August 2008 Doctor Mom Everyone we know in Haiti calls her Mommie Liz, but I call her Doctor
Mom! Last month I wrote the first part of this
report called ‘The Last Kid in Line’ about what would happen if a child got to
Hope Ministries too late to get any food after the pot was empty. I mentioned
our little medical clinic where the people waited in line for two days, many
after traveling a long way for just a few minutes with Dr. Mom. Why would anyone
do that? Try to imagine 300,000 people in Carre Four Feuilles where poverty is real
and for the extreme poor there are no doctors, not one free medical clinic!
Imagine your child with an ear ache, ruptured, with pus coming out and no money
for even Tylenol! Imagine having ringworm and no medicine! Imagine have scabies
all over your hands and feet, eating away the flesh so that walking feels like
hot coals underfoot, and you have nowhere to go for help! Imagine your child
with diarrhea for days and no medicine and no money! Or a congested chest
coughing, coughing, coughing and nothing to give! Imagine having a stomach full
of parasites so what little food you can get feels like acid! Imagine having
shingles and no way for any relief! Imagine a difficult pregnancy and no medical
help available to you! Imagine having an infection of any kind or a chronic
disease like diabetes and no, absolutely no medicine! Imagine a toothache and no
relief! Imagine any kind of medical problem and nowhere to go for help, and if
there were help for you, no money to buy medicine. Not even a band aid! Imagine
not one bar of soap, no toothbrush, no clean water to wash with! Nothing! That is the reality of the people we serve in Haiti! Every time we go I try to bring back pictures that tell the story, you know a
picture is ‘worth a thousand words’. I took about 400 pictures last trip and
just can’t capture the feel of Haiti. Whenever I try to describe it the words
are inadequate. The poverty and desperation is overwhelming and sad, yet when I
am there I know I am going home to what we consider a normal life. To them that
is a normal life every day all the time. There is no way you can explain it in a
way that people who haven’t been there can understand or get a mental picture.
You could say they have no hope, but that’s not true, they have hope in the Lord
Jesus. The Christians there have great faith, they have to pray for everything,
every day, and believe me the Lord knows their voices. The good news is those
who know him trust Jesus for everything. It’s our privilege to tell those who
don’t know Jesus about His grace and His love. One way we do this is by
providing food and medical relief for them and in doing so show them the love of
our Savior Jesus Christ. Liz and I are blessed to be able to serve. The ministry is now feeding around
340 people a day, which includes the children, the staff and volunteers that
help. As their desperation grows, the number we are feeding is growing every
day. The medical clinic began by just providing worm pills for the children but
as we saw the great needs it has grown, providing mostly over the counter type
medicine. We receive donations of Vitamins, Tylenol, Anti-acid tablets which we
carry into the country with us and we buy cough medicine, diarrhea medicine,
scabies medicine, antibiotics, worm pills, and everything else there. Of course
there is never enough medicine or enough time and we always leave knowing that
there is so much more to be done. Christians and non Christians come to the
clinic and we make sure no one goes away without a Gospel tract in their sack.
God called us, we went, and now we need to go back. After Doctor Mom leaves
where can they go, to a Voodoo witch doctor who is real and available? We saw
him and his place advertising spells with our own eyes, even took a picture.
Remember we are in a spiritual warfare with satan, if no one goes and tells them
about Jesus, satan wins! Please continue to lift this work up in your prayers.
Your prayers and support are winning the battle, you are the one who is making
the difference! Called to HIS Service, Dewaine