The Dead Man

As I arrived across the yard at our hospital yesterday morning, I was met with the unbelievably, heart wrenching wails of a young Haitian woman. Upon investigation, I learned that her Husband had been brought in 30 minutes earlier having a severe asthma attack. He had passed away and was in our male ward. The reality of life here really struck home. No intubation had been attempted, no bronchiodilators instilled, no shock. Just allowed him to slip peacefully to the other side. In a country with 1 medical professional for every 10,000 people there simply isn't the time for extended efforts. Our Haitian clinic doctor sees over 300 patients - On a very slow day. A typical day is around 500 patients with a few births thrown in. Mind boggling. This is what makes visiting medical teams so incredibly important and valuable; not only to help educate the local medical professionals, but to just help relieve a little bit of the load, and see patients that would otherwise receive no care at all. Death is accepted too easily in Haiti.

Haiti has the most corrupt government of any country in the world as rated by the world transparency organization. Sadly, this corruption filters down to many of the Haitian people as well as an accepted way of the culture. This has been a huge mountain to climb in working with the distribution network here at St. Francois de Sales. After finally seeing more pilferage from the loaders than I could take, I asked Fr. Geordani how we could stop it. Explaining that many donors sacrifice so much to make it possible for these goods to reach those that need them. He understood the problem, called a meeting where he and I addressed it with the employees. Unfortunately, 2 had to be let go as they refused to adhere to the rule of - No Stealing. Fr. Geordani and I are committed to making St. Francois the light on the hill that it can be for poor Haitian people.

Jobs are extremely hard to come by in this country. This makes these 2 terminations a little dicey. At the very least, I know that one of the people plans to send a voodoo spell my way. I am so glad that my God is so much more powerful. He alone is my Strength, my Shield, my Defender, and my Protector.

Still in Haiti. Still saying "Yes" Lord. Still coveting your prayers and encouragement.

Grace and peace,
Randy