Missions of Love

Gentlefolk:

We’re just returned from Jolivert (yesterday), the trip was a very good one, most successful in all our goals save the x-ray machine which still stubbornly refuses to function. Looks like we must have that biotech come down and fix it as he has promised to do if our efforts failed. He said that if the machine cannot be repaired for whatever reason, they will replace it with another one. The trip to the Ministry of Health down in Gonaives with Dr Guerry, Blaud and Christophe went very nicely and could lead to many new possibilities for the clinic. (Free HIV testing materials, immunizations, etc.). They will come up to inspect our clinic on March 3rd. Betty will be back in Jolivert at that time also to show them around. They’re excited about making us a public health center.

The new bathroom is ready for the February group and the new kitchen as well, thanks to a wonderful job by the guys we had with us. Joe Green worked his mechanical magic on all the vehicles, including the ambulance whose motor has not even turned over for over four years! Dale Breedlove has once again returned order and sense to the tool room, and Terry Anderson got his little welding generator running again and did all manner of welding jobs for us. Ralph Porter and his pals from Beaver Dam Baptist, (Greg Seelig, Charlie Snodgrass and Mike Robbins) worked all kinds of miracles in the construction area. Nancy Bukovnik worked hard on the adult literacy and the various education programs, then doubled as a fantastic cook for many of our meals, aided by our “slave-driving” group leader, Miz Betty. Never has so much been accomplished by so few in such a small space of time! (Sound kinda like Winston Churchill, don’t I? Our group was rounded out by first-timer Barbie Jenkins of Bedford, Indiana who was typically blown away by the need of the poor we serve, and who wants to apply her journalistic skills (she’s worked as a reporter and freelance writer) to spreading the word about MOL and our work in Haiti.

The food distribution is going well. We passed out rice beans and oil to 200 families Saturday and will continue to do so for the next several weeks since arrival of our last shipment on the boat. Starvation continues rampant in the area and total losses from the recent hurricanes have been horrendous. Clinic attendance by the sick fell off sharply again just as soon as we raised the fees back to pre-hurricane level. This makes it very clear to us that the poor are not being served with our present fee structure. We therefore intend to return to free medication and a $10 Haitian ($1.25 US) fee to cover everything else (consultation, meds, and lab work) as long as our funds holds out. (remember, we’re required by the Haitian government to charge a “reasonable” fee for services). What it means is simply this: we must be prepared to subsidize clinic income by at least $2000 per month in order to serve effectively and meet payroll. We as directors nust be prepared to share this need with all our sponsors (and find new ones) willing to help us to realize this goal. I’m happy to say that we served 1634 patients in the month of October while this fee structure was in place. Over 1200 of these suffered from malaria, and I’m convinced Betty and I personally treated 600 plus of those. A scientific survery of our malaria program including the effectiveness of the thousands of mosquito nets we’ve passed out is being prepared and will be conducted in February. So…. God and Team Jesus is on the move at Jolivert! Thanks again for all you’ve done to be a part of this exciting and gratifying ministry. Keep an eye on our web site and above all, keep us in your prayers. Love ya! Bob and Betty

Tags: bob betty johnson

This entry was posted by Bob and Betty on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Director's Reports, Dr Bob and Betty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.