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Jan 25
2008
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week two!Posted by juliebriggs in Untagged |
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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.
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.
