2018 Haiti Mission – 11/02/18 thru 11/03/18

(FRIDAY 11/02) We head up the mountain to Kat Kalen which is about a 40 minute walk. Cullen, Pastor Isaac and I are going to visit with and minister to a few people there. Cullen also wants to purchase a Kreyole Bible for one of the church members and his contact is lives there. We make the purchase our first stop and he negotiates the price down to $14 before we leave for our next stop.

We spend time with an elderly lady who desperately wants to come live in the Grandma-Grandpa House and threatened to do harm to herself to make that happen. Pastor Isaac counsels her that it is not the will of God that she would intentionally hurt herself and she says she understands. We spend a little more time visiting with her and her family before we circle up for prayer. Pastor Isaac presses a few Gourdes (Haitian dollars) into her hand to help her take care of her family. We were finally able to coax a beautiful smile out of her granddaughter just before we depart.

We stop by two other homes briefly and take a rest while visiting a third home. Here we encounter a forty-three year old woman whose finger tips are discolored and she tells us it is painful to the touch. Cullen suspects she may be an undiagnosed diabetic and encourages her to come to the clinic on Monday to have a blood test. Diabetes and hypertension are common among the people here. We notice there is another young lady who is very pregnant. Turns out she is the woman’s daughter and is due in December. She has already had prenatal care and knows she is having a little girl around the 15th. Cullen promises to come back soon to bring her a prenatal kit that he dispenses.

We make our way down to the shoreline and visit the open market in Kat Kalen where we walk around looking at the wares people are selling. He attempts to visit a friend of his near here but she is not home. I manage to take a couple of photos of merchant ships which were being loaded.

(SATURDAY 11/03) We head back to Kat Kalen to drop off the prenatal package. Since we primarily walk on goat trails and there are no street signs, we get a little lost but finally find the right house. Mom-to-be is happy to receive the items and Cullen just happens to have a dress which fits the 5 year old girl who just happens to be there today. The smile she gives us when she receives the gift says thank you a million times.

We make it back to the soup kitchen before they start serving today and I watch the joy on the children’s faces as Cullen entertains them while they wait for lunch.