Haitian Courier #6: Pieces of My Memoirs

[This is a copy of the latest issue of my newsletter Haitian Courier, which was sent on July 26. To subscribe to the newsletter, please visit http://groups.google.com/group/haitian-courier]

Bonjou Mezanmi!

My last newsletter was a brief update just to let you know that I'm alive and well. This time I wanted to give you snippets of what I've been doing in Haiti for the past 6 weeks. Throughout this newsletter, you'll see words with web links, which will take you to corresponding entries on my blog.

First of all, I wanted to let you know that my return flight has changed from August 9 to July 31. The reason is that my older brother Sundo is getting married on August 2. So now I only have a few more days before I go home! Seems like my plans always change on the fly (last year I decided to stay an extra month in P-au-P). I can't believe my time here is almost over!

Secondly, I wanted to put a word out that the clinic here needs an X-ray machine to replace a broken one. Please let me know if you know anyone who needs to get rid of an old machine to replace it with a new digital one or for whatever reason. The one we have here has been broken for a while, and it would help so many people if we had a working X-ray machine.

Baby Jaundice, Gunshot Wound, Diabetic Ulcer, Suture Removal, and Laura's Birthday

Monday, July 14, 2008 - Part 2

We saw a 5-day old baby boy who came in to get his umbilical area cleaned. In Haiti, they use alcohol pads to wipe it, so it looked painful. The baby was quite jaundiced so we advised the mother to let the baby have more sunlight (my classmates should know exactly how that works). It was cool to see in real life something that I had learned in class.

I also got to see a man with a gunshot wound that went through his right thigh. The man works in the Bahamas, so he could speak some English. He explained that a thief had robbed him, hit him on the eye with the butt of the gun, and shot his leg. It was neat to see a gunshot wound for the first time, but only because it didn't seem too serious... Ok, it would be kind of neat even if it was serious, but I wouldn't be saying that.

There was an old woman who had been having chronic skin ulcers on her legs since 1998. They were at least 10 cm (4 in) in diameter. Since she had been coming to the clinic for such a long time, she had a really thick chart. I wanted to figure out why she was having these chronic infections, but the handwritings were illegible. So I talked with the patient to get her history while Amy changed her dressing. I was kind of surprised how well I could understand her, but that's probably because she talked slowly. Hopefully I might be actually getting better at understanding spoken Creole. Anyhow after a longwinded story of how everything happened, she told me that a white doctor who was at the clinic long ago told her that she had high blood sugar. Well, go figure.

Then we saw Ruth, one of our Haitian staff from the OMS office, who lacerated her right shin and got 6 stitches a few days ago. The wound was healing well, and it was time to take out the sutures. Evan showed me how to take one out, and I took out the rest. I guess taking out stitches aren't that big of a deal, but first times always feel kind of special.

Tragedy, Repentance, Baby Hymen, and Paranoid Fever

Monday, July 14, 2008 - Part 1

This morning I found out from Gavin how the boy with diphtheria really died. On Tuesday night, he woke up when he was still intubated, and while no one was watching, he took out the tube himself, which caused his airway to shut completely. By the time someone came, it was too late. What a tragedy, and such a waste after all our efforts to save his life. How sad that the boy unwittingly killed himself, and that he died without his family around. It's one thing if he had died of the toxin, but he still had a very good chance of survival. If only he had been monitored or sedated...

We also heard a good news today. Ms. Prudence told us that the man who injured Madelene with a machete had come out from hiding, apologized to everyone at the church, and became a Christian! While he was hiding, Ms. Prudence's husband, who is the pastor of a church up in Souffrier, told him that Madelene is healing well, and that he should repent. It was really cool to hear that something good came out of what seemed to be an unfortunate event.

Most of our regular patients come on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so we got to see many of them today. And by regular patients, I mean Madelene (machete wound), Augusma (torn hand and broken elbow), Kettelie (pubic sore), and Acephise (facial abscess). The more I work at the treatment room, the more I become familiar with these patients. It was great to see how each patient was getting better, except Acephise's abscess still seemed pretty bad. She had lots of green discharge which smelled awful as usual. Because the abscess is right on her cheek, she could hardly talk. We're still not sure if she's taking the antibiotics. I think she'll be coming to the clinic everyday now.

Underweight Babies, Non-patient Parents, and Facial Abscess

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Today is Thursday, so we had Well Baby Clinic. Laura and I took weights and temperatures, and compared each baby on the growth curve. We put the underweight babies on the feeding program.

I saw one 13-month old girl who only weighed 5.9kg (13lb), which is way underweight. She was so small and skinny that I couldn't believe she was 13 months old. My heart aches whenever I see kids like that. I hope the feeding program will help her.

Some med students at my school have told me that they wouldn't want to be pediatrician, not because they don't like kids, but because they don't like dealing with parents. During my pediatric preceptorship last quarter, I've seen a few parents that were little difficult to deal with, but most of them were easy going.

In Haiti, parents are still parents. Most of them are easy going, but there are always some that are less patient when it comes to caring for their kids. One big difference here at the clinic is that they come at you all at the same time.

As soon as the mothers figured out that I can speak Creole, they started to bombard me with questions and requests. Some repeatedly asked me whether I had their kids' chart yet, and others kept telling me that they're only here to get their kids vaccinated so not to call them into consultation (they were probably worried about being charged for consultation, but vaccinations are free). Many of them giggled if I didn't pronounce the names right when I called them to line up behind the scale. Then there were some mothers that couldn't wait to get their babies weighed and tried to cut in line. So parents tended to make the work a little more difficult, but nonetheless I enjoyed working with kids today.

Later in the afternoon we saw a 67-year old woman named Acephise who has a huge abscess on her right cheek that had just erupted. I saw her couple weeks ago at Dr. Rodney's office with the same problem (before it erupted), but for some reason she hadn't been taking her antibiotics, so the infection had become worse. When I came into the treatment room, the abscess had been drained (Gavin said it was the size of a golfball), and the entire room reeked of rotten green discharge. I almost felt like puking. She now has a hole in her cheek about a centimeter wide. We gave her some antibiotic shots and explained to her that she has to take the medicine or she'll never get better. She'll be frequenting the clinic to get her wound treated.

After dinner we hung out at Amy's house and watched the first episode of Grey's Anatomy from the latest season. It was a real treat for Amy because she hadn't been able to watch it since she came to Haiti.

Malnourished Baby, HIV Test, Wadner's House, and Vicki's Birthday

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Today was Well Baby Clinic, so Nadine and Vicki helped out by admiring the little babies taking weights and temperatures, giving vaccines, etc. Amy and Evan consulted patients (mostly babies today) together as they have been doing this week. I shadowed Dr. Rodney this morning, so I got to see sick patients including babies. We saw one 8-month old girl who weighed a mere 5kg, which is way below normal (lower limit is 6.5kg). She was so skinny and small, and it was heartbreaking to see her. Her mother brought her in because the baby was having fever and diarrhea. We gave her medicine for the symptoms, and put her on the nutrition program (part of the World Food Program) to help her gain the much needed weight. I'm so thankful that we have these programs to help little babies like her.

Another patient we saw was a young man who had headaches and some kind of rash on various parts of his skin. I can't remember exactly, but I think he also had a little abscess of some sort on his neck. He reminded me of a Haitian friend from last year who turned out to have syphilis. Just as I was thinking this patient might have some kind of sexually transmitted disease, Dr. Rodney asked the patient if he wanted to get tested for HIV. The patient seemed hesitant and concerned about the cost of the test, but I could tell that he was relieved when Dr. Rodney said the tests are free of charge. Dr. Rodney explained to the patient about the pre-test consultation where they educate patients about STDs and HIV as well as ask risk assessment questions. I didn't get to see the results (I was probably eating lunch when Dr. Rodney saw him again with the results), but it was good to see how cases like this was handled in consultations (and that my instincts weren't far from Dr. Rodney's line of thought).

In the afternoon, Amy, Nadine, Vicki (three Canadians), Laura, Evan (two N. Irish), and I reorganized the operation room into an emergency room. While we were going through stuff around the room, we found some circumcision kits, and had a little laugh while Amy explained how to use it. It's basically a metal clamp that cuts the circulation to the foreskin and act like a stencil to direct the incision. The others almost seemed appalled to see it, but I wasn't surprised at all because I had seen one similar to it at my pediatric preceptorship last quarter. Apparently they had never seem those in Canada or Northern Ireland... but I bet they use them, too.

Vicki and I reorganized the little storage room next door. I was impressed by the variety and quantity of stuff we had, but it was a bit difficult to figure out what should go where. Also the room wasn't well ventilated, so we were kind of sweaty. Overall, I think we got a lot of work done in both rooms.

Afterwards I had a Creole lesson with Wadner for an hour, then the six of us (three Canadians, two N. Irish, and me) took a walk outside the compound walls. We briefly visited Wadner's house. Wadner is 25, and since his father passed away, he's been looking after his mother, his three sisters, and his niece. He's building his own house on the land given to him by his grandfather. Wadner also built a pretty intricate workout machine in his uncle's house next door. I was thoroughly impressed by how he maximizes the little resources that he has.

Today is Vicki's birthday, and we had planned to give her a little gag gift. The plan was to steal some of her clothes, put them in a box, and give it to her as a present. I got this idea from my birthday two years ago in Kenya when some of the missionaries pulled it off on me. The entire time we were reorganizing the operation room (now emergency room), I was looking for a small cardboard box, which we eventually found. Luckily, just as we got back from the walk, a few of the local kids showed up wanting to play some football (soccer), so Vicki enthusiastically went out to play with them. Meanwhile, Nadine (Vicki's roommate) helped me steal some of Vicki's clothes. Actually Nadine ended up stuffing the box with most of Vicki's clothes. We taped it up and hid it up at the Holiday House (that's where we eat our meals). Soon after that, I realized that, since Vicki was playing football, she'll want to come back to her room to change before dinner. So I decided to join her to keep her playing until dinner time and convince her to go straight to dinner instead of changing. It worked out just as I had planned. Oh, the power of suggestion!

After lunch today I had asked the kitchen ladies to put some candles on the dessert tonight. They said that if I had asked them earlier, they would have made a cake, but instead they had already made some jello. So after dinner, we lit up a few candles on a bowl of jello and sang happy birthday for Vicki. Then I brought out the box and gave it to her. She looked excited and nervous because we were all giggling. She opened the box and the first thing she said was, "Oh, my skirt!" She dug further and said, "This is all my clothes!" We had a good laugh.

After dinner, we went over to Amy's house, and Vicki, Nadine, and Laura got a pedicure from one of Amy's Haitian friends while we watched August Rush. I really liked the soundtrack.

Tears, Baby Fever, Ankle Sprain, and Canada Day

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

After devotions at clinic this morning, we had a farewell party for Julie (physio from N. Ireland) because she's leaving tomorrow. She has been here for 6 months, and had become an invaluable part of the clinic. Dr. Rodney, who is one of Julie's best friends, gave a little speech and presented a certificate of honor and merit to her. Julie also gave a speech in Creole, then per her request we sang "Ala m kontan wè Jezi renmen m" (How happy I am to see that Jesus loves me) in the upbeat style. Tears were exchanged among many.

The rest of Tim's team (Tim, Mary, Christina, Carly, Anna, Emily, Beth, and Jen) left after lunch. It was really sad to see them go. They had become like family to me. It won't be the same without them. Lots of tears were exchanged here as well.

I shadowed Ms. Ketlye at the clinic today. One of the patients we saw was a little baby boy with a fever. I don't know exactly what was going on, but I assisted Ms. Ketlye by fetching whatever she asked me to bring. We did what we could to reduce his fever and then referred him to a hospital. I was impressed by how well Ms. Ketlye handled the case even with the limited time and resources.

In the afternoon we (those of us still here are Laura, Evan, Nadine, and Vicki) played football (soccer) with some local kids. While playing Evan sprained his ankle, so we didn't play for long.

Soon after that a truck from the World Food Program arrived, so we went over to help unload. Today is Canada Day, and most if not all of the food (rice, beans, soy/corn meal) that we unloaded were from Canada, so we, especially Vicki and Nadine, felt patriotic for Canada. Later on after dinner, Vicki and Nadine sang the Canadian National Anthem. Then we went over to Laura's room and watched Hairspray together. There are only 5 of us left now, but we still manage to have fun.

Prayer Tree, Baby Shots, Cleaning, Creole Lesson, and Black Out

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Christine, one of Tim's team member, went back to the States this morning. She's a lab technician, and she was here with us for a weekend and a half. The rest of the team goes back on Tuesday, but she left early because she's needed at work. She's one of the older people on the team but one of the liveliest. She'll definitely be missed.

Instead of going straight to the clinic this morning, a group of us went to the prayer tree. Every Thursday people gather there to praise and worship God under a big mango tree a few minute walk from where we are. There were probably about 150 to 200 people. It was really good to see the Haitian people passionately worshipping God together even though I could only understand about every other word.

Since Thursdays are Well Baby Clinic, we got to see a lot of babies, most of them healthy and smiling. They are so adorable. Carly and Emily were helping out with taking weights and temperature. Sometimes I wasn't sure if they were working or just admiring the babies... jk. I got to help out by giving them vitamin A drops, polio oral vaccine drops, and DPT shots. I used to not like it when babies cried, but after doing a pediatric preceptorship last quarter, I got used to having babies and little kids cry. So now I love kids whether they're smiling or crying.

We had some free time in the afternoon, so we decided to do some cleaning around the clinic. There were a lot of trash lying around and lots big logs with wood chips because they had to cut down a tree in the middle of the clinic to make way for the new building. After we cleaned up the mess we tossed mangoes at each other like "Hot Potato," except with mangos they can actually explode after you drop it a few times.

Afterwards I got a Creole lesson from Wadner for the first time. We just had a little chat for about an hour. I just need to work on listening skills, so he said he'll bring some story books in Creole next time, so he can read it out loud to me. We'll see how that works out. While our lesson was going on, people were playing football (soccer), so I missed out, but maybe next time.

Later in the afternoon, a tree somehow fell on one of the power-lines in the compound, so Amy and Julie's house lost electricity. We had to turn off all electricity for a while to get things fixed. I've been getting used to having stable electricity here unlike in P-au-P last year. I hope Amy and Julie get their power back soon.

A group of us played some UNO and Hilari-picto-pass after dinner. We had 10 people playing Hilari-picto-pass this time, and it was one of the funniest round ever. It's great to have people you can bond with. I'm going to missed them so much when they leave next week.

African Courier #4: Catching Up with Reality

Hujambo!?

That’s one way of saying "How are you?" in Kiswahili. Then you reply "Sijambo!" The other way, which is more common here, is "Habari?" and "Mzuri!"

I can’t believe my first trip to East Africa is almost over! (and that it's already been 4 months since I came!) I’ll be flying out here in two weeks (on Nov. 21), arriving in the cool autumn of Los Angeles (if you can say there is an autumn in SoCal). In my mind, LA is still as hot as I left it in July. And everything else is just frozen the way it was then - school still on vacation, friends still excited about finishing college, and everyone looking forward to a summer filled adventure... It’s a scary thought to see how all my junk (which I left in the living room) got taken care of, and how everything, including family, friends, and church, has changed. I will also be preparing full-on for medical schools (secondary applications and interviews). Soon enough, I will face reality. Not that life in Kenya isn’t a reality. It definitely is! And painfully so!

I say “painfully” because yesterday I was hit with a minor case of flu. I was in bed all day, suffering from severe headache, stomachache, and some fever. Thank God it wasn’t malaria, and that I’m quite better now. As I was cooking my rice porridge for lunch, I couldn’t help but to think how much I need a wife on a foreign mission. Indeed, “It is not good that the man should be alone...” (especially when he’s sick on a mission trip). Anyhow, I’m not advertising for a wife here (and no, I’m not accepting applications or looking for a blind date)... It’s just to describe how bad it was. Seriously though, thank God I’m alive! Mom, please don’t worry. I’m all ok now! But please continue to pray for me.

Speaking of wife, Pastor Eben’s wife delivered their second child today (Nov. 9)! It’s a boy! Pastor Eben is here in Nairobi, but his wife and children (now plural) are in Korea. He seemed very happy and relieved today, especially since the baby was more than a week late and he was getting concerned. He can’t wait to share the news with the whole world (and I guess I’m helping him by writing this).

There’s another thing I want to share with the whole world about Eben...

I was prank-ed big-time on my birthday by Eben and Richard. Well, maybe not that big, but Eben and Richard got me pretty good. It’s a long story (not that long, but too long to spam... err... to put in a newsletter), so if you’re interested, you can read the entry on my blog here: http://doxadeo.blogspot.com/2006/11/doxa-in-kenya-birthday-prank.html

In other news, I’m halfway through with the library. Maybe not so interesting, but so far I’ve recorded about 4200 books on the computer (about 2900 of them were done in the past week). It’s actually quite interesting to go through all the titles (and sub-titles) of the books, but it’s not always fun to work with shelves after shelves of dusty old books. Some of them were eaten up at least 30% by termites, and my hands get pretty gross after handling a few hundred books a day. I just have to look forward to the day it’s done and keep working diligently. Besides, I do have the pressure to finish before I leave.

During my breaks from my work in the dusty dungeon that is the library, I go out to get some fresh air and to observe the new construction on our campus.

Four weeks ago, we started the construction of a new house. It’s been quite interesting to see how they build here. Although I’ve missed some of the process, I got to see and learn about (and take pictures of) many important steps of the construction. Surely I can use some skills in this area as I prepare to become a missionary doctor in a developing country. It’s quite impressive how much Rev. Kim has built during his 17 years of ministry here. God-willing, I hope to build some clinics and hospitals to benefit many people in Africa.

Perhaps as you can see, there aren’t very many exciting/interesting news this month. Mission work isn’t always exciting, but God is surely working. What I mention in my newsletters are only highlights, and the reality is that these are only a glimpse of what we experience here. In other words, things can be quite dull besides what’s mentioned in newsletters. I don’t mean to say that my time here has been boring. Not at all! I’ve enjoyed everyday that I’ve been here (maybe except yesterday when I was sick), whether I’m in Masai or working at BCEA. I just say this because I realize that some people may get newsletters (whether it is from me or some other missionaries) and read about some crazy/amazing stuff going on in the field, and misunderstand that all they read is all that’s happening out there.

The thing is, it’s so easy for the missionaries to over emphasize or exaggerate some seemingly “cool” stuff to make it look like their work is more important or bigger than what it really is. For example, about my mentioning about my flu yesterday, although I’m not exaggerating, you may think that I’m going through such a hard time in Kenya just because I mentioned it. The truth is, I was only sick one day (and I could be just as sick anywhere else in the world), and most of the time I’m actually quite healthy and comfortable. On the other hand, even though I only mentioned a few things in this newsletter (and very few things that I’m actually doing besides observing), I’ve been extremely busy, even as busy as I was in college. I can confidently say that because, while in college I would spend a lot more time on the internet, here I would spend much less time online yet be busy enough to sleep barely 6 hours a day. Both teaching English classes and conducting church choir take a lot of time and energy.

Anyhow, I just wanted you to understand that what I mention in my newsletters are just the things that I think you might be interested in, and there’s a lot more going on out here that can be either boring or exciting to you. Also, I try to present them without exaggerating or over emphasizing. My intention is not to make my life here seem more miserable or interesting than it really is so that you may have sympathy or be moved to give financial support. What God is providing for me right now is sufficient, and I believe that He will always provide. Of course, that doesn’t mean “don’t give any financial support” because I am currently living on the support of some churches in California. If God moves you to give, please give! I just don’t want to be the one convincing/begging you through newsletters, and I shouldn’t be.

God provides, and He is always faithful to provide when I need. In fact, recently I realized that I’ve been quite low on cash ever since the theft two months ago. So I prayed to God to provide, and amazingly enough, someone (I don’t even know who) donated extra money towards my mission fund! I don’t even know how s/he knew about me or why s/he decided to give, but I just know that God works in amazing ways. Praise God!

Now, here’s what you’ve been waiting for. Prayer requests! Please pray for:

· my health. As you already know, I’ve been sick a few times already while living in Africa. And somehow they always involved the stomach. I think I’ll have to get my stomach checked up when I come back to the US. Meanwhile, please continue to pray for my health.

· the travel back home. Not just for me, but several of the faculty at BCEA will be going back home this month. Eben is flying back to Korea on Nov. 20, I’m flying back to the States on Nov. 21, and Richard is flying back to Philippines on Nov. 24. I think Rev. Kim is also flying back to Korea sometime in December. Please pray for safe travel.

· the safety of the community. Last night while in bed, I heard a horrifying yell of a man from the neighbors, dogs barking and rushing towards the noise, and then two gun shots. After a few minutes I heard the police car passing by, and then four more gun shots. No, this is not America, and guns are not legal here. Where do they get guns then, you ask? Why, from the police officers, of course! Hand a few thousand shillings to a cop and you’re ready for an armed robbery for the night. Welcome to Kenya (that’s what Eben would say). Enough said. Please pray for God’s protection from physical harm.

· my medical school applications (plural this time). I’ve started working on some secondary applications for medical schools. They’re not as intense as AMCAS (the first application for all med schools), but a lot of work nonetheless. If anyone wants to proofread/comment on my essays, let me know! Most of them are very short, and won’t take much of your time.

· the library catalogue project. I really need to finish this work before I leave, so that they can start using the new system next term (in January). I won’t be back probably by February or maybe March because of med school interviews, so I need to leave it in good shape. Once I finish this, students will be able to checkout/in books by scanning barcodes (yay for “new” technology!), which is much faster and more efficient than keeping track on notebooks.

· finals. Students at BCEA will be taking finals starting next week through the week after. My English final will be a week from this Friday since I’ll be leaving the next Tuesday. I know most of you reading this are students or teachers, so you know what it means to take a final, so no need to explain the significance of this. Cheating is quite common in schools in Kenya, even here at BCEA. In fact, during the past midterms, one student was caught and was expelled. It seems like it is part of their culture not to take cheating seriously. This cannot be, especially in a Bible College where we want to train honest and sincere ministers.

· the faculty at BCEA (Nairobi & Tanzania), my English classes, the ministries in Masai Land, and whatever I forgot or didn’t mention that needs prayer. I don’t think I need to repeat what I said in my last newsletter. Please continue to pray for them! For those of you who know Pastor Lazarus, his wife is expected to deliver their first baby soon. So please pray for them. Christine is getting married on Nov. 25 at Mombassa, and her fiancé is flying in from Singapore sometime this week or next. Pray for safe travel and the preparation for the wedding.

Thank you again for taking the time to read the newsletter! Sorry there’s no picture this time. But when I come back, I’m sure you’ll see so many that you’ll get sick of them (or just from seeing pictures/videos of dead/dying animals).

God Bless,
SunMin
http://doxadeo.blogspot.com

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