Thomazeau, Haiti : Live Beyond : Day 5

These are my journaling’s of our 6 days in Haiti.

Day 5, Monday

This morning we woke up before the sun to watch it rise up over lake Azuei, with roosters crowing, cows moo’ing, donkeys hee’hawing and people talking in the field.

Zak went to help David Vanderpool Jr. along with Adam and Alex, build a chicken coop! That’s a great project for my husband…put him to work on something manual labor and he will be in his element! At the end of the day, after they’d completed a chicken coop in less than 8 hours, David Jr., said how much he appreciated having hard working men on the mission trip and I see why!

While Zak was working on the much needed protein food source provider, Brian and I set to work on a full day of capturing a full day of clinics and on site. Our last full day was intense, to say the least.

Every person, white, black, Haitian, Brazilian, Russian, just wants to be loved.  Every mother just wants to provide for their children.  Looking into a mothers eyes, holding her son with severe neurological disorder, this couldn’t be more clear to me.  The mother looked at the E.N.T. Doctor, Clint, wanting him to rescue her baby boy, to fix him and give him a healthy life.  It’s every mother’s desire to watch their child grow and be successful, even in the poorest communities.  There’s a song by John Micheal Montgomery called “No Mans Land” and as I was editing today’s photos, this song kept repeating in my mind.  “You’ve gotta be strong, life goes on, though it’s nothing that she had planned, she’s gonna be okay, gonna find a way, living in no man’s land” – the Vanderpool’s are providing hope and healing to these mothers with children, helping them find their way in a land where not many men will venture.

Today I was absolutely humbled by my new friends’ ability to work in the midst of this incredible disease ridden environment. To truly be selfless and help clean wounds, give medical attention and lots and lots of hugs.

For those of you who know Pete Fisher, you will relate to this story with me. I have known Pete for a couple years now, he has a very important role in the country music world as an industry leader. However, today, Pete was just a man saving another man’s life, focusing on one person at a time. I watched him, with tweezers, nail clippers and antibacterial hand sanitizer, clean a young man’s severe burn on his entire foot. Pete diligently worked for 45 minutes on his foot, clipping away the scabbed skin and then bandaging him up, good as new. Pete also did the same treatment on a young girls’ burned little fingers, it was touching and heart-wrenching at the same time to watch. I have a new respect for Pete Fisher and his heart to help.

After a full day of clinic’s we did onsite visits around Thomazeau. Just like our previous days of visits, we were greeted into the communities with open arms and eyes full of hope. We prayed with a 90 year old woman, an OB doctor, examined a woman full-term in one of their shack-style homes, and we brought bags of food to families.

Another exhausting but incredibly full-filing day. I don’t want to leave. These people need us and that feeling of helping your neighbor is one that I will continue to desire in my own life!

To be a part of the incredible work Live Beyond is doing, I would strongly encourage you check out http://livebeyond.com.