A veiw from the haiti repair shop!

It is now day 6 of the trip to Haiti and the Mission of Hope. My name is Shane Leonard and I came to Haiti with one clear objective, to repair as much Equipment, vehicles and anything else that moves. Over the last several days I have learned to use the 50 lbs of tools I was allowed to transport in the most"unique" ways possible. It is very hard to anticipate what to bring but with a little imagination you really can do anything! Like fixing an ATV to run again, a large generator, a small Toyota Land-cruiser or an Ambulance inside a large tent in the 100 degree heat with limited hand tools or overcoming a very distinct language barrier when priming a large diesel generator with Franz, the Haitian man responsible here for it's operation. With a little help from drawing pictures in sand with a screwdriver and some frusteration on my part as how to evoke my need of a 24mm wrench which took us a visual sample of my biggest wrench, a 18 mm and several tries at creole in which I may have insulted one of Franz's relatives in my crude pronunciations. LOL
All said i have been very b usy and the work required here would take several months too complete but it has been very productive as a whole. I have enjoyed the trip immensely the weather is difficult to acclimate into within a short time. One other very striking thing that needs to be mentioned is the absolute lunacy when driving in Haiti. Most of you know how involved I am in NASCAR and I have to tell you the way in which people drive is insane! It is like everyone is qualifying for the Daytona 500 here every time they get behind the wheel of a vehicle. That vehicle may be a school bus (AKA Tap-Tap) with 50 or more passengers on the roof and triple stacked inside traveling at 85 mph or a fully loaded 1967 Mack dump truck that is so overloaded and poorly maintained it can only acheive speeds of 50 mph! I have to say though how much I miss my Family especially Zachary my son who I cannot wait to see in two more sleeps.

A day of rest and getting the clinic ready!!!!!

Hi, and thanks for many replies. It is good to hear from you!!! Hope all is well with everyone at home. I think life is moving at a little faster pace for all of you. Just turn up your heat in your house to 104 F, and you will slow down and put your feet up with a fan blowing over your body. Well today was that temperature in Haiti. We went to the church service this morning. It was packed with about 1,000 Haitians and a few whites. It was very alive with amazing worship in creole and english. The people really love God, and depend on Him for their needs and strength. Half way through the children left for a children's service, so Jim, John and Shane joined the kids and had a blast. There were over 100 children. They sang songs, told stories and danced. They got to hold a 3 week old baby and had fun with the kids. After a 2 and a half hour service that seem no longer than an hour. We went to a local restaurant for lunch. There were over 30 of us and we had a wonderful chicken and rice lunch at Big Daddy Chicken. When we got back, our work day started. We all went down to the clinic with the ortho doctors and nurses and one dentist. We started to clean and prepare the O.R. room and everyone was organizing their stations. We organized and clean the dentists quarters which is going to work out amazing. We finished up around 5:30 and were slightly dehydrated. We had a great chicken dinner with amazing mash potatoes and a ton of water and juice. Jim, John, Shane, Fiona, Grant, Sandy, and Samantha had a great game of Texas Hold em poker. I had a great time making a new friend, Amy. Just heading off for some zzzeeeeees. Love you all much. We serve an awesome God. He loves us so much. peace and love Kim.

A day off to go to the Beach

Today we went north of Port Au Prince through a number of small towns to a beach area. This was a cultural shock not only to see the day to day life of the people we treat but to see how they drive. There are pretty much no traffic laws or signs. Police are almost non exist. Most people driving just use their horn to make sure you know they are coming and then pass at almost any point on the road whether they can see or not. At one point we were battling to pass and were three wide. For those that don't own a vehicle, which would be most of the people, they use the Tap Tap's. A Tap Tap is a cross between a taxi and a bus. Basically they take almost any vehicle that can carry people and drive along and pick people up. when you want off you just tap the vehicle to tell the driver to stop. The funny thing is this could be an old beat up school bus or a pick up truck. Either way they are both carry double to triple the people the vehicle is rated for. People are hanging of the sides or sitting on the roof. It is unbelievable. The worst part is when they are involved in an accident many people will be seriously injuried. I thought it was awesome but Kim was freaking out.

As it was Saturday the small towns all had large markets going on. The streets were packed with vendors selling fruit, live chickens, you name it, they were probably selling it.

It was great to relax for a day and diffuse what we were seeing and doing down here. I know it is not the same scale of critical care others were seeing right after the earthquake but the people are still very sick and emotionally many are struggling. Though they may not show it outwardly in how they act some are showing it through the stress, strain of their living conditions and their signs and symptoms. Many other relief workers from other organizations were at the beach doing the same thing we were.

Tomorrow we will go to church in the morning at the MOH church. It will be great to see people from the neighbouring area come to church as well as the kids from the orphanage.

More tomorrow, Jim. Sweet dreams Robert and Alanna. XOXO

Friday in the Clinic

Friday clinic was a busy one. They take in extra patients because they close on the week-end and on top off this Monday they will go back to a small user fee so many people want to be seen today. In the clinic today we saw a lot of babies and children as well as pregnant women. Word has got out that MOH has an ultrasound machine so they all want to have their babies checked to make sure the fetus is OK.
It was very hot today as well. John and Fiona were doing triage and Jim was in the E/R with Doctor Keely. We had a 8 month old come that only weighted 6.9 kg. Oliver was left at an orphanage after the earthquake. He was anemic, malnourished, had thrush and probably was suffering from Malaria and may be going into renal failure. He was difficult to rouse and grossly dehydrated. We started an IV and gave him a bolus of fluid. He perked up a bit and then we were able to feed him some formula by 20 cc syringe. Poor little guy. We were able to transfer him out to Port au Prince to a hospital for more long term care.
Shane was busy fixing the main generator today. this is a very big job. He has been able to fix everything he has put his hands and mind too. The guy is awesome.

written by Jim. Robert and Alanna see you soon.

Hi everyone, all my love to you. Elaine if you are following the blog. I think you would really like it here. Mission of Hope is a great place to support. The hardest things for me so far have been the extreme heat and intense nausea. I was not well at all on Thursday night as you could see in the picture above. Near the end of each day I wonder if I will make it through the next. Thank goodness for Gods strength. I am relying on Him. Friday morning was better. I was so grateful for Fiona who gave me the IV and gravol. Then Jim came in and topped me up with more gravol. I had tears running down my checks thanking Fiona and Jim. I thank God for Doctors, nurses, paramedics and any medical trained people. It has been humbling and amazing to be able to be in the clinic watching what these medical staff are doing to treat and help the Haitians and the rest of us who are not doing so well. It has only increase my respect and gratefulness for all the years of training medical professionals do. For all you medical dudes reading this, I love you!!!!!!!. I did put in a morning at the clinic and was able to see Nelize and massage Gabby and spend time with both of them. Nelize had no pain through the night and her wound is healing amazing. Gabby too, new tissue is growing on his legs. Prayed with many this morning. I slept for the entire afternoon and early to bed. Thanks for all your prayers. Miss you, love you. Written by Kim

Thursday Night Blog Entry

Well we have had trouble getting online so we are behind in our Blog. We also have had no phone access so we apologize for not being able to call home. Sorry Alanna and Robert. Blog and e-mail are our only sources to communicate.
Thursday night Kim was feeling nauseated and had to go to bed. We gave her IV fluids and Gravol. The next day she rested half the day and then was back up and running. The picture should tell you how she was feeling...