Day 5, part one: So Many Things...

The more time I spend in Haiti, the more my heart yearns to do more for this country. I find myself quickly falling in love with this beautiful place. Today was another full day. Full physically, spiritually, and emotionally. We started our day going back to Cite Soleil to deliver water at two water trucks. Even though this was our second day amongst the poverty of this city, the sights and sounds were still overwhelming. Children running naked in the streets; men, women, and children physically clawing and climbing over each other for a place in line to fill up their beat up bucket with water; and the gang members standing in the distance, watching it all. Chaos is the only word that comes to mind when trying to describe the scene of distributing water at Cite Soleil today, absolute chaos. The children still clung to each of us as if we were the key to their salvation. I held one little girl the majority of the time at our second water truck stop, she couldn't have been older than two, she clung to me as if she had never been held before. Her beautiful big brown eyes, torn red shirt, huge smile, and the way she so willingly opened her arms to me and latched herself on to me will stay in my heart forever. Right before we left the second stop, one of my team members brought a teenage boy up to me who had been asking if there was a hospital close by. The boy had apparently fallen off his bike, and had a small piece of metal shrapnel lodged in the upper portion of his back. Luckily, we had some medical supplies on the tap tap, and I was able remove the piece of metal and quickly clean his wound- it felt good being able to use my nursing skills outside of my typical hospital setting. 

Later in the day, we had the opportunity to visit the pediatric emergency room/ ward at the general hospital not far from where we are staying in Port Au Prince. At the hospital, we handed out water to the parents as well potato packets from Feed My Starving Children for the kids. Having the opportunity to get a glimpse of the healthcare system in Haiti was such a precious moment for me since I work as an ER nurse back in Los Angeles. Being in a hospital setting and not getting straight to work treating patients was definitely an odd feeling, since that comprises so much of who I am back in the US. The hospital was nothing glamorous or special, it was simply two dome structures with metal walls connected with doorways. Patient privacy and extra comfort measures are simply non-existent in Haiti, and it was evident that those we interacted with today didn't care, they were simply content having a roof over their heads and to be receiving medical care for their children. Each dome held approximately thirty children, all different ages with various medical complaints. In one of the domes there was a premature baby that had recently been born and was simply fighting to stay alive, meanwhile the patient in the neighboring bed was an approximate two year old that was receiving the rest of his blood transfusion. So many patients with so many complex medical complaints, and I only counted four nurses while we were there, I so desperately wanted to jump in and help relieve some of the work load that I knew each of them were feeling. Even amongst the heaviness of the two domes, every person we came in contact with seemed to have an incredible amount of peace. In addition to handing out the food and water, we also had the opportunity to pray with the parents and children. I don't usually have the opportunity to pray with the patients that I care for back in the US, so it was such a unique opportunity to be in a setting that I am so comfortable with, the hospital, and share the love of Christ with others. The parents and children didn't care that we weren't speaking in Creole as we prayed, they were simply grateful. I had been having thoughts all week of possibly wanting to come back to Haiti to do more medical based work, and after visiting the hospital this afternoon, my thoughts were reaffirmed. Haiti has such a huge need, not only for medical personnel, but for others to come and simply show them the love of Christ. I look forward to the day when I have the opportunity to come back to this beautiful country and share both medicine and the love of Christ with the people of Haiti.

Erin Minnick

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