Dr. Bob & Betty's Report

New Clinic Operational!

Our late October trip was blessed in so many ways.  It included myself, my wife Betty, Amy Wolf, Teresa Mullen, Nancy Bukovnik, Ralph Porter, and Pastor Ray Peach.  Our somewhat ambitious goals list for the trip included 1.  Moving into our new clinic building.  2. Repairing and putting into service our x-ray machine (hitherto defunct ever since it arrived at Jolivert some months earlier).  3.  Finishing our new upstairs apartments.  4.  Documenting all the wonderful changes and improvements in our various missions at Jolivert by Amy’s expert photography and videos (to share with all of you soon via newsletter and web site).  We were once again amazed by God’s unlimited Grace in that all of these were accomplished in our few short days... and to Him be the Glory!

Arriving along with Hurricane Noel, it first looked like weather was going to be our huge obstacle, and yet it turned out be our ally.  Not only did we not experience any of the devastation seen elsewhere in Haiti from this nasty storm, but, since Haitians hate to get wet, it kept the daily census in the clinic low enough that we had plenty of extra time to devote to moving instead of attending to the ill. We were blessed in the fact that the mountains surrounding us broke up the hurricane winds so that we experienced only the rain.  And that came in buckets, night and day, for the entire two weeks we were on site.  But by departure time, we were happily working in our new, bright, spotless, ceramic-floored clinic. 

I actually got to do some surgery (in spite of my semi-crippled hands) in our spacious new minor surgery, so expertly conceived and equipped by Teresa (a superbly-skilled ER nurse), and nurses Nancy, Edlyn, and Betty. Thanks to these four stalwart and dedicated “ladies of mercy” everything got moved into our beautiful new clinic.  (I was even able, in spite of my disabilities, to help a little).   Our Haitian doctor, Dr. Guerrie, and our precious nurse, Miz Edlyn, were very pleased with their new consultation areas. 

Another very special blessing arrived in the form of Hal Fitzgerald, a biotech we flew in from Spring Lake, Michigan in the hopes that he could resurrect our defunct x-ray machine.  It had worked perfectly upon leaving the warehouse at International Aid where Hal is employed, but simply would not fire off when I pushed the button.  Several attempts with them “walking us through” some trouble-shooting efforts by e-mail and phone in previous weeks had been unfruitful.  Immediately on arrival after a grueling day of travel and little sleep, Hal insisted on rolling up his sleeves and diving into the terribly complex tangle of wiring and circuitry boards of our GE portable machine.  But not before this wonderfully spirit-filled Christian man had me join hands, and lay hands on our recalcitrant machine and prayed over it.  He reminded me that the most important tool he carried in his huge tool box was “the holy Spirit!”  Sure enough, after much careful, methodical study of schematic charts, note-taking and jiggling connections around for some several hours, he stepped up to the button, pushed it, and it worked like a charm!  He took a couple of exposures to show me it really worked, then asked me what else he might  “fix”  before his plane returned him home. 

During that interim, Hal not only repaired our ailing autoclave for sterilizing surgical instruments, but took apart our Hughes-Net antennae (our signal reception had become extremely unreliable), found it full of condensed moisture, cleaned it, and soon we had e-mail once more.  If there was any doubt before, I now believe in angels.  Thanks again, Hal, and God bless you coming and going!

Meanwhile, Ralph and Ray were busy installing plumbing, building cabinets, and putting the finishing touches on the last of our four upstairs apartments.  Blaud has moved into the first one, the second is our new office, Miz Edlyn will occupy the third, and the fourth will be reserved for visitors such as our newly-acquired part-time veterinarian who will come down once monthly to oversee his newly-planned rabbit husbandry program and to hold seminars for area farmers in how to better care for their livestock.  (He is Dr. Grand-Pierre Claricin, a half-brother to our clinic director, Christophe, and another Haitian who has been helped through his graduate training by one of our vet MISSIONS OF LOVE supporters at home).  Dr. Claricin held a large seminar for farmers while we were there during this trip, and they begged him to return for more.

Amy Wolf, all the while, was busy shooting video footage and taking a zillion photos of everything in sight.  Fact is, our humanitarian projects such as the Safe Water project, Manba for Malnutrition, Health Promoter Outreach (now expanded to five remote mountain communities), adult literacy, and Micro-loans for women in business have had such exciting effects on the overall zone in and around Jolivert that Amy, our webmaster and newsletter editor along with her husband Jude,  just felt it should all be documented and shared.

One final note: due to the generous gift of some of you at home, I have just ordered a Kodak multi-testing blood chemistry machine to install in our beautiful new lab,  which will provide us with the first ever chemistry diagnostic tools to be available to the tens of thousands of people in our service area.  Scheduled for an early Spring installation, it will be provided at around 20% of cost by a mission-serving organization called WorldWide Lab, whose biotech will fly in to install it and hold in-service training for our lab techs. 

Clearly, the effects of the replacement of Voodoo by Jesus Christ and Christianity in the lives of the people in this poverty-stricken valley, forgotten by the world and neglected by their own government so pathetically over the years, is so gloriously obvious to Betty, myself, and others of us who have labored here so long and persistently over the past 24 years, and can still recall so vividly the “bad old days”  when we saw people murdered by the “Ton-tons macoute”, witnessed folks skinning and eating their dogs, and one of every two children were dead by age twelve. 

It brings tears of joy to these old eyes in reflecting on where the Lord has brought us to at Jolivert, and on all the compassionate support we’ve enjoyed from wonderful folks like you without which none of it would have been possible.  Be assured that you and I are always in the daily prayers of these poorest of the poor who are indeed “the least of these (Our Lord’s) brethren.”  And remember, we have done it unto Him.  If you should feel led to assist with some of the needs we are faced with in the coming months, please see Betty’s “needs list” elsewhere in this newsletter.

May every joy and blessing of God descend on you and yours during the Peace, the Love, the Grace of another season of our Lord’s birth. 

Yours, always!  Dr. Bob and Betty

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