In the midst of Advent we find ourselves surrounded by cholera as well as political unrest, longing even more for the hope that only Jesus can bring, and challenged by the pointed words of Oscar Romero:

    No one can celebrate

                                        a genuine Christmas

                                        without being truly poor.

                                        The self-sufficient, the proud,

                                        those who, because they have

                                        everything, look down on others,

                                        those who have no need

                                        even of God-for them there

                                        will be no Christmas.

                                        Only the poor, the hungry,

                                        those who need someone

                                        to come on their behalf,

                                        will have that someone.

                                        That someone is God.

                                        Emmanuel. God-with-us.

                                        Without poverty of spirit

                                        there can be no abundance

                                        of God 

                                                                                                                                                         

We want to thank all of you for your financial gifts that have gone to cholera relief.  The gifts have saved countless lives and brought hope to many.  Your prayers have encouraged the staff as they work to minister to the “least of these,” in this difficult epidemic. 

We have had the privilege of hosting a number of volunteers (29) from the Dominican Republic, US and Canada.  Each of them has made a tremendous contribution to the effort. We wish we had time to mention them all by name as they have truly blessed our lives.

Among the many who came, we were pleased that our daughter Carrie James, a nurse, was able to return for a week to help at the small Ebenezer Community Health Center, a “Clinic With Beds that overnight became a real hospital caring for up to 100 patients at a time. The clinic is now an official Cholera Treatment Center, receiving staff, supplies and logistical help from Doctor’s Without Borders or MSF (Medecins Sans Frontiers).  From Nov 2nd to Dec 16th the CTC at Ebenezer has admitted 1,205 severely ill cholera patients, with 30 deaths.  There are from 15 to 20 new admissions each day.  We estimate that at least 40% would have died had they not been able to receive treatment at the center.

As part of the training to work with cholera the MSF staff have encouraged our volunteers and Haitian staff to spend several hours in training at the MSF Treatment Center in Cap Haitian where a transformed gymnasium is used to intern over 400 patients.  Cots are lined up in rows with people of all ages receiving IV therapy.  It is an incredible sight.  The bleachers above the main floor have been designated for people receiving oral re-hydration and for observation.  Some of them will be discharged, others who continue with vomiting and diarrhea, are sent back down to the main floor for further treatment. Because the gymnasium is not big enough to hold all those stricken, there are large tents filled with more patients outside. The sick are monitored by both the MSF staff, a large Haitian staff, and international medical volunteers who help with the care and logistics of such a huge operation. Everyone who enters or leaves the Cholera Treatment Center must rinse their hands in a light solution of Clorox and have their shoes sprayed as well. The Cap Haitian CTC is a very well organized, make-shift center doing an impressive job saving lives plus teaching care for the sick and prevention techniques.       

With only two doctors and three nurses working the first two weeks of the epidemic, the Ebenezer Health Center, an affiliate of the Haitian Baptist Convention, was involved from the beginning of the cholera outbreak here in the north and has greatly helped contain the loss of life in the local community.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF ) was alerted to the health center’s struggle to get supplies and the need for more staff. After many visits by the MSF staff a decision was made to make Ebenezer into a Cholera Treatment Center. There are many CTC’s all over Haiti, but especially in the hard hit north. MSF has provided staffing support, including doctors and nurses, tents, and Clorox sprayers; implemented organization procedures; and partnered with the regular Haitian staff of Ebenezer Clinic.  With the help of MSF the clinic’s efforts were streamlined, and the work now does not seem as overwhelming as it did at first.

We are deeply grateful to this organization.  Their motto is. “We find out where the conditions are the worst-the places where others are not going- and that is where we want to be.” MSF serves in war-torn areas or places of great medical need all over the world, and although it is a secular, humanitarian effort, we see the hand of God at work in them. We have had several meetings with the MSF staff and leaders and are impressed with their desire to make a positive difference in Haiti. They have worked in many cholera epidemics around the world but this is the worst epidemic they have ever seen.

In addition to MSF, the cholera relief and prevention efforts in our area have been greatly helped by the work of the American Baptist International Ministries, the Medical Ambassadors of Haiti, Canada and the Dominican Republic, the Children of the Promise and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.       

Cholera prevention and education efforts are definitely making a difference. The word is getting out through community group meetings, radio programs, and door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor efforts to educate and implement neighborhood and individual changes in water security, sanitation and personal hygiene. The message is “Don’t drink river water, drink solar-treated water (www.SODIS.ch), boiled water or chlorinated water; use latrines and wash your hands after using the bathroom and before you eat; make up oral re-hydration solutions in your home; and get to your local health center as soon as you have vomiting and diarrhea.” 

Our International Ministries missionary colleagues, Nzunga and Kihome Mabudiga, have been working hard in helping to bring clean water filtration systems to communities and helping to facilitate community health programs directed at preventing the spread of cholera.

The Haitian Baptist Convention affiliated hospital at Quatier Morin, has also become a Cholera Treatment Center with over 60 hospitalized patients at a time. They too have also partnered with MSF, and are working extensively in community health education and prevention.

And so little by little we see signs of hope and healing and a lot of Jesus’ love shared and felt among us all.        

Thank you for remembering Haiti in your prayers and giving so generously and sacrificially.

In His love,

Nancy & Steve