here and what sort of problems I can treat so this week I have seen about 70 patients and its not even friday yet!!It is great though because I want to do as much as I can while I am here. So the kind of things I have been seeing are lots of back pain, lots of arthritis and a few babies who I think have cerebral palsy and its so sad because there mums have no idea because noone has ever explained to them how it happened and what will happen as they get older. Also they have no form on therapy service here at all, speech physio or Occupational and Im sure the kids would have so much more potential.
 
Betty is doing wonderful in her job, she started the beginning on April and this week alone she has led 4 people to the Lord and I think another 2 before that. Her job is a nurse counsellor working with AIDS patients so they come to take the test and she explains what it envolves and if they are postive she will counsel them afterwards. Please continue to pray for her in her job, praise God for the work she is doing and pray that God will continue to be her strength and really work through her in the clinic.
 
Also praise God for Fritznel he comes back to visit a couple of days a week and he is doing really well, considering how sick he was it is wonderful and I have seen him really grow since he has left the clinic Just continue to pray for him and his family, life is difficult for them. Pray that they will rely on God for their strength and to provide for them.
 
And I had my little boy with clubfoot come this week, and he was walking on the soles of his feet with his shoes on(without his shoes his feet still fall out of position) which is wonderful. Just keep praying that his we muscles will strengthen up and by the time I leave he will be walking normally for the first time.
 
Thanks you again for your continued prayers, I have said some things to pray for and to praise God for already. Oh and pray for energy for me with treating lots of patients and its getting hotter Im tired (my mum would say that makes a change your always tired anyway!!) and for wisdom I am treating lots of things that I havent done before as a student so bit daunting but good!!

In the past few weeks I have had the chance to do a couple of home visits to patients who cannot come to the clinic. The first was qith a nurse from the clinic in the place were she lives, a lady had had a stroke and they could not bring her to the clinic. She had no family and some people from the community were looking after her, all I could do was give them some advice on how to look after her but you know they were doing it all already and its amazing how instinct takes over when you haven't been taught what to do.
 
The next was a little boy who lives just across the road, he is 8 but his body is the size of a three year old. He was born normal and then at 6 months he had a fever, something if your baby had at home you would take straight to the doctor and because of the fever it left a lot of damage in his brain. He cannot move or talk and can only eat liquids yet he was a very content little boy and smiled the whole time we were there. Even though he has never been outside and some of the people in the community probably do not even know he is there, it was lovely to see how happy and content he was but very sad at the same time. It was so obvious the family take very good care  of him, so again it was just advice on how to prevent complications.
 
Treating patients in their own homes is completely different than in the clinic, you see where the patients are coming from, how it isn't easy for them to do some things in their house which I have asked them to do, for example maybe I ask them to do an exercise using a chair but perhaps they don't have a chair. It is very humbling and eye opening to see how they live. But good for me at the same time to see that.
 
Also my wee friend Carlos has been visiting everyday, he just comes into my room just to say hi, to play and he loves sitting down to draw. He is 7 and has never been to school yet so he cannot write or read simply because his auntie who looks after him (both his parents are dead) doen't have the money. He has been asking me if I can put him in school because he really wants to go, so I spoke to our missionary here who runs starfish kids (the child sponsership programme OMS has to pay for education) to see if we could get him signed up for school. So she said yes and he is going to start school in september which is wonderful. Also with startfish they get a meal each day and have to go to church each sunday so it is not only education the kids get but a meal and a chance to hear the gospel each week which is brilliant.
 
I don't know if you have heard on the news but there has been some trouble in Port au Prince, the price of food is rising rapidly especially the price of rice which is a staple food here and the haitians eat it everyday but it is so expensive they cannot afford to buy it and the people are going hungry. So please pray for the country as a whole, for the price of food to go down and that there won't be alot of trouble because of this.
 
Thank you for your ongoing prayers, continue to remember me. You can pray for my work in the clinic with patients, for opportunites to share God's love with people and encourage those who already know God. Pray that as I am in the second half of my time here that people who really need physio will come to the clinic so I can help them while I am still here

Ive got lots of thing to praise God for this week. First a patient who I had been working a lot actually I will tell you his story his name is Fritznel and he is thirteen. He first came to the clinic in December withan infection in his lung which had to be drained manually with a needle he had this done each week, he was also put on TB medication. His mum wasn't around and he was staying with a girl who works in the clinic. He came back in January just after I arrived very sick, he has a collapsed lung in addition to the infection he was very weak and could barely breathe. He needed a chest drain in to drain the fluid and re-inflate the lung but they are not easy to find in Haiti!!
 
Dr Gavin did not have a chest tube so he called round different hospitals to look for one he found one so they had one but he had to go and pick it up. Gavin went to the hospital that night and picked it up. The tube was too big for such a small boy but if the tube wasn't inserted he would die. So Gavin inserted the tube and the draining began. Also his mum arrived back the next day, we don't know if someone told her he was sick or if it was just timing. Normally patients don't stay in the clinic but Fritznel was too sick to go home, so he and his mum were able to stay in the clinic, they were in the same room as me so I have got to know him and his mum very well.
 
After the surgery Fritznel was very weak he couldnt sit up for more than 10 mins because he was fatigued, this is when I started working with him. Gradually with time we began to build up his exercise tolerance, sitting out in a chair, walking a few steps. After a few weeks (maybe 3) Gavin took him for an Xray to see how much progress he was making, the Xray had improved but not enoughto remove the tube. He has had three X rays since and each time he lung hasn't expanded enough. I began to do breathing exercises with him and he built up enough exercise tolerance to walk around the compound a few times each day. So today we went to get a final Xray and his lung had re-inflated and when we got back the the clinic Gavin removed the tube and the drain. It was great after 3 months in the clinic he is finally able to go home. So he will go home tomorrow. Although this is brilliant for him because he is better it will be hard for them to go home, they come from a very poor family their are 5 children in the family with no father and his mum cannot read or write and she doesn't work so it will be difficult for them to go home. So please pray for their family as they go home but also praise God he his better.
 
Also my translator Betty was contracted for just 3 months and I now know enough Creole to get by so I don't need her anymore so I was worrying about what she was gonna do after she finished working with me then she would have no job therefore no income, also because she is my friend and I wasn't gonna see her very much anymore. Anyway Gavin was asking me questions about her and at the perfect time an opening came up for a nurse counsellor, and Betty would be perfect for the job she is great with people and she wants to be a nurse. Gavin spoke with the other people in charge of the clinic and they decided Betty would be best for the job they had already interviewed alot of people but no-one was right for the job so she got it!!She went for training in Port-au-Prince last week and is starting next week. So praise God she has a permanent job here they are so hard to find in Haiti and if I hadn't have come she never would have been connected with the clinic. Also pray for her as she starts she is feeling scared as she hasn't done anything like this before but I know she will be great at it.
 
In church on sunday we had a guy become a christian and one of the other missionaries (Erica)runs a kids club in another town, it started 4 weeks ago with 50 kids, last sunday they had 125 kids they showed the kids version of the Jesus film for easter. When she got there the projector wouldn't work and they had 125 kids watching it on a small laptop screen and 18 kids accepted the Lord!!Amazing the pastor of the church is visiting with the families this week for some follow up and to speak to the families aswell.
 

 

The longer Im here the more my eyes get opened up to what life is like for people in Haiti. I was talking to a couple of guys this week, one of them was just 19 he had 6 brothers and sisters and his mum all lived in the same house. In Haiti the people are really loyal to their family and that is pretty much the most important thing to them. So this guy has the responsibility to look after his family because his father is dead and he is the oldest son yet he is still at school but somehow has to find the money to pay for school, for his brothers and sisters to go to school and look after his mother, find money for food to feed his family how does someone do that?Especially when there is no work....I have no idea. And he also spends every saturday at his church running a kids club for over 50 kids on his own.
He wants to be a dentist but it is expensive to go to school and at the minute his responsibility is to look after his family. Their loyalty for their family is unbelievable especially for the oldest son and more so if the father is dead.
 
The other guy had pretty much the same story, 18 goes to school, his father is dead so now he is the head of the house and has to care for his family I think there was maybe 5 other kids, what a big responsibilty for an 18year old.
 
But I don't wanna tell you all sad stories but just give you a wee bit of an idea of what life is like. We had another wee miracle this week, A mother brought her 2 month old baby in, threw him at one of our nurses and he stopped breathing, After a minute of resuscitation they got him back. After 5 or 6 of us prayed, he got some medication a nebuliser and some oxygen and literally within an hour he was much better. Turns out he had croup which is really common at home but could have been fatal for this baby if it wasn't for the clinic. And the baby went home that afternoon. That amazes me, if a baby at home had stopped breathing im pretty sure they would stay in hopsital for more than a few hours!He came back for a check up the next day and that was him, better.
 
Also my translator, Betty wasn't here this week so I had to do it all by myself speaking creole!And it was fine so thank you for praying about picking up the language, I am no where near fluent but I can get by. I am still having lessons and still have so much more to learn.
 
Thank you for your prayers, please to continue to pray for me and for Haiti. Continue in prayer for my patients that I will be making a difference and as I learn more and more language I will get more opportunites to tell people about Jesus. And continue to pray for Haiti, for the Christians here, the best way to change a country is through its own people for wisdom for them, for opportunites to tell peopole about Jesus and for strength. Alot of the Pastors have their own church, have a family to provide for so need to work aswell and are studying at the seminary all at the same time.
 
This weekend is our missionary retreat, so we are having some meetings and tomorrow going to the beach for a few days, so pray it will be a time of rest, a time to spend a lot of time with God and a time to learn and to grow and come back ready to put our all into our different ministries.

So I have been in Haiti the for two months now and can't believe how fast time is going. Last week we had a wee miracle in the clinic, on monday a little baby came in just 15 months and she was very very sick. She had a high temperature and her respiratory rate was way to high and she wasn't reacting to anything really and when Dr Gavin saw her he said he thought she was going to die she was so sick. So he gave her some IV antibiotics, she did not move when Gavin put the needle in. A group of staff from the clinic went in to pray with her, by the afternoon she was much better, because we are a clinic and not a hospital we had to send her home that night. The next she came in she was a totally different child, much more alert and this time it took three adults to hold her down for Gavin to put an IV in!!So Gavin thinks she had meningitis and if it wasn't for the clinic and for our prayers she would not have made it.
 
Think about how much care a child gets if they have meningitis at home yet here she got IV antibiotics for 5 days went home every night and was completely better by the end of the week like a completely different child from the first day it was amazing!!
 
Also my other little boy with clubfoot has been back and I was getting to the stage where I didn't know what to do next, I had made splints but I didn't know how long it would last so I emailed a friend to see if they had any splints they could send out, the very day he told me he can send some Gavin told me his parents are coming here on good friday so that is so perfect it would take as long to post and more money and now they can send them, it was a great answer to prayer!!so Thank you for your prayers but continue to pray that he will get better and I will be able to help him to walk again.
 
I have also been working with another little boy, he is the son of another missionary couple here. His name is Jaden he is haitian and they have adopted him but he has CP and other behavioural problems.He has never had any therapy before because he has been living in Haiti. I am going to their house twice a week so I am trying to be a physio, occupational therapist and speech therapist all at once!!A bit out of my depth. Its going well though because I am trying to do all three I feel a bit out of my depth.
 
I am also having lots of fun aswell as working...going to the beach, hiking, just making friends its great.
so thank you for your prayers and please continue to do so.
 
One thing you can pray for is just Haiti as a country right now there is alot of food stuck in customs and because of that food is very expensive, I have no idea how families are able to eat because it is so expensive. Also in the clinic in the past week we have noticed there are not as many patients probably because they need the money for food. so pray that the food will be released from the customs and the price of food will go down.

So this week in the clinic has been hard work and a bit overwheleming I suppose, I guess God was just breaking me in gently the first few weeks. Ive been treating (well trying to) patients whose pain is so preventable and if they had proper treatment when something happened it could of been prevented. Part of it is because of the health care here, its pretty awful and the other part is because of money. The people just don't have enough money to pay to go and see the doctor then they don't, so they get worse and worse and I'm sure alot of people die due to preventable or very curable things. I'll tell you about a few of them...
 
I've had about 4 stroke patients and they are old strokes like 3 years ago. So the treatment for a stroke in Haiti is high blood pressure tablets then stay in bed until it gets better. I'm actually amazed at how much recovery some of my patients have with no treatment, yet treatment at home is physiotherapy and it makes me think if they had any treatment how much better they would be and how much more function they would have. Then what happend is because they don't have the use of one arm and can't walk very well, they can't work and therefore don't have any money to support themselves and feed themselves. And as there is no such thing as a pension in Haiti so they often have to rely on other members of their family to support them, to wash and dress them and feed them which is alot of pressure when they are trying to support the rest of their family who all live in the same house. So that is hard, and also its just hard work because at home you would often have 2 physio's working with a patient and an assisstant where as here is just me!!
 
Another patient we saw yesterday one of the Doctors called me into because he had a sore leg and couldn't walk. Haitian people are very difficult to get a history from so he had told us he had fallen 5 years ago, that was all. However we didn't really believe he'd been walking like that that long. He was in alot of pain and couldn't lie down. When I look at his leg, his thigh was about twice the size of the other one and it was really hard and had two scars on it, I did not know what was going on so I got Dr Gavin...after a lot of questioning (like 15 mins) we finally got the whole story. He had a fever in November and got an injection in his hip in a hospital in town since then his leg has started to get bi and he has found walking more and more difficult and they never came to see anyone before because they didn't have the money. The boy was about 17 and was with his brother who is in his twenties and both parents are dead so they are looking after themselves. Dr Gavin looked and questioned and diagnosed the boy with osteomyelitis which is basically a bone infection most likely caused by the injection he was given at the other hospital probably because it wasn't sterlie. Now his thigh bone is about 3 times the size of the other one and completely full of infection. He needs an X-ray, so we sent him on to get one but they don't have the money so Dr Gavin is going to take him on Monday. Then treatment is antibiotics maybe for a year and just wait and see if they work. You can see how both money and the health system here are causing so many problems.
 
We also had a couple of people this week wih broken bones, and they had been injured 2 weeks previously. They are walking around in so much pain with a broken arm simply because they don't have the money to go to a doctor to see what the problem is.
 
My eyes have really been opened this week to the poverty and need here this week. I have known before now it was poor but when you are working with people like that each day you really see a little glimpse of what life is like for them and how they just live from one day to the next trying to support themselves and their families each day.
 
Just continue to pray for my work in the clinic, for wisdom to know how to treat I do feel a bit out of my depth sometimes. And just for Haiti as a whole that it will be a country for God. For the government who basically does nothing for the people pray that God will change that, He asks us in the bible to pray for our leaders and rulers so I ask you to pray for Haiti's.

(I wish I could think of more original names for the title!!)

Ive been in Haiti for a month now, and time is going so fast like the weeks just fly by. Im getting busier which is why I have written anything for a while. Ive got a lot more patients in the clinic, a few challenging ones which Im not overly sure what to do....but Ill try different things. Ive also had a few patients who have had a stroke, they are difficult to treat with just a bed and just me with no physio assistants and proper equipment!!and they  have no movement at all in their leg so how they get them to the clinic is unbelievable!! They come in a tap tap (The local public transport Ill hopefully get a photo on soon) and then a member of their family carries them in, its crazy. But they just don't have cars to get here or a wheelchair to sit in so that is the only way. So Im going to chat to them and see if I can go and treat them in their own house, it will be easier for me to get to them and then I can see where they are lying and not give them unrealistic goals. It will also be good for me to see haitian homes and how the people actually live, it could be so easy to live here on the compound and forget what is right outside your doorstep.
 
I had my first patient come back today who is completely better!He has had back pain for 2 years and Ive seen him three times and he says he has no pain!!I think I was more excited than him!!So my other little boy with clubfoot has come back, his foot position is better but it will be difficult to stay like that so Im going to try and make a spint from what I have here and hope that works...please pray that it will and I will have wisdom what to do. My other little boy Carlos with the broken arm probably isn't going to get his movement back but it won't affect him that much but he comes just to visit me so thats really nice, he doesnt go to school and I don't know who he lives with but I hope he will come and see me more so I can build a wee relationship with him.
 
I started my creole lessons this week, my teacher is called Shelia and so far I've had three lessons, so because I've had some french its not too hard but I really want to learn quickly because its frustrating not being able to communicate. Although I have had a couple of days where Betty hasn't been there and I got by so I do know a little. Its also been good to build up relationships with the other staff and also some of the guys from the bible college because I don't wanna spend all my time with other missionaries!!
 
Church has been good here, Ive been to a few different ones the one we went to on sunday we had to drive for an hour then hike up a mountain for an hour, you know like at the end of the sound of music where there are walking through the mountains thats what it was like!!and the people walk like an hour most of them in bare feet to keep their shoes good for church, church was 2 and a half hours long!!!They had lots of prayer, a girl and boy group singing (and they are beautful singers!!), congreation singing and it is amazing like the people just sing from the bottom of their hearts and are full of God's joy, then the sermon...its a long time to sit on wooden benches but it doesn't feel like 2 1/2 hours. But the Haitian people go to sunday school beforehand for maybe 2 hours so they have been in church since 8am!!And I just learnt that like americans sunday school is for everyone and not just children. And at the end of sunday school they give a report, how many people were there, how much money they give, then they have to stand up in classes recite their verses and give the points from the message....I wonder how many of us could give the points of the message after church???And this is kids and everyone who go to sunday school then church so Im being challenged alot by the Haitian christians....Its funny how you go to try and help and change people yet God can use the christians here to change you!!
 
I had my last day of teaching PE in school on wednesday, it was fun and I will miss teaching gymnastics but I really want to concentrate on my physio and learning the language.
 
A couple of my patients today said things like I will come back next week if I can get the money for a tap tap. Another lady who had had a stroke was asking if I could give her some money because she can't work because of her stroke...its really sad to think they have to live like that day by day not knowing when they are going to get money next. And its difficult for me to know who to help, who to say no to and who to say yes to so pray for wisdom to know when to help because I feel like I want to help everyone. Its just a completely different world living here than in Northern Ireland and I don't think its something you could ever get used to.
 
So some prayer things
 
Praise God that physio is working here.
Thank God just that I have the opportunity to be here.
Praise God that Ive settled in and feel like this is home for the next few months.
Keep praying for my patients that they will continue to get better.
Pray that I will learn the language quickly so be able to communicate then be able to share my faith with my patients.
For wisdom in treating my patients, its challenging that Im doing things that Ive never donw before and with no equpiment and no notes with me Im having to try and remember things I learnt a couple of years ago!
Also for wisdom in knowing who to help and how to help.
 
Thank you for your continued prayers.

Well I have been here two weeks, it feels like the time have gone really fast but I feel like Ive been here longer!I am definately settling in much better than last week and am starting to feel more at home.
 
So this week I have done alot, first on saturday I went to the beach it was amazing a Carribean beach...its hard being a missionary!!!only joking it was lovely to just relax at the beach.And the drive there through the mountains was beautiful the word Haiti means mountains so there are lots of them!
 
I was in the clinic most days and had some patients who had come back from last week and feel they are getting better which it brilliant, makes me think I actually do know how to be a physio!!I would ask you to pray for my patients though, especially the little boy with clubfoot I put his feet in a cast (which I have never done before!!) and I don't know how much difference it will make but I hope it works. Some patients I just haven't been able to do anything for because they have referred pain down both legs and really need an urgent MRI scan but there is no such thing as that in Haiti!!Things that are so easily avaiable at home you just cannot get here so they just live in pain. I also had a little baby, just 4 months old his mother died in childbirth and now his grandmother is looking after him but he is just not doing what he is supposed to be doing at 4 months and right now I don't know if that is a neurological problem or just lack of stimulation and I'll only be able to tell with time I hope its just poor development that way he can catch up!!
 
On wednesday I went to the holiday house for dinner and the team that was out had alot of questions about Haiti so they brought a Haitian man along to answer them. It was really good I learnt alot about the country and the history and why it is in the mess it is, mostly because when they stopped being slaves they handed their country over to the devil. In 2002 with a new president they turned on that now they say Haiti for Christ, Christ for Haiti. But there is still alot of voodoo and witchcraft going on and witch doctors in most villages which alot of people would go to before going to a doctor but it is changing.All the voodoo goes on behind closed doors at night and it isn't talked about but at night I can hear the voodoo drums going yet the next morning I can hear people singing and praising God in the church near the compound. Witch doctors are scared if christians because they know God is stronger so they do not try and do anything against any of the christians and people are coming to know the Lord all the time through all the mininstries here and most importantly through the Haitian christians.
 
Then on thursday I went to the prayer tree so this lady Louisa started a prayer meeting 23 years ago under a big mango tree, and every Thursday at 8 am people meet to pray for their country and anything from 10 to 500 people are there and I think on Thursday there were about 300 if not more people there it last from 8am until 1ish they pray sing and someone preaches, its amazing!!The christians are amazing and we have alot to learn from them, they have nothing, like materially yet they are totally full of joy and they don't need material things to make them happy. anyway it was a great experience.
 
Today I spent the day with Jill another one of the missionaries who runs a programme called starfish kids, its basically a sponsership programme. So a sponser from america or canada (or Northern Ireland I am hoping when I get the information home) pay a certain amount each month and the money goes towards their schooling, uniforms and at school they get a meal. ALl the schools are church school so all the kids are being taught from the bible each day. It is so important because the children are the future of Haiti and without education it isn't going to change at all. The first school we went to as soon as we walked into the room all the kids stood up and started singing....they were maybe 100 all in one room, no classrooms just classes in different corners of the room and they are so well presented to go to school matching uniforms and socks and hair things that are all the same colour. So on they way home from another school the pastor who is charge of that school invited us to his house for lunch, it was brilliant a haitian meal in a haitian home!Even though they don't have very much money the people are so kid and hospitable their culture is people orientated unlike ours which is time orientated so they may be 2 or 3 hours late for things but thats the way they are. Lunch was rice and beans and fish it was lovely, very humbling to be eating in a haitian home.
 
Sorry this is so long, I get carried away when I write. Thank you for all your prayers I will try and get some photos on so you can see what is it like. I don't really have any particular prayer requests I am just thankful I have the opportunity to be here and to help. Just pray for the country I think but God is definately working here and the people can see a difference.

Well this the third time Ive tried to write this so I hope it works!
As most of you know Ive arrived safely and on time last Thursday. My first impressions of Haiti were hot, although I have definatley got used to it I have a cardigan on most evenings and mornings!It was busy there are alot of people everywhere. And it was poor, There are people at the side of the street selling things anything really, people washing cars to get money and kids trying to help me with my suitcase to get a little money, also people asking for money because I'm white.
 
Life in Haiti is hard for the people, you see nearly all the ladies walking round with things on their head, I've seen it in pictures but its amazing to see in real life. The main method of transport in Haiti is 'tap tap', its a car/truck with benches in it you can jump on where-ever and tap when you wnat dropped off. I'm pretty sure most of the time they carry more people than they are supposed to!!
 
The compound is really nice, I am living with two girls, Kate is a teacher in the school and Amy is a nurse in the clinic, although Amy is away on cross cultural training with some of the other missionaries so I haven't met her yet. The other missionaries are great and I have been to everyone's house to eat, its been good to meet everyone.
 
I will tell you about the clinic,The clinis is on the compound it has about25 staff mostly haitian apart from three, 2 Northern Irish Me and Gavin the doctor and Amy who is from canada (I think). The doors open at 5.30am and people literally come miles to see the doctor. We have devotions at 8 every morning before work and there are also patient devotions at 8, all the patients will have arrived by8 and will wait as long as it takes to see the doctor.
 
The physio department is small, just a bed and a physio but thats all I need!And my translator her name is Betty and her english is brilliant so thats good.So far I have seen 13 patients, 10 of which were yesterday. I have seen mostly arthritis at a pretty young age, the people have worked hard and their joints are suffering now!I want to tell you about two little boys I saw.
 
The first boy was three, he has clubfoot. So his feet are all turned in and he walks on the outside of his feet which is very painful for him. It's really sad because he was probably born like that but some simple stretches would have helped it but now because he has been like that for three years I don't know how much correction we can get, there is some movement but most of the position is fixed.
 
The other boy is called carlos, he doesnt know his last name because he has no family. He is 7 although he is very small and looks about 5. A lady who sells things outside the clinic looks after him. He came in with a stiff elbow, it looks like he has broken it but it didnt have any treatment and we don't know when it happened because there was no-one looking after him, again very preventable with the right care. So I hope physio will help him.
 
I think this will be typical of the patients I see, things which are easily preventable but because of the healthcare and the way of life simple things do alot more damage than they should.
 
I am also teaching PE for the month of January at the missionary school so I was there today doing some gymnastics with them, it was fun.
 
Thank you for your prayers and just some wee prayer points.
Thank God that I got here, I didn't think I would make it!!
For my translator I coudn't do my job without her
For the other missionaries how they have looked after me so far and are making the effort to get to know me
That already I have had some patients!
Pray that I will continue to settle in and that it will feel lke home here
For my relationships with the other missionaries, with Betty and with the other satff at the the clinic
That I will pick up creole quickly
That I will get lots of patients at the clinic and be able to do alot for them
Thank you, Julie