It has been a while since the last post, I have a feeling now that the other haitian-half of me left they wont be as regular, but I am going to try and stay on it! Morgan flew out a week ago and I am so thankful for the month that we were able to spend together. God was so good to lead us both to this place at the same time. It really makes all the difference to have someone walk with you side by side, spur you on, encourage you, cry with you, laugh with you, and just live life with you. Everything that we experienced I know I will never forget. She is an amazing woman of God and I already miss having her around! Though God allowed our paths to join this summer, He has individual plans for us both and the rest of the summer has much more in store with Morgan back in her home town and me here at Canaan.
This past weekend was really special for me. I got to play mom for about 4 days while I took care of a 9 month old girl that lives here named Maralucia. When I came to Canaan in March for a few days, I spent one day in the mamba clinic just to check it out and see how the whole process goes down. While I was there, a lady brought in a little 5 month old girl that weighed 7 pounds, was completely malnourished, dehydrated and had an extremely high fever. I have seen a lot of really bad cases so far this summer, but none can even compare to this baby. The lady said that her mom was crazy and her dad was dead, and she was not able to take care of her. She wanted Canaan to take her in. After Elsie started to get some sort of fluid in the baby, she went to go find a judge to officiate everything and within the matter of a couple hours, she was handed over to Canaan. In the chaos of it all, I remember not being able to take my eyes off of her. She was so lifeless, so malnourished, so sick, it was hard to imagine what it would take for a baby to get to this point of complete starvation. Elsie handed her over to me and we all got in the truck to drive up to Canaan. I felt like I was holding the most fragile living being in the world, she was so so hot and just laid limp in my arms with her mouth wide open. Every now and them she would lift up her little wrist to her mouth to suck on her hand when she was thirsty. She had a callous there from how often she would do it. The truck ride up to Canaan was maybe a minute but it seemed like eternity. I just prayed and prayed that God would keep her alive and that she wouldn't die right there in my arms. It did not feel real, I had never been so near to death before, especially with an infant. Looking back, I am amazed at the tangible battle between light and darkness, life and death. It was a scary fight, and goodness triumphed in the end. God began to breath His life into her and every hour that passed she regained little bits of strength. I left Haiti the next day after seeing a baby's life be saved right before my own eyes. That was Maralucia's story, and when I got to Haiti on June 1st, I was absolutely blown away when I laid eyes on her for the first time. She was a completely different child, she had grown so much and could hold her own head up. She was giggling and smiling and eating like a normal baby! So when the opportunity arose for me to take care of her, I jumped on it. Every minute I spent with her I felt like I was spending with a baby that had been touched by God. My mind kept flashing back to that day when God intervened in such a huge way, I am certain that he has great plans for her as He has already proven. She is quite possibly the most joyful, adorable, chubby baby that I have ever been around and has a smile that will just make you melt! Her story is one that gives me drive to keep going and makes my responsibility that much weightier to shed light onto this place, and to tell others the about the need that is here. I cannot begin to fathom how many more babies there are in Haiti in the state that she was in, most of them without any means of getting help. It cannot be ignored, I cannot ignore it. I cannot go back to the states and forget what I have seen here. God see's each one of these children's faces, He knows them by name and He loves them individually. I don't think I can pray enough that God would give me a heart that cares deeply about the things that He cares about, loves what he loves and hates what he hates. And that would drive me to act and fight for what is right, and to take part in His kingdom here on earth. I have so much to learn!
Joel Busby and two guys from a ministry called boosterthon came up to visit on monday and stayed for a couple of days. They hung around the clinic for a while handing out boosterthon back packs for the mom's to carry the mamba bags with. Speaking of, the mamba clinic insane on tuesday! I got to graduate the first patient that I have seen go through the entire program and finish at his goal weight. His name was Crluckson and he was one of the kids that we found up in Fon Baptiste the first week we were here. What a rewarding thing to see his mom leave with a smile of accomplishment and him leave happy and healthy with a chance to live a life unlike one he would have before.
Things around here have been much different this past week. Sister Gladys and Pastor Henry both left to go to the states for a couple of weeks, and without mom and pop here the atmosphere definitely changes! The kids also started sumer school on Tuesday so there is much more of a schedule to our days. Elsie is leaving tomorrow morning which leaves me in charge of several responsibilities that I didn't even know existed. Elsie is super woman for those of you who don't know...she does so much here and happens to be raising a little haitian baby on top of it all. No big. Without her here these next 2 weeks, I will probably be doing less in the clinic and more with the kids in school, and mamba of course. There might not ever be one day that looks the same, but hey, tih. I find that if you don't plan everything rolls much smoother than if you do.
Well, signing off. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July, we have much to celebrate as citizens of our country!
Miss you meeeergannn!
Jess
