March Update

A view of Haiti’s mountain ranges from the top of Pic la Selle, Haiti.

Hello from my favorite chair in Oriani, Haiti.

Happy Easter! May we all live with the resurrected Jesus in our lives. We are a little exhausted with all the activity lately. It’s been a busy time getting ready for Easter. We are youth leaders here and were in charge of a youth program that we brought to the church here in Oriani and also to the neighboring congregation of Savan Mouton. Practice 3 times a week, along with all the other church services… makes lots of “church” but it’s been good. We have 15 youth here and they all did so well. The young brethren took turns telling the Easter story between the songs … but they all kinda got into preaching which made the whole program very long.

This winter dry season has been not nearly as severe as last year. It’s March now, and some farmers are starting to plant potatoes, corn, cabbage, and beans. Rain makes these people miserable and so happy. How? They sit in their cold leaky huts, and they usually can’t even cook food on their outside fires while it rains so … they are hungry, cold, huddled together in their dark little houses, the paths around the neighborhood turning to muck. Yet they are rejoicing because rain is watering the land, bringing hope for a crop, water to bathe in and water to drink! Rain is LIFE! You realize how very important rain is in an area where there are no rivers or wells. CSI has been working with a well drilling outfit and have drilled 5 holes up here in this mountain now and every one is dry so far. Contracts are being made for some kind of expensive testing to be done now before more money is poured into dry rock holes.  Pray that they can find water! It will be a huge blessing.

On top of all the other hundreds of sick and wounded people, there were a lot of babies born in the clinic in the last month. I don’t have the reports in front of me but I think it must have been about fifteen. Most of them were first time moms and were as young as fourteen! Most of these wonderful opportunities to bring a new soul into this world were quite difficult cases, too. We tend to get the difficult ones. Traditionally, the babies are born in their houses, and then when they have issues…they just bring the person to the clinic on a mule, or… four men carry the whole bed to the clinic! Sometimes it seems the whole community comes along. At that point we apply crowd control measures and lock the clinic door so they don’t all pack inside and cause problems. Usually, we allow just one person to accompany the mom, and it’s inexplicable how they choose that person. Recently, a mom chose her brother in law because she said her husband couldn’t handle it. I didn’t agree with that weirdness, so I chased him outa there and got another lady of the family instead. One of the babies born at the clinic was stillborn. Another was starting to cause alarm when it stalled in the birth canal too long and then was very slow to breathe afterwards. Thanks be to God for all the deliveries that were eventually brought to a successful end. Our nurses Kay and Chrystelle have much patience.

Things don’t always turn out well though. We had a man come in to the consultation room with a baby in his arms that looked a little strangely relaxed. Kay called me to come, so I asked him if the baby was sleeping and he said yes, but Kay and I immediately had suspicions that the baby was dead. Kay proceeded to do the consultation and listen to the lungs and heart, and then we had to quietly break the news to the father that his child was gone. His silent acceptance of it was heart wrenching.  Another day, one of our favorite church sisters (Se Simon) fell down unconscious at her house, and was carried a mile on a bed to the clinic. The nurses started CPR immediately and kept on for quite a while but alas, she too slipped into eternity to be with her Savior, never to hunger or suffer again.  Because she was so loved and respected, the funeral was huge! I counted almost 500 people inside the church and many more outside. The walking procession to a tomb near her house was likely a 1000 people, heartily singing as we walked. It grew into this large crowd as other churches let out that Sunday morning and joined up with us. It was one of those scenes which are totally indescribable!!

Another day, we had two men come in who had gone to work in their garden. When they needed a break… they drank from a gallon jug of water that they had previously hidden in the field. An hour later they both woke up from unconsciousness with a crowd of people looking down at them. Somebody had poisoned the water jug and they were in bad shape with terrible shakes and stomach cramps!! They were brought in and we gave them everything that we could think of because the family did not want us to take them to a hospital. But nobody knew what kind of poison we were dealing with! They received activated charcoal, milk, IV fluids, and then finally, the family just took them home. I had asked the men if they were praying. They said they were Christians but were in too much pain to pray. So we prayed for them. It again impressed me that we all better have our “after-life assurance” looked after and paid up by the blood of Jesus BEFORE we fall sick, because I have seen this often that a person close to death isn’t even thinking of praying! One man died, the other man lived. Reminded me of the account in Luke 17. “Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left.”

A very immoral and well known girl of eighteen, who seemingly had no known history of depression or boyfriend breakups, etc., suddenly decided to try to end her life by drinking poison. Her family brought her in. After vomiting and treatment and observation for a while, she bounced back with little or no negative effect. I talked to her and she just laughed… said she was just tired of living and wanted to end it. I asked her if she knew where she would be now if she had been successful?  I tried to describe the horrors of hell, she got sober and said she didn’t want to go there. I also told her of the forgiveness and love of God, and how Jesus came and died to save sinners like her, like me, like all of us ….If we repent and call on Him. She said she would think about it. Our hearts ache for cases like this.

Sometimes it’s a fight to be able to help these people. Yesterday a mule stepped on a twelve year old boy, and he had an open fracture of his leg; the bone ends were protruding. After pulling and setting it, the nurses splinted it and prepped him to go by ambulance on a rough three hour ride to a hospital. Now, I had noticed the woman who brought the boy looked dirty, acted distant, and disconnected. I began to question her about how to plan the hospital run and I kept getting strange answers. She said we could do nothing till the father came, and he was several hours away. I soon had a strange sense that this woman was hiding stuff and likely was a witchdoctor’s wife. We pleaded with them to let us take the poor lad to the hospital but they refused. Finally, all of them walked away leaving him alone with us for several hours! We soon confirmed that we were indeed dealing with a witch doctor family. After a few hours the witch doctor father came on the scene and refused to allow him to go to a hospital. They just took him home! We felt sick about it. I told that man in very clear terms what would happen if infection set in and that his boy could lose his leg. I also told him that my master Jesus and God were more powerful than his master Satan, and that God would severely punish him as a father if he made decisions for his boy that ended up going bad. He didn’t like that, but I felt a strong feeling to cut him no slack. Before we released the boy to go suffer at the hands of a negligent, devil worshiping father, I prayed with the boy and implored Jesus to touch him, heal him and also reach through to the conscience of the father.  That’s when they took the boy away. A couple hours later they were back, and… the witch doctor asked us to take the boy to Port au Prince! I was thrilled. I was impressed to see this proud arrogant man with an air of humility about him and even softness. I pulled out my Bible (I had been on the way to church) and just gave it to him, telling him to place it in his shirt pocket close to his heart and see if it warms his heart. I told him I wanted him to accept Jesus and become converted, and that I want to talk to him about this some more someday. He accepted it! So away they went to the hospital. I was so happy I felt like shouting HALLELUJA!

The other day, we had a man who had been in a machete fight. His cousin had gotten mad at him and tried to kill him. His head was hacked half way thru his skull, his arm was laid open to the bone. His neck was chopped open just below the jawbone. That one alone almost killed him. He had lost a lot of blood. In total, he had eight cuts. The nurses stitched tendons and, in some places, sutured three layers deep. In all… they spent six hours cleaning, suturing and bandaging. Well over 100 stitches were used. So far he is doing well.

Matt and Sherri Giesbrecht from Ballico, California are planning on moving here to work as administrators of the clinic starting in June. Matt is a RN and brings a lot of good experience with him. We are thrilled at how God provides people for the needs we have here. The Lord willing, we would then go back to Ontario for some time. We are in good health and enjoy our life here in Oriani, but we feel God is leading this way for now. The clinic has bought a house next door to ours here, and we are starting to remodel it and add on to make it more habitable for Matt’s when they come.

Our church has had revival meetings in the last month which I was very thankful for. Some things were set in order and several reconsecrations also happened.  I think we will have a few more meetings sometime soon again.  Now and again we hear of the struggles of the church in North America and how “materialism” (often extravagant lifestyles and the pursuit of “more”) can be a hindrance to fruitful Christian life. In Haiti… in a sense, “materialism” (the gnawing worry of poverty and how to get ahead materially) can have a very detrimental effect on these Christians as well. Keep praying for these dear Christians here too. Sometimes we would feel like helping them, but then at times we can complicate things if our “help” is done in the wrong way too! So also pray for wisdom for us.

There is a song in English which says…

“Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

There’s a roof up above me, I’ve a good place to sleep,

There’s food on my table, and shoes on my feet.

You gave me your love Lord and a fine family,

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.”

Well, we have a lot of friends and dear members of our own church here who couldn’t sing ANY of that except the part “you gave me your love Lord….”, but even that is sometimes hard to see when they are suffering. Can you imagine?…. no rain-proof roof, no good place to sleep, no food on the table, no shoes to wear to church, no fine family….

Of course we can’t lift everyone above the poverty line, (and God isn’t asking us to), but I feel God is asking us as His church through His name and in His love, to reach out and help certain situations which He brings to us. To just say, “Be ye warmed and filled and give them not those things which they have need of”… leaves us outside the blessings God has for us, and often closes our door to share the Gospel. I wish the clinic could heal people like Jesus did, with just the touch of His hand, but so far we still need to buy medicine and give it to the people. Wages also need to be paid to employees so they can feed their families, and many other expenses like ambulance service, etc., need to be maintained.  This, unfortunately, takes some of God’s money which He has allowed each one of us to use and to serve others with. We encourage you to remember the Haitian people, and give to the clinic as the Lord directs you.

Two rather major needs we have for funds right now are…

1. Fix up and furnish a house for Matts to live in by June
2. Replace our current ambulance with a better diesel model

We thank you for your prayers and support, and may God bless you all.

Keith and Candace Toews and family,

Zachary 21

Cam 16

Chase 14

Christina 12

Ketli 5

November 25

When we first came to Haiti in 2010, it was easier to write stories about the clinic, about how terrible the people live, and about the miracles and wonders that happen here on a frequent basis (both physically and spiritually). But the longer we are here the harder it is to write. This has puzzled me sometimes and I would like to defend myself and explain some things, but I don’t know if I can put my thoughts into words. Please allow me a minute to ramble and maybe totally confuse you.

We came with love, (Godly love, I trust) and sympathy for the people. We came with a solution and a help for their needs (clinic). The mountain people are so backwards in their understanding and economy and also spiritually that surely they are just waiting for that “hand up”, and then all will be good. And then it’s easy to write about what’s happening. The good things, the bad things, and the things that make us cry. But the longer we are here and the more we scratch deeper into the culture, and whys and wherefores, the more complicated it is. I have been surrounded by Haiti talk for 46 years; I was a missionary kid here. In total, I have over 11 years of living in this country, but I am still just uncovering the layers and depths these people have. And in doing that, there is a constantly changing aspect of love and respect based more and more on understanding and knowledge instead of just tears and sympathy. Am I making sense?

For example … Dieutela is a young woman who has had a terrible existence. She has been used and abused all her life. She has two little children and no house to live in. She lived with her parents until they were so mean to her she was obliged to move out and just “domi kay moun” (sleep wherever). She told me 6 months ago that she wanted to die and be done suffering. That was before she found out she has Tuberculosis and AIDS. Now for sure she thinks life is over. As I drove her home from the special AIDS and TB clinic the other day, I found myself being able to discuss her problems with her and understand from her perspective why it is that she has to sleep around like she does. She can’t say no, because these guys she sleeps with are the ones who support her and her kids, and give her a roof over her head. She knows it’s not good, but without that help she would starve. Here it’s not called prostitution. It’s existence… and everyone helping each other out. So to give her tears and prayers are not enough. She needs Christ, but she also needs frank and practical discussions to help her figure out solutions. Giving her a house and money to live on is not a good solution, because unfortunately, the culture of jealousy and resentment towards someone who comes from so low and then gets help, would destroy her. (She has already had death threats because an NGO came in and built her a small house. Now that that house has been stolen from her, she is more at peace with the neighbors again.) Dieutela is physically ugly and now she’s sick, but her gentleness and soft heart are beautiful. Pray for her, and we’ll keep trying to help her find solutions, too. Her name Dieutela means “God was here”. I hope she knows God is STILL here.

Ok… the above story is one example of real life here but it is one I had a hard time telling. I respect her too much to make merchandise of her story, yet I think it needs to be told.

So even though I don’t always know what to write… I know how important it is that you get letters and reports so you know what that which you have entrusted to us is doing. I will try to portray that to you.

Clinic life has really changed with the departure of our much loved Haitian nurse Githane. She left her husband and went down to Port to live with her family. Trev and Mirlene, our son and his wife, also left for Ontario to work and continue life there. Seems like life keeps moving on and our children are growing up. We now have a new Haitian nurse, Minister Mikel’s daughter, Christelle. She is a bright, happy young lady with a big, ready smile, and lives at our house together with our American nurse, Kay Wedel from Brooksville, MS. Beyond that, we have hired as new nurse assistants, two young moms. They are church members as well. All these changes throw a little confusion and unrest into the smooth routine we had going, but I think it will work out okay. Have a look at the October report at the top of this update and you will see how many different issues we deal with every month. Kay recently had to deal with an axe wound to the foot of one of our neighbors. One toe was cut right off and another almost severed. She artfully trimmed bone back till there was enough skin to wrap over the end and then trimmed again, shaped, and sutured it shut. It looks really good now and he is walking on it. Another boy got his finger cut off and since the mom brought the missing piece in her pocket, Kay sewed the whole thing back on. It was so cleanly cut off we thought there would be a 50/50 chance of healing. It looked well for a few days, but now it needs to be taken off and the stump closed up. We can’t win them all, but we tried. Another sad case this week is of a family who had a gasoline business which they ran from their house. In the evening they were pouring gas from one container to another and, of course, holding a candle for “all the better to see you with”, and guess what… the gas goes BOOM and the house is on fire. The wife had second degree burns on 40 percent of her body, two kids on their faces and hands, and the father on his feet. They will be a long time recovering from this. These are the situations for which we need lots more gauze rolls and non-stick dressings. With this family, we nearly exhausted our meager supply with just two dressing changes.

Some of you have offered layette bundles and clothes and things. We really appreciate all offers of help. I am always hesitant to turn down offers because we never know when we may run out of these things, but the fact is we have enough of these items for now, and with shipping costs very high, it’s hardly worth it. Our biggest need is still money donations. Medicines, workers’ wages, gas, diesel and vehicle parts, etc., cause a constant outflow of money. We also have special situations where some patients need surgeries or other procedures that we can’t do. If these patients will absolutely not go to get these procedures done, (hernia repairs, ovarian cyst removals, bone surgeries, etc., etc., etc.,) because they have no money, then we carefully step in and facilitate, especially if life is in the balance. Ambulance runs are also very costly to us. When Haitians have a request that they lay before us, they often end their plea with, “I thank you in advance”. So maybe I will do that to you readers. So today… I thank you in advance for helping the clinic out.

Our family is basically in good health and spirits. Seems like a common issue we face here is a condition called “ale vit, tounen dousman,” (run to the outhouse, come back slowly), but it’s part of life here. Jenna Toews is our new school teacher and is working very hard for our children. Only God can pay her back for the service she gives. Jenna and Lacey are sisters, who share the same passion for teaching. Lacey teaches at the church school.

Lately, I have been reading a book called, “The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good.” What a good reality check for me again. It warns against getting so busy and working such long hours in God’s work. We easily reach the danger point of not looking after ourselves, our families, and others in our primary circle. It also reminds us of how pride and burnout can take over and bring a dark side to all we do. A true heart of humble service is again what I recommit myself to. I think of the heart of Jesus and how everything he did was misunderstood, then was persecuted and finally killed. Yet he loved, and served, suffering it gladly for the sake of the Father’s plan and for us. Why do I get in such a wad about things? I feel ashamed.

A few words about the church here…it is in some struggles. Seemingly, the old traditions and customs and ungodly lifestyles are hard to break from and easy to slip back into in weak moments and difficult times. Isn’t it the same for us all? But here, these people often fall alarmingly far, quite quickly. In visits we have had lately, we are touched by the sincerity of some, but dismayed at the cold indifference of others. We are especially sad that some of the older Christians here seem to be slipping away. The healthy fear of God and a recognition of the voice of the Holy Spirit are two areas where they are seriously lacking. A song with which I have been impressed lately says, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go”. I would like to translate it into Creole.

We are in the cold of winter here. Yes, in Haiti it is cold here on the mountaintop. We had 2 nights of frost last week and the day time highs are cool, but sunny. Houses here are not insulated and have no heat source other than bodies, so I find myself getting tired of being cold all the time. Fleece sheets and heavy blankets at night feel good. (I haven’t heated up the cannonball this winter and put it in our bed yet, though!). The locals often blame an August baby boom on the preceding cold December. A couple of weeks ago, my four boys and I, plus the two CSI boys, went on a motorcycle camping trip up into the higher forested mountains in DR. We slept at 7500 ft. No tents, just rolled up in blankets on a nice bed of pine needles. I had a fever that night so with the cold… I was of all men most miserable, but it still was a fun trip. Seven of us, each on a motorbike. I would like to do it again.

Ok that’s about it for tonight. God bless you wherever you are.

Au revoir, Bayi, Adios, Swarrtotmaal, Dosvidaniya, Kwaheri, or “Goodbye” in whatever language you speak!

Keith

God's Promise

Rainbows are frequent here and are a vivid reminder of God’s promises to us.

I would love to have you spend a week here to see the Oriani clinic, have devotions with us, experience the bustle, see the patient suffering of the patients, take in the many varied smells J, and experience the blessings etc. Each patient has their own unique life and story that is intriguing and sometimes inspiring.

Dalia is a 33 yr old mother of 5 children who all appear to be under 5 yrs old. When I asked her for the children’s age she gave me wildly varying numbers that were obviously years from reality. After I suggested that maybe she had forgotten, she laughed and said “Yes, I never know how old they are.” Apparently she doesn’t even remember what month OR year they were born. One is crippled and rides on the back of her brother who is maybe 6 at most. Dalia and her children are just in survival mode since her husband left and went to the Dominican, having taken a prettier Dominican wife.

We have many many such “Dalias” in the area here. Children red-haired with malnutrition and suffering from sickness and parasites, gardens and crops completely failed every season for the last 2 years, and existing on credit or charity from anyone they can while living in houses that are deplorable. They don’t even have the physiological needs covered as outlined on the first quadrant of Maslow’s pyramid. We help them with basic health issues and give some education on the advantages to be had in sanitation. I could talk a long time about such a family to try to describe the reality they live in, but it’s hard to convey it, especially the damaged emotions and despair that comes from living without God, morals, and money. We are talking about children half naked and groveling in a parasite-laden dirt yard where there is not one “nice” thing to look at, no flowers, no decorations, no picture books, often not even basic needs like an outhouse available. There is no river, and most people don’t even have a cistern to get water from or to wash in, but just every day… having to beg a bucket of water from some neighbor who may have a little left in their cistern. Often they lack a pattern or example of how to live cleaner, healthier and better. They just exist. The sad truth of the matter is that too many of the women like this end up allowing themselves to be used sexually in exchange for sustenance. They shrug their shoulders and say, “We need to eat”. This numbs the conscience while further tearing down morality, courage, spreading more disease and suffering in the wake.

The clinic sees an average of 80 patients a day, keeping the nurses pretty busy. And then we get called on 24/7 for emergencies. Two nights ago we helped a lady in labor and a healthy little girl was born. Last night’s call was for a man who got shot in the foot by a Dominican border patrol officer. We could see an entry and exit wound, so we are sure the bullet passed through, but the whole foot was grotesquely swollen. With repeated antibiotic injections and faithfully coming to the clinic every 2 days, we feel we can take care of him here. This morning we received a young boy who fell into a 10 ft deep cistern (which was dry), breaking his forearm. Splinting it was easy enough and then we offered to take him down to Port au Prince for setting and casting. The closest X-Ray machine is a bumpy 3 hr ride away. But the family is refusing to go. It’s very aggravating that while it will heal, it likely will be crooked. Every Wednesday is still prenatal care day. The ladies line up to have a class, get weighed and checked, and given the vitamins and medicines they may need for the month. One of the practices these Oriani mountain people have is to give a woman 5 baths after she has delivered her baby. These five baths are still a little mysterious to us, but they involve herbs, other ladies beating the woman with sticks, etc. Then the new mom is wrapped up in many layers of clothes, jackets, scarves and head cloths. Mom is confined to her room for the next 30 days to sweat and suffer. All of this is to ensure that the mom does not ever encounter the most awful thing of all…. “fredzi”. It seems like this “fredzi” (cold air) is what they think is the root cause of half their sicknesses, when the truth is that the overheating and sparse oxygen they endure is what often causes them to lack milk and succumb to more problems. Ancient customs and old wives fables are hard to dispel, but we keep working on it, at least where they negatively affect them. Speaking of fables… I just learned another one. Apparently if a baby is born with the cord around the neck (representing a tie), then that is a symbol from God that he will be a very important person like a minister etc. If the cord is wrapped around the body like a bandoleer, then he will be a soldier or a policeman.

Another clinic story that I want to share is about a young couple named Jean and Sanania. They both have syphilis. His symptoms were minor, but she had huge infected patches all over her body where the skin was rotting off. Her ear was hanging with pus, her shoulder and back had almost no skin. 80% of her body was affected. She was so weak she couldn’t walk. Basically she was just about gone. They had tried witchdoctors and herb people, and now her hope and money were about gone. It truly was one of the more pathetic sights we have seen. Mirlene (bless her heart) donned protection and took this lady into the shower to clean everything off. We then gave them the prescribed Penicillin G shots and told them to come back in a week. After 7 days here they sat. Waiting their turn to come in. What a miracle sight they were! I have never seen someone heal so fast. She was walking and smiling and almost every inch of her body was re-growing skin and there was no infection or open sores left! I still can hardly believe it. They both were a charming picture of hope, excitement and life again. Encouragement was given them to seek God now that He has given them such an amazing recovery from the brink of death. We want to follow them and do what we can to promote continued full healing of both body and soul.

Thanks be to God for providing a few short term nurses to keep us going for the last while. After Ang Toews (from Grifton, NC) left in February, Kay Wedel (from Brooksville, MS) came for a month, then Rosalie Nichols (Inman, KS). Then it was Linda Unruh (Greensburg, KS), after that Gina Dirks (Halstead KS). Each spent a month with us. Now on July 15 Kay came back, so we feel blessed and happy to have her back here for a as of now… unlimited longer term. Every one of the nurses who spent time here brought their own valuable insights and help for the clinic, and we enjoyed each of them living with us. We have had an awesome Haitian nurse hired for the last 3 years and now we beg you to help us pray for her and her husband as they are on the verge of splitting up. Likely this will mean she will leave us to go back to where her family is from. We are very sad for them.

Cam, our 16-year-old son, broke the radius bone in his right forearm last week. He jumped over a yard wall to unlock a door and had a bad fall onto concrete. We spent a miserable afternoon and night in the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Port. By 5am we were able to leave with Cam only to see with dismay that the cast was poorly done and would need further attention. Since the DWB hospital had treated us so rudely, crudely and then hadn’t done a good job, we opted to go instead to a private Haitian hospital this time. Readily they took us in, quickly x-raying the arm, resetting and then recasting it very nicely. We were obliged to pay full price for everything at this private hospital. They listed all the supplies used, like gloves for the doctor, swab gauzes, the antiseptic wash, the cast material… everything had a price. The x-ray was $20 and all the cast supplies with the doctor’s fee, came to another $20. The grand total was $40 for a nice job with a brilliant blue fiberglass cast. But sadly, a private hospital costing $40 is often beyond reach for many Haitian families.
A nice little God-moment I can relate is this… When Cam broke his arm, he was 2-3 hours drive from where we were. We gathered our stuff and headed down the mountain to meet with him at the hospital. We had thought our fuel gauge was working and we had 1/8 tank left, but… an hour from home the Ford started sputtering and then stalled. We coasted to a stop within 50 ft of a house that sells diesel from gallon jugs beside the road. And this place is the ONLY place that has diesel for sale within an hour and a half drive.

Another God-moment was when we wrote out a cheque for clinic supplies and mistakenly wrote it out for 212 instead of 312. We just paid cash for the remaining 100 dollars. Later we found out the balance in the bank was 22 dollars after the 212 cleared the account. If we hadn’t made the mistake… we would have overdrawn the account and had the bank as well as our supplier furious at us for bouncing our check. 22 dollars is not a very healthy balance. We did get some donations come in to get us going again, but we urge you to see if God touches your heart for the clinic needs. We feel we are providing very good first line health care at very low cost. We have many needs. We are worried about the clinic funding situation, but we trust God that it is His work and He will supply and direct. Help us pray.

Help us pray for direction and wisdom for the many many requests and frustrating situations that present themselves to us. Sometimes it’s very difficult living here. People come to us every day telling us how their children haven’t eaten today, or they are pleading for help to build a cistern to collect rain water, or for money to buy 3 bags of fertilizer because without fertilizer they won’t be able to get a crop. Sometimes it takes me 2 hours to get to the clinic in the morning because of all the people lining up in our yard or along the road who “neeeeeed to have a few words” with me. I must confess that it is a bit taxing at times. I have to deal with my “self” to just have the patience to listen, encourage, and pray with them even if we can’t help them monetarily. I have sometimes felt like going into hiding till the hard times pass again, but we don’t know when that will be. The Caribbean drought that is affecting everyone from Cuba to Puerto Rico, is seriously affecting most all of Haiti. It’s not only in Oriani. Pray that after 4 dry and lean years now, that God will send rain and 4 fat years ahead.

Our family is looking forward to Jenna Toews from Pincher Creek coming in September to teach our children. In June we said goodbye to April Koehn, who taught last year. One of the joys of being here is all the many girls and teachers who live with us. Our family has been enlarged immensely and we have family in many places now.

Ok have a good night and let’s live like we know the Lord is returning soon.
Keith and Candace Toews
Director – Confidence Health Center
Oriani Haiti
Telephone 001-509-3783-9058
Keithtoews67@gmail.com

Of Economics

Haiti… the “Pearl of the Antilles”, a land of beauty, a land of many problems, a land of contradictions. A people that freely give verbal credit to God for most everything, a people who are burdened with many superstitions. A people who are not materialistic but have many material needs. A culture that is so interdependent that they are each the welfare and support structure that binds the fabric of them all together. Communal inter-dependency that is so strong that independence and the capitalistic way is frowned on because greed and selfishness (which are still present here) are not the attributes that can in any way sustain them in hard times. In this culture (especially rural areas) this large social inter-dependency is what pushes poor families to have 10+ children. The more they have the more support, hopefully, the children will produce for each other and to parents as they get old. This mutual sharing has many interesting pro and con aspects. For example, someone who is down to his last two dollars and will still give one away to someone who has none. When they both run out they will suffer together until they find someone else who has three dollars who they can each then ask a dollar from. Another aspect to this way of operating is that it keeps them all more on the same level. Like one said, “Haitians are like crabs in a bucket.” If one tries to get out and get ahead there are lots more who reach up and pull him back down. If someone is getting ahead financially here, there is often criticism that the person is greedy and selfish and insensitive. Otherwise he would surely be helping others until he was on the same level again. This limits incentive. In this culture, your friends and family are the first ones you run to in material or financial need. The banking system is unavailable to you and is too cold and unfriendly. To loan to and from a friend or family brings solidarity and warm feelings of togetherness. To be so materialistic that you would record all crop inputs, shows that you don’t trust God enough to just make it somehow work out in in the end. Some would go as far as to say that if you count your expenses God won’t bless the garden. They do not trust their governments and institutions. They see waste and mismanagement in all officials and too often in churches too. So their “giving” is literally done without the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing…sharing the bananas of their yard with the neighbors, cooking their last pot of rice and dividing it to the hungry, all the while hoping and knowing that when they are hungry, their neighbors will do it back. They suffer together. They do not criticize each other for poor management. Church circles are just like any other part of their other support circles. When times are tough, all needs, social, financial and spiritual are met by this life support group. Many of these cultural ways contribute to keep people in equality and in poverty, but yet these people also maintain a sense of community and solidarity that we lack in our culture.

We as North Americans, and in North America, tend to prize capitalism, independence, and self-sufficiency. We seem to see this as the one true way. Get ahead financially and then you will have enough to give to all those poor people in third world countries (at arm’s length). We work long hours, and look up to hard workers. Financial wealth is the definition of “success”. We have learned to trust our governments, and institutions, and churches, so that’s where we give our yearly donations, and get our tax receipts. We tithe, and we are generous. We eschew personal one on one giving to a large extent. We may have a financial need yet never go to our friends and family. We don’t want to owe them, or have them owe us, because we understand that the best way to lose a friend is to get involved with money matters. A friend is for emotional reasons, not financial. Church is for spiritual needs. Banks and government programs for financial needs. If we start helping one another financially, we are uncomfortable, worrying that other person will become dependent on us, or on the church aid, and we “feel it’s just not a good idea”. Much more could be said….. But do you get a little picture of what I am trying to show? Both of these cultures are a world apart in the BASE reason of why they each do what they do. Both cultures have positives and both have negatives.

Living in Haiti is teaching me more about them than what I can teach them about us. It’s hard to try to reform their financial ways and culture. And is that really our responsibility to make these changes? It is a challenge to live and work here among the people we love and keep our equilibrium. We no doubt have made many mistakes. Clearly it doesn’t work to be the rich guy in their community and just throw money around till it’s all gone. To NOT help in quiet, personal ways with the many little needs around us, very quickly bars our hearts from connecting with them and them with us. When we humbly and patently listen to their sufferings and sadness and offer a little help in food or money occasionally, our touched hearts open, making us “grieved with the afflictions of Joseph” (Amos 6:6). This enlarges their hearts toward us and we reap the huge and warm blessings of their trust and friendships. To have a “no personal help” policy would be so out of character and out of culture for them that they may not trust that our gospel is good either.
Gospel in action is what really counts with these people. Talk is cheap.

Two examples come to mind. One of their way, and one of ours. I might get frustrated at a beggar who rails on me and calls me “stingy” because I decided not to help him. I self-righteously think, “How dare he say that when I give so much? I have left home and opportunities to come run a clinic for them!” In the second, a Haitian can get frustrated at me if, when I don’t see him paying his church dues, or tithing enough, I try to instruct him on the subject of “giving”. He self-righteously thinks, “How dare you say that I don’t know how to “give” when my whole life is giving to the ones around me in ways you white men will never understand?”

Ok, enough said on that. Nurse Angela Toews heroically fulfilled her one year here, and a month ago headed back to her digs in North Carolina. Rosalie Nichols, an RN from Kansas, is here now working for a while till another nurse can come. The people here appreciate about the clinic is open every day, and they can count on that. We don’t shut down for lack of nurses, and we don’t run out of meds. Although people who walk from long distances are sometimes hampered by rainy weather, there are still plenty of patients each day! Recently I visited a similar sized clinic in another part of Haiti. They just had a small trickle of patients coming in, allowing the four nurses and one doctor to spend a nice amount of time with each one. I envied the personal time and care they were able to give to them. But, with so few clinics or health care providers in our whole area here, we are generally buried by the work load of 50-120 people every day. Recently, having not seen one of our patients (a single lady named Rosalyn) for a while and knowing she is sick and needs her meds, we decided to pay her a quick house call. We found her in her bed sick, and out of meds. The children were very sick, too. So sad. I convinced her to come to the clinic the next day and we were able to give her and the children what they needed. That night a man who had been coming by her house for “favours”, came by again. She had earlier declared to us her intention of becoming a member of our church and on the strength of that desire, she refused him entrance. He got mad and beat her to death. We were sickened and heartbroken. Those three young children she leaves behind haunt me.

Though not all born in the clinic, there are several set of twins in clinic care. One mom had triplets. The locals laugh at moms who have multiple births and call them “mama goats”. Seems like these people struggle enough to feed a child without having to be blessed with twins. Too often the breast milk doesn’t last long enough as it is and then, of course, kwashiorkor (protein deficiency) sets in with many resulting problems. Most of the ones who come to the clinic are women, and women with children. I doubt 20% are men. Because these women lack vocabulary to describe their issues, making a diagnosis always challenging. What do phrases like “waist is broken”, “water under my heart”, and “milk mounted up into my head” really mean?? There are many such things. One recent interesting case is of a young boy who got his finger chopped off. With Todd and Angela’s good efforts, the bone was trimmed back (with a sterilized wire snippers), the skin shaped, and sewn around the end nicely. It seems to be healing beautifully. Recently, I was reminded of the advantages of having Haitian church brethren here to help guide us and give us sage local advice. During our revival meetings, a couple of the Haitian ministers were visiting with me about the clinic, and they warned me that we need to start watching that the clinic profile doesn’t get too big, drawing too much attention from the government. Jealousy and envy of a good clinic could cause enough feelings that they would look for ways to take us over or shut us down. Help us pray that doesn’t happen.

The church here seems to be in good spirits and founded on the Rock, Jesus. Last weekend while the world celebrated Mardi Gras and carnality, our Haitian church gathered at one of our congregations for an annual three day fellowship time. I was sick the whole three days, but what I was able to take in was inspiring. About five hundred people were there. I have been lately reading history and the personal faith stories of many of our martyred brethren from 800 AD to 1600 AD. It impresses me that the active faith that I saw and felt in St Marys while we were there is the same active faith I see in Oriani, and I see the same faith in the old accounts in the Martyrs Mirror. But why am I surprised? God is the same yesterday today and forever. What a security we can take in this.

I could mention that during this last two weeks I have been quite sick with DHF Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever and a double whammy of kidney infection to boot. I want to really thank you all for your prayers and support that I felt. Honestly, I was very low for a couple days. My white blood cell count was dangerously low according to the doctor who read my blood test results. I seem to be on the way back up even though I feel very weak and tired.

Our family went back to St Marys, Ontario, for Christmas and then we stayed to participate in revivals and communion. What a wonderful time we had. The snow…. So white, so pretty, and so cold!

A tailender story I want to tell is about a poor, lovely, lonely little 11 yr old girl called LoveMy. She is Christina’s friend and one day when Christina had a lot of yard work to do, LoveMy wandered over and started helping. LoveMy’s dad is not with the family and they often don’t have enough to eat there, so when the work was finished I thought it only good to give her a little money for her effort. I was going to give her 25 GDS which is about what a child could expect, but I decided to double it to 50 for her. She was so happy! She skipped out of the yard towards town. But in 10 min she was back. She had used most of the money to buy a Coke just to be able to give to me. I just about cried. I really enjoyed that Coke. Computer says I have typed 2271 words. Time to go to bed.

G’nite, and God bless each one of you in His service.