Tibebe Jesula ap vini! (Jesula's baby is coming!)

I am typing this by the light of a kerosene lantern. Luckily my laptop was already charged so I am able to type this now (Thursday night)` and then post it online later when we have power again. Haitian electricity, EDH, has been awful as usual. Our inverter batteries no longer hold a charge for more than an hour. Dorothy is hoping to have the money to purchase new ones soon. They are VERY expensive, but much needed.  The cost of fuel has gone up again, so it is quite expensive to run the generator. Since it is not a necessity at this time of night, we do without.

Jesula, one of our nannies, finally went into labor. Her water broke sometime around 4 AM this morning and she went to OFATMA hospital. She called us mid-morning. The hospital gave her two prescriptions. They did not have the medications at the hospital so someone has to run out to a pharmacy and purchase them. So, we drove to the hospital (got lost along the way and accidentally wandered into Cite Soleil). When we arrived, we gave money to Jesula's sister to go out and purchase the medications. Jesula's blood pressure was high, she was only 2 cm dialated, and the baby was sitting very high. She is very petite and so it just looked like a giant bowling ball under her dress. Jesula is thirty-six years old and this was an unplanned pregnancy. It is her third child, and she and her husband did not want any more children.

I was VERY impressed with Lopital OFATMA. After having been to the maternity hospital from hell aka Chancerelle Maternity Hospital (click her to read about my experience there), OFATMA looked like heaven for a woman in labor. Jesula actually had a BED...her own bed! There were about six to eight beds in the one room, but unlike Chancerelle, they actually had wooden dividers for privacy. There were fans on the ceiling, a bathroom for the women, AND (drum roll) a WATER COOLER!!!!! Chancerelle does not even provide toilet paper or sheets on the bed, let alone water for the women! In the few hours that we spent at the hospital with Jesula, the nurses checked her blood pressure and IV several times. When we were at Chancerelle with Anne, she only had her blood pressure checked a few times in the 30+ hours there. Now, despite all the wonderful things about OFATMA, there is something heartbreaking. Dorothy and I noticed that for several hours Jesula was the only woman in the maternity ward. Every time that I have been to Chancerelle, there were over 20 women in labor waiting in the waiting room because there where no available beds.

The reason OFATMA was so empty was because Dorothy paid for Jesula's stay there. For a little less than $100 USD, Jesula was given the “royal treatment” of a decent hospital with competent staff, beds, and equipment. Isn't is sad that so many women are forced to go to terrible hospital like Chancerelle just because they cannot afford better? To me, it almost seems criminal. Please, understand that by no means is OFATMA anything close to the quality that hospitals are in the US. And yet here, OFATMA seems so amazing to me. The woman at Chancerelle thought that they were lucky because they were in a hospital rather than the streets or at home. Personally from what I saw there, I would rather give birth at home than be treated the way those women were. The worse part of all of that is that the women do not realize that they deserve better. They are so accustomed to being treated like dirt, that they don't even realize they deserve so much more.

Lord, I thank you for the trained medical staff at Lopital OFATMA. I thank you for providing that safe haven for people in need of medical care. I ask that you protect and watch over the women that cannot afford to go somewhere like that. I ask that as these women are in labor pain, and being treated with no compassion or love that you blanket them with your loving presence.

PS...Jesula's sister promised to call when the baby is born and so far we have gotten no news.  Please keep her in your prayers.

ARTICLE -- Haiti's "Baby Doc" hopes to run for presidency

Haiti's 'Baby Doc' hopes to run for presidency   
by Edouard Guihaire Jan 10, 2011 4:00 PM, ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – More than two decades after being ousted from power,
ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier aims to profit from Haiti's turmoil
to recapture the presidency, an aide said Wednesday.
The news came as Duvalier's lawyer confirmed the former leader had returned from
exile amid the political upheaval after disputed elections and planned to stay
in the Caribbean nation which he once ruled with an iron fist.
"We need to shake everything up so that the elections are annulled and new
elections are held in which Duvalier can run," Henry Robert Sterlin, a former
Haitian ambassador to France, told AFP.

"Then Bingo," he would be re-elected, added Sterlin, who presented himself as
the spokesman for Duvalier, once dubbed "president for life" until he was ousted
by a popular uprising against his brutal rule in 1986.
Duvalier's surprise return late Sunday has stoked further turmoil here, as Haiti
struggles to recover from a devastating earthquake and resolve a political
crisis triggered by tainted November presidential elections.
"He will stay in Haiti forever, it's his country. And take part in politics.
That's his right. A politician never dies," his lawyer Reynold Georges told AFP
earlier Wednesday, adding that Duvalier was preparing to move back into his old
house.
Memories of Duvalier's repressive 1971-1986 regime remain strong, and human
rights groups have accused him and his late father, Francois "Papa Doc"
Duvalier, of presiding over decades of unparalleled oppression and abuse.
On Tuesday, prosecutors charged him with corruption, embezzlement of millions of
dollars from state funds, and criminal association.

And in a new legal challenge, four Haitians, including a prominent journalist,
filed criminal suits against him Wednesday alleging crimes against humanity.
"We have lodged lawsuits for arbitrary detention, exile, destruction of private
property, torture and moral violation of civil and political rights," Michele
Montas, former spokeswoman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon, told AFP.
Rights groups and opponents have long accused Duvalier of torture and killings,
as well as plundering hundreds of millions of dollars from the state's coffers.

The dreaded Tonton Macoutes, a secret police force loyal to the Duvalier family,
has been accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing up to 30,000 suspected
opponents during the 1960s and 1970s.
But Georges protested against the legal moves, saying the statute of limitations
had expired long ago.
"The law here in Haiti says you have 10 years to prosecute somebody if they
accuse him of a crime and Mr Duvalier was living in France for 25 years," he
told a group of journalists.
Duvalier, now 59, came to power in 1971 when he was just 19, succeeding his late
father Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. He barred any opposition, clamped down on
dissidents, and rubber-stamped his own laws.
But despite the past, he still enjoys some support.

"I think there is support for him, I don't know how big it is," Robert Fatton, a
Haitian-born history professor at the University of Virginia, told AFP shortly
after Duvalier's return.
"You have to remember the Haitian population is very young. Something like half
the population never experienced the viciousness of the dictatorship."

Haiti's political crisis deepened Wednesday when international monitors slammed
the November 28 presidential vote as being riddled with irregularities and
fraud.


A report released by the Organization of American States (OAS) recommended that
President Rene Preval's handpicked candidate, Jude Celestin, should be
eliminated from the race.

Adjusting the results, the pan-regional OAS said Celestin should have been
placed third in the first round vote with 21.9 percent -- thus barring him from
a second round run-off.

Former first lady Mirlande Manigat won 31.6 percent and popular singer Michel
"Sweet Micky" Martelly came second with 22.2 percent and should square off in
the next round, the OAS recommended.

If the recommendations are implemented "the placement of the second and third
candidates will be reversed," the OAS report concluded.


But it remained unclear what steps Haitian officials would now take.
The Haiti election commission said late Tuesday that it would not necessarily be
bound by the findings of the OAS mission, saying it would have to follow the
correct legal procedures

Trying Times

I don't really want to go into too much detail, but I would like to ask that you all fervently pray for this country.  I'm sure most of you have seen that "Baby Doc" has returned to the country.  I think that most of us here in Haiti are very suspicious of him showing up at such a critical time.

The OAS has recommended that Jude Celestin be removed from the runoff election ballot, but from what I've heard it sounds like Preval, the outgoing president, is not going to do that.  Everything that is going on just sounds very suspicious to me.  It seems like things are just going from bad to worse (although it is hard to imagine it being worse).

The only thing that I know to do is pray.

First day back

I don't know why I am so surprised that today was nonstop busyness.  Basically everyday here is like that, but apparently I kinda forgot. 

I forgot to write last night about the UN tanks that we saw on my way home from the airport.  Two UN tanks somehow managed to crash into each other in the middle of one of the busiest roads in our area.  Yet again, the UN clog up the roads with unnecessary traffic.  I won't lie, we got a pretty good laugh out of them.  Don't ask me how they crashed into each other!

Although I was exhausted last night, I did not sleep as well as I would have liked.  Surprise, surprise a mouse decided to camp out on my nightstand all night long.  Yes, you heard me.  On my night stand....directly beside my bed.  The only lamp in my room is also on my nightstand.  For fear of putting my hand on the little creature, I didn't want to reach over to turn it on.  Instead, I fumbled around my room in the dark (without my glasses because they were also on the night stand) looking for a flashlight.  When I finally located it, the mouse had already run into hiding.  So, I crawled back to bed and fell asleep.  Sure enough, he came back and continued chewing on something quite loudly.  Eventually, I was finally able to figure out what he was gnawing on.  Someone (there is no telling who) left a pack of gumballs on the far side of the night stand where I did not see them.  Apparently mice not only like chocolate, but also gum too!

On top of the mouse-capades, I also had Jake, my puppy (click here to read Jake's story) in the room with me all night.  He is about three times larger than when I left in December (and even cuter).  He wanted to sleep in my bed with me.  He's just too cute to say no, so up he went.  He decided to sleep directly in the middle of my twin bed leaving me no space.  Later during the night I woke up and found that somehow he had managed to crawl right on top of me and fall asleep!  I'll admit after that I made him sleep in his own bed, ha!

In the morning I tried to start unpacking, but Dorothy and I ended up leaving for pretty much the whole day.  Some friend's of Dorothy's were staying at Dottie's guesthouse.  So, we took them to visit one of Dorothy's former children.  Along the way we got lost a couple times, stuck in the typical PAP traffic, had to pick up kids at school, and gave about a dozen Haitians a ride home.  When we finally made it back to the house it was nearly 3 PM.

Then, we had to leave almost immediately to take Mich to the dentist.  If you remember, Mich has been having problems with his teeth for quite a while.

This is Mich a few months ago.  He was miserable with an infection in the back of his mouth because of some bad teeth.  You can see how swollen his face was.

 It took Dorothy a while to find a reliable dentist (let alone any dentist at all).  Today was his second appointment.  At his last appointment, the dentist had to pull three teeth.  He had a difficult time getting them out because they were so brittle.  As I've mentioned before, Mich was VERY malnourished for almost his entire life.

This was Mich at age 10 (yes, ten years old). 

 Because he was so malnourished for so long, his bones and teeth are very delicate.  The dentist said that most of his teeth did not form properly.  That is why he is having so many problems now.  Today, the dentist pulled two more teeth and filled a cavity.  Poor Mich has five less teeth, and those are adult teeth that were pulled.  So, Dorothy has decided since he is so young and really needs those molars, she is going to find the money to pay for him to get implants.

We are very fortunate to have found the dentist to do work on Mich's teeth.  The dentist is Haitian, but he got his education in the United States and Canada.  He speaks English and has a very clean and professional looking office.  It basically resembles an American dentist's office.  I was blown away that it even exists in PAP.  In addition, he voluntarily offered to give Dorothy a generous discount on his services for Mich.  THANK YOU, GOD!

On the drive home from the dentist, Mich asked Dorothy if he could stay with his mom for four days.  It broke my heart to hear him say that.  Mich has a heartbreaking story.  Although he and his mother love each other very much, she is so incredibly poor that she just simply cannot care for him.  Because Mich is 14, Dorothy let him make the choice to either live with his mother or live here with us.  He chose to live here with us because, "When I live with my mama I feel skinny."  That was the best way that he knew how to describe the feeling of starvation.  We encourage Mich to keep the bond with his mother, and Dorothy offers to take him to see his mama as often as he wants.  So we are planning on taking him back to his village to spend time with her soon. 

Although I live under the same roof with these children and spend most of my time with them, I will never, ever be able to even comprehend the pain that they have experienced already in their lives.  They are so strong and so brave.

Lord, thank you for your unending love.  Thank you for loving the least of these.  I thank you that regardless of what we may have to suffer through in this life, you promise us life in paradise with you.

Reunited

Hey everyone!  I am finally back home in Haiti with my kids!  It seemed like I would never get here.  Last week I had to change my flight because of a snow storm.  This morning, I boarded the plane at 8:30 as scheduled, we pulled away from the gate, and then the pilot announced that there were some mechanical problems.  So, we ended up having to sit on the plane for 3 hours while they worked on fixing the problem. We didn't take off until noon.  We had a pretty rough landing in Port-au-Prince.  The woman sitting next to me started clapping and shouting "THANK YOU JESUS! THANK YOU JESUS!" when we finally stopped.  So, after all my traveling issues, I am finally safely in Haiti!

It was such an awesome feeling being back in Haiti with my other family.  It felt like I just picked up where I left off.  It truly felt like coming home.  When I got to the house, I basically ran around like a crazy person hugging and kissing babies, nannies, and kids left and right. I can't believe how much our babies have grown!!  When I went downstairs to see all the children ages 2 and up, they all stopped and starred for a few seconds.  I could tell they were thinking, "Is that really Miss Katie?!"  Within seconds I could see their faces light up as they realized it really was me.  They all started calling my name, jumping up and down, reaching up to be held, and clinging to any part of me that they could get.  It was priceless.  I missed them so much, and I could tell that they had missed me, too.

After I was able to pull myself away from the mob of happy children, the "gang" (Rosa, Claudine, Johnny, Mich, and Richardson) and I went upstairs to continue our "love fest".  I was jumped on, climbed on, dog piled, kissed, and hugged until I was physically exhausted.  I had my own little parade of children following me around the house until it was time for bed.  Talk about feeling loved!

I am so incredibly happy to be back to our crazy house!