I Like You

The Arteest, modeling the stunning penguin sweater he won at the Evergreen white elephant gift exchange.
Ain’t he a looker?

The day we flew to Haiti, I went to work until noon. Just before I left, I stopped by the desk of one of my coworkers to say hello. He asked me a few questions about the trip, and then pulled out his wallet. “Can you take a cash donation? I’ll give you what I have in my wallet,” he said, and handed me a twenty. I thanked him and told him I’d make sure it went to good use.

Exactly one week later, I still had that twenty dollar bill tucked into my bag, with a Post-It note attached reminding me that it was intended for “something good” in Terre Blanche.

This afternoon, I was assisting Dr. Shellie, who is completing an Infectious Diseases fellowship at OHSU. One of our patients was a gaunt looking 22 year old woman who said she had been coughing up blood. According to her chart, she had come to the clinic in October, the last time a team of doctors was here. On that visit, the doctor noted that the patient had been coughing up blood and needed to go to Gonaives (where the nearest hospital is located) for a chest X-ray to rule out tuberculosis.

Today, four months later, she was back at the clinic with the same symptoms, but hadn’t gotten an X-ray. When Dr. Shellie asked if she could get an X-ray, the patient replied that she would like to do it, but the test would cost about a hundred Haitian dollars, the equivalent of twenty US dollars. I asked, through the interpreter, if she would be able to get transportation to Gonaives if the test fees were taken care of. She nodded.

After checking with Linda to make sure I wasn’t stepping outside of our protocol, I ran upstairs and grabbed that same twenty dollar bill out of my carry-on bag, and brought it to Pastor Delamy, who arranged for our patient to go to Gonaives. The patient must have figured out where the money came from, because she approached me and, holding the money out in her hand, said, “Mesi anpil.” (Thank you very much.)

I can’t wait to tell my coworker that his pocket money is buying life-saving diagnostics for a young woman who ought to have a full, healthy life ahead of her. 

Our journey to Terre Blanche gave us many reminders that God is in charge. Cancelled planes, last minute itinerary changes and luggage complications gave us some opportunities to remember that we are not in charge of all of this — and the One who is in charge, is worth trusting.
 
Despite these challenges and after a very long, hot, bumpy ride up country, seventeen of us arrived safely in the village last night around 5 pm. Those of us who have been here before were amazed by the dramatic road improvements between Gonaives and TB — what used to take an hour now takes fifteen minutes!
 
We have had a lovely day of setting up clinic, resting, and walking through the village. As always, we have been greeted with warm smiles and hospitality by the villagers and of course by Pastor Delamy, Madame Elvire and the many Haitian brothers and sisters who work behind the scenes to make our time here possible.
 
At the end of the day, most of us make our way up to the roof of the clinic building, where there is a gentle breeze and a canopy of stars that shines brighter than just about anywhere. It’s good to be back in Terre Blanche.