Promise For Haiti News

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"A Promise Made-A Promise Kept"

Promise for Haiti is a 501(c)3 philanthropic organization dedicated to Health Care, Education, Clean Water, Agriculture and Economic Development.

"Promise for Haiti exists to initiate and nurture the spiritual growth of the people of the Pignon area and to practically demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ to them by providing the region with primary and acute health care, essential sanitation facilities, agricultural training and functional literacy, basic educational opportunity, and economic growth and development."

An Update on Celime!

celime

Submitted by Bev Brand

It was a joyous day for Dieuphete Celime and his mother Lydia as they landed at the Pignon airstrip after being away from home and family for five months. Celime was treated for massive burns, first at the Hospital Bienfaisance in Pignon, Haiti and then at the Shriner's Hospital in Boston, MA.Denny and Bev Brand (Denny is Executive Directior of Promise for Haiti) were at the Pignon airstrip to pick him up and take him home to his family in St. Raphael. Read the entire story, "Cross Country Miracle for Celime" at www.promiseforhait.org.

COMING SOON!

PROMISE FOR HAITI BOARD MEMBERS

AND

PARTNERS' MEETING

JUNE 2-3,2012

MINNEAPOLIS, MN

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

Promise For Haiti Inc. now has a FACEBOOK page!

Please join us!!

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Promise For Haiti Operations Task Force

The newly formed PFH Operations Task Force met in Haiti March 27-29 to discuss ways to improve the operations of the hospital in Pignon. Maintenance of the facility and need for more medical staff were some of the items on the agenda. Members of the task force pictured are from left to right- Dr. Jn Jumeau Batsch, Mie-Adele Romelus, Doug Grunder, Gyrlene Jean, Denny Brand, Evenel Osias, Obed Theodore.

Small Town Experience Leads To Big Blessings!

When Des Moines, Iowa, ophthalmologist, Chris DenOuden, was performing surgeries in small Iowa communities, he had no idea God was already working to use him and his church family to provide sight to thousands of people in Haiti.

Yet that's exactly what started to happen when his wife Sue and son CJ, then a senior in high school, traveled to Haiti with a mission team from Meredith Drive Reformed Church (MDRC) in the summer of 1998. The team visited Hospital Bienfaisance in Pignon, and Sue asked medical director Dr. Guy Theodore what his biggest need was for his patients.

"I thought for sure he'd answer with something like 'money' or 'equipment'," Sue said. "But his first answer was 'eye care'. He had no idea my husband was an ophthalmologist, or that my background was in medical practice management. We got back home from Haiti, and I told Chris, 'We've got to figure out how to do this.'"

Thanks to Chris' experience traveling to smaller Iowa communities to perform eye surgeries, he already had a full range of surgical equipment designed for traveling and the experience of setting up a mobile surgery unit. Just a few months later, in January 1999, the DenOudens were back in Pignon shadowing the current eye care provider who was scheduled to retire. The next month the DenOudens returned to Haiti with a full team of 18 volunteers from churches around the Des Moines area to begin their work as the MDRC Vision Mission Team. Half of the team members work in the vision clinic, while the other half work on repairs and improvements to the hospital and surrounding facilities.

On clinic days, anywhere from 200 to 250 patients gather outside the hospital and the team performs a number of screenings to determine the patients' needs. Patients are given basic vision checks and glaucoma testing, and vision team members determine the next steps for a patient. If surgery is necessary, the patients are sent into the surgical suite and return the following day for a checkup and eye glasses.

Every aspect of the team's visit is funded through donations. Communion offerings from MDRC members help provide eye drops for glaucoma patients, and hundreds of patients have seen the damaged caused by glaucoma halted because of these drops. Corporate sponsors like Alcon Medical Missions donate thousands of dollars worth of supplies each year, and about 1,500 pounds of supplies are sent to Haiti in advance of each trip.

"We couldn't do this without folks like Alcon," Sue said. "We have to bring all our supplies with us, since we walk into the surgical suites with nothing. Every bandage, every staple, every sponge we use - all that has to be donated and shipped to Haiti."

Since that first trip in February 1999, the Vision Mission Teams have seen 11,782 patients, performed 571 surgeries, and dispensed 5, 077 pairs of eye glasses. Sue, as a medical practice administrator, keeps detailed records on patients and procedures. These records not only document the patients' details, but help the DenOudens and their church family celebrate God's faithfulness in growing their medical mission efforts.

"It always amazes me how God uses situations in Haiti to sharpen us and make us better at what we're doing there," Sue said. "In 2004, we had to set up in the Dominican Republic because of unrest in Haiti. We thought it would take us off track, but on that trip we learned how to set up a triage process to evaluate patients and run them through treatment stations. Now, using that process, we're able to see two to three times the number of patients and treat so many more of them."

Sue's records back up that experience - in 2003, the trip before the relocation to the Dominican Republic, the team treated 380 patients in the clinic environment. During the most recent trip in February 2012, the team treated 1,410 patients in the clinic, the highest number in the 14 years the DenOudens have been traveling to Haiti.

The February 2012 trip was memorable for another, more personal reason for the DenOudens. Chris' son, CJ, now a physician specializing in emergency medicine, traveled to Haiti and worked alongside his father helping evaluate and treat patients.

"I can't tell you what it felt like to be in the clinic and see the way things have evolved since that first trip with him," Sue said. "He just did a fantastic job."

The DenOudens plan to continue their work in Haiti, and are praying for God to raise up additional workers to come alongside them and experience what they've learned through their travels to Haiti.

"We're so blessed through this," Sue said. "It's been so good for our family, for our marriage - it's truly changed our lives."

For more information on the Vision Mission Trips, visit meredithdrive.org or contact Sue DenOuden at kerrlea@aol.com or (515) 266-5353.

Look at the Incredible work of the Vision Mission Team!

Den Ouden team 2012

Don Ouden team 2012

Pella Christian Team Helps Haitian Lady With Acts of Love and Kindness!

Bryan Nikkel with the Pella Christian group wrote this account while in Pignon, Haiti.

I just wanted to write to you about an experience we had today (Sunday). Towards the end of the day, after a 4 hour church service, a walk about town and a visit to the orphanage, we were on our way back to the hospital complex. As we were driving on the dirt and stone road (gravel would be a generous term) we saw an old woman sitting along the side of the road and scooting herself along as though she could not walk. There were many people around and as far as I could see, none of them were paying her any attention. Tim immediately stopped and said "We need to help this lady". We managed to find out from her that she was going home which was just across the street and down a hundred feet or so. At the rate she was traveling it would have taken her 20 or 30 minutes

to cover the distance. So we picked her up and brought her home. Her home was a typical Haitian home - a single room cinder block house with a concrete and dirt floor. What was different was that

she had no door and hardly any belongings inside. She had no bed,she slept on the concrete floor. It was very dark but we could make out a small folded blanket and a very few other items around.

Evidence that she had made a small fire next to where she slept still remained. It wasn't clear if this might have been for cooking some meager amount of food she may have had or just to keep her

warm. Some of the group were discussing how she could benefit from a P.E.T (a three wheeled vehicle the rider can propel by "pedaling" with their arms instead of their legs). About that time, some other members of the group announced that she actually has a P.E.T. but she can't use it because it's a child sized version and the pedals hit her knees. A quick assessment determined that we could make it work for her if we moved the seat back. So we loaded up the P.E.T in the back of the truck and headed for the Iowa House where all the tools are stored. It only took a few minutes to make the adjustments and test it out to make sure it was still stable with it's new configuration.While we were doing that some other team members gathered up some food for her and as we left we grabbed a mattress from storage and added it to the load in the back of the truck. When we got back to her home and brought the things to her, she was overwhelmed. Tim got her on the P.E.T and gave her a training run - out her door, through the yard and out into the street. A large gathering of spectators had come to see what all these white people were doing with this old lady who was an outcast in their world. Tim and some team members brought her back into her home and offered to pray for her. She excitedly said yes and got tears in her eyes as they prayed over her. One of the Haitian boys traveling around with us who acted as an interpreter for us said the unfortunate thing was that someone would probably steal the mattress we brought for her by morning. For that reason we also could not give her very much food because it would just be stolen. We resolved to check in with her again in the morning and see what else we can do for her. What an extreme opportunity God gave us to be the hands and feet of Jesus for this woman and all those who witnessed our work. To God be the Glory!!! There is much more to this story - please ask us about it when we get back.

Blessings from Haiti,

Bryan Nikkel

THERE'S MORE: Some of the members of the group went out to this lady's house and picked her up in the truck Wednesday afternoon and brought her to the hospital and bathed her, washed her hair, gave her a fresh set of clothes and took her back home. This lady smelled SO BAD people were backing away from her as they carried her in- but the love and compassion this group showed for here was so amazing to see. I'm sure she hadn't been bathed in months maybe years, her hair was matted and full of scabs............she was truly an outcast and had no one to care for her. This is truly what showing God's love is all about! Thank you to all in this group who were the love and light of Jesus to this woman.

Many Hands For Haiti Team and Pella Christian Team Join Show Partnership!

The new Pella Christian School, built by Many Hands for Haiti with the support of a sister school in Pella, Iowa, is completed and will open in the fall. The new school, located in Ba Sauvanette has eight rooms, a kitchen, latrine and well. A team from Pella Christian School in Pella, Iowa came in March to paint the interior and exterior walls and another team will come this summer to build desks and complete the project. PC is the newest of nine schools operated by Promise for Haiti in the Pignon area. Thanks, Pella Christian, for this wonderful gift!

Help send a Volunteer to Haiti!

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Four TeamsWill Visit in April!

SAGES-Dr. Severson Team

HHRI Team

Caplain Medical Team

Dr.Jim Birong

Meredith Drive Team Uses Building Skills
to Help Students!

George McVicker helped guide a team during his last visit to Pignon. Below he shares a personal thought about his trip.

"We made it...well at least some of us did. The rest will be coming along later in the day.

Gene counted up that in the 10 days some of us made twenty take-offs and landings.

'We are blessed to be a blessing.'

What a tremendous mission. It's hard to put into words how we were all blessed. Many of you know that missions are about helping others but in the process you end up on the blessed side.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support while we were away. And thank you for your prayers and support for the people of Haiti. Our small part in building forty three desks (only 500 plus to go) was a labor of love, and to see the smiles on the faces of the children was thanks enough. Those of you that have been there ( and I found out over three hundred from our church and others from the area have volunteered for a Haiti mission), I would tell you the people of Haiti are still a strong and resilient group, a loving, caring group of people, that as you know struggle in their day-to-day existence.

Nothing is easy for them. They walk miles to till a garden, go to a well for water, or to school. Many only eat once or twice a day, but still you can feel God's spirit strong in their presence. They whistle and sing while they work and they appear happier than many we see on the streets of town here in the U.S.

Please check out the pictures included in this e-mail. They will give you a sense of the work that was done and a flavor for the Haitian people.

As I (George) get the privilege to wrap up our trip I would like to thank Pastor Jim, Arlan, Gene, Gary, Paul, Anna, LuAnn, Chris, Chip, and of course Virg and Dorothy for all the hard work and fellowship during our week with the Haitian people. Virg said he was worried whether the work would get done, but I told him I knew it would get done after that first day when I saw the face of Jesus in each one of you. Proverbs says, "as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another." What a great sharpening from a bunch of iron people.

A la'm koontan Jezu renmen mwen ( I am happy Jesus loves me...and you)"

The Haiti Desk Team

mdrc 2012