On Saturday, February 20th, a team of 6 members from Second Baptist Church left Conway to travel to the earthquake ravaged, Port Au Prince Haiti on a Medical Mission trip and again on March 20th a second team of 8 returned. Like most Americans we had seen the news of the earthquake and had watched almost daily during those first few weeks about the need for medical personnel. Most, if not all of the team, immediately felt a sense that this was where we needed to be.
There was very little time for the first team to prepare but the team of 1 pharmacist, 2 nurses, 1 radiology technician, 1 certified ophthalmic technician and 1 pastor began to make phone calls to those already on the ground and to another team from Rogers who were going to meet up with us when we arrived.
Plans were made to try to fly directly into Port Au Prince as some of the major airlines were to be making those direct flights by this time. As the days got closer we learned that we would have to be redirected to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and there we would travel by bus (and not a Greyhound!) across the Dominican Republic through Haiti to arrive at Port Au Prince. This would be about a 9 hour drive.
We knew that this was going to cut into our time on the ground in Port Au Prince doing what we all had felt called to do but nevertheless we were certain we would be able to get where we needed to be and that the Lord knew how and when we would arrive.
We knew when we arrived in Santo Domingo that we would be met by Jesus ( Hey-suz) a wonderful man who had arranged the bus travel and an overnight stay in a village close to the border. He quickly became a friend. At first we were disappointed that we would not be able to make it to Port Au Prince the first night but we quickly settled into the long trip with our drivers, Alce and Wilson, neither who spoke any English.
We were told by Jesus that these were trustworthy men and they would see us safely to our destination which the first night was a “Mission” church just about 2 hours drive to the border of Haiti. It was dark when we arrived at the mission church and we were warmly welcomed by the Pastor of the mission, Mikael. We pulled our bus into a gated area of the mission compound and began to unload a few things we would need when we heard the sound of someone calling “Americano, Americano” and to our amusement and delight there we 3 sets of little arms reaching towards us from underneath the garage door.
Upon closer inspection we saw three bright smiles from three beautiful little girls who wanted to see and touch the Americano’s. We stayed and held their hands and talked in our broken Spanish for some time before it was time to go into the mission for the night. It had been a long hard day of travel and we were tired but it was a good tired. The weather was hot and the travel was difficult but our spirits were high and we were on a mission and anxious to get to our final destination-Port Au Prince.
On day three, Monday morning, we boarded the bus again for the remainder of the trip and made our way through the Dominican Republic and arrived at the boarder at about 7:00 in the morning, when the boarder opened. There were already hundreds of people on both sides of the boarded waiting to cross. As we arrived at the gate, something I have never experienced before, there were armed guards waiting to check us through. Our interpreters, Alce and Wilson, simply related to the guards that we were an American Medical team headed to Port Au Prince and we were ushered through, no checking of bags or passports needed. Just the words American Medical seemed to be enough.
Once we arrived in Port Au Prince it was evident that this was a third world country. No TV reporting could have adequately prepared us for what we were about to experience. But, with wide-eyed wonder like a child we arrived at our home for the next few days a real home with a real kitchen and a real bathroom. Nothing short of a miracle in itself. Craig Miller of “Thirst No More Ministries” was our contact for this trip and through negotiations had found this house for rent and secured the home for relief teams from the states who would be staying there. We quickly unloaded everything and then with the leadership of our Pharmacist Dwight Davis we repacked supplies and boarded a van to drive about an hour to our first clinic.
There we were met by the rest of the team from Arkansas, another team of medical personnel. We quickly made new friends of the interpreters and these medical missionaries and got right to work. Dan West, Kristen Schwulzt and Teri Murphy began taking care of the patients while Dwight and I worked adding our supplies with the other teams and setting up a make-shift pharmacy and begin filling their prescriptions. Dane our staff liaison, helped get the patients into the clinic in an organized fashion. We were able to treat about 150 that morning. Most of them needed vitamins and some needed antibiotics to treat a wide range of common illnesses.
During the first few minutes there we experienced a mad rush of people fleeing the area. To our surprise they were running away from the area because just outside the clinic there was a radio tower that have shifted during the earthquake and every time it moved they were afraid it was going to come crashing down, however we had no idea what the commotion was about and praise the Lord it was just a little scare nothing serious.
The evening was spent counting pills and packaging them and arranging the Pharmacy in our house to make the next few days more productive and run more smoothly, knowing that the needs were great it was important to see and treat as many as possible. Tired we tried to sleep. Not so hard when you are exhausted but during the night, about 1:30 a.m. some of us were jolted from our sleep by a tremor, 4.7 to be exact, 10 minutes later another one. The next day it was hard to imagine that anyone slept through that but they did, in fact most of the teams never felt a thing!
Our second day of clinic proved to be the most difficult and the most rewarding. We traveled to a tent city down by the river, a two hour trip. All of the residents of this tent city were displaced by the earthquake and migrated to the river where they were living in deplorable conditions of filth and poverty. What amazed me were the children. Children are the same all over the world. Carefree, happy, smiling, precious. You could not help but fall in love with them. They lined up in the searing heat of the Haitian sun to have an opportunity to see the doctor or the nurse. The needs were the same with a few exceptions but that day we saw over 200 by days end.
But today would not only be a day of medical ministry there was also an opportunity for 5 members from the two teams to drive deep into the heart of the inner city of Port Au Prince to one of the largest tent cities, where an estimated 45, 000 people now called home. We were there at the invitation of a local missionary, Joel Trimble, who has lived in Haiti for 35 years. He was going to be showing an evangelistic film that evening and we were going along to help him set up and to meet some of the local people.
Unbelievable! That is the word and it really cannot describe the scene. We were immediately surrounded by dark skined hands and arms, people pressing close to see and talk to the Americans. They all knew who Joel was. He has a TV program that is the most watched television show both secular and religious in all of Haiti. I think they wanted to see him, not us but what an experience. Looking out as far as you could see were makeshift shelters. Made from anything they could find. They were lined up in orderly fashion in what was once a park but was now a “tent” city. They had a city counsel selected and their “major” (for lack of a better description) was introduced to our team. He took three team members into the city and one of our interpreters and two other team members went into the city as well. We started walking down walkways that now served as roads to the city and began to encounter the local people. The children were eager to come in close and to talk or touch the American’s. The adults were more skeptical and had to be coaxed out to talk to us. There we had the opportunity to love on them and invite them to come to the entrance of the city at dark to see a film. We played kick-ball, flew a kite, held their hands and walked the street talking and praying with them.
As we made our way back to the entrance of the park I would hear someone singing, I stopped and looked into one of the small shelters, 4 x 4 feet and there stood a man with a little pulpit singing. I couldn’t see how many were in there but he was actually leading them in singing. I asked my interpreter, “are they having church?” “Yes”, he told me. Tears welled up in my eyes seeing how they found hope in Christ. They found a reason to sing in the midst of unimaginable circumstances. This is why we are here. Not for them but for us.
As night fell the music began to blare loudly and Joel took the microphone inviting them in Creole to gather around for the film. At first there were a few hundred, but as the night went on thousands gathered. Joel took the team into the middle of the crowd and interpreted the message of the film. Once the film was over it was difficult to maneuver through the crowd but we managed to get back to the front of the park where Joel took center stage and began to share the gospel. We did not understand a word he said but what we did understand was result of his testimony which led to the salvation of hundreds of Haiti men, women and children. All praying to receive Christ, arms lifted high and praying as if with one voice. It was incredible!
On our final day there, (sad to have to leave so early but with our travel back to the Dominican Republic it was necessary that we leave early) we spent one final day with the Haitians at an orphanage where we treated about 90 children and a few adults. It was a bitter sweet day as we said our good-byes to the 8 men who had been with us interpreting for those 3 days. As usual the children were eager to meet and talk to us. That night we packed our bags but before we put everything away we prepared gifts for our interpreters. We had carried our own food so we pooled all of the things we had left and made bags for each of the interpreters. We left our scrubs and anything we thought they could use. Our bags were much lighter but our hearts were heavy. We had come to love these people, we could not imagine their pain. It is hard to put into words. They seemed to move through their days in some sense of normalcy. Whatever that it. To us it would seem desperate and because we are spoiled by the conveniences that we have we would not be as resilient as they seemed to be. What little pleasures they had in life were gone the day the earthquake came but life goes on. People were buying and selling in the market place. It streets were crowded with cars and people. There were tent cities popping up everywhere. They were afraid to go back into their homes so they slept wherever that thought they would be safe. Parking lots were roped off at night and blankets were spread on the ground and they slept. Life looks different but it still goes on.
We were met the next morning by a taxi ( an old beat up van with torn seats and no air-conditioning) and I had the privilege of riding in the jump seat next to the driver. He and I became friends. We talked about teaching Creole to me and English to him. Then he asked me, “were you afraid to come to Haiti” I thought for just a split second how to respond. “No!” He nodded his head. Then I said “do you want to know why”. “Yes” he nodded again and I told him “because Jesus wanted me to come and I knew I had no reason to be afraid.” He pointed his finger to the sky and said “Jesus is my friend”. We had a common bond and that bond was Jesus Christ. This is why we came. This was why it was hard to leave. But, it was time to go and go we did. We answered the call to go but none of us will ever be the same for having been in one of the worst countries in the world. We came home wondering when can we return!
Pam Sims
Pam Sims
