haititrip

Dental and Medical teams

2009-03-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the doctors and some of the crowd waiting this morning to see the doctors and dentists.

Foizon Visit

2009-03-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I went and visited Foizon, the area Annelies and I would eventually like to go and work. We visited John who many of you know just to see how he was doing. Foizon is really dry right now, drier than I have ever seen it. Please keep them in your prayers many are hungry. Johns family seems to be doing well. They where playing dominoes when we got there. There field is ready to plant as soon as the rain falls. You can see how dry it is in the first picture. I am down in PC today and we have two large teams of dentists and Doctors. We are waiting on delivery of the dental tools today so that the dentists can begin seeing patients. I would estimate we have about 200 patients waiting at this point down at the hospital. We probably have a team of 24 doctors and dentists at this point.

Back in Haiti

2009-03-15T05:58:00.000-07:00

So I am back in Haiti, it has been a while since I have updated this blog. I came back to Haiti to finish installing a sattelite antenna that I did not have the part for earlier. I will try to do short daily updates since time is limited. Yester day I went with Rob to the house of Pastor Mike to deliver supplies for the housing project, boards and 2oo sheets of roofing tin. On the way we were going up a steep hill and all the roofing tin fell out along with selifor, (the guy on the trailer) so he was bruised up and we had to reload the tin as well. We also brought a trailer load of water to Pastor Mike becuase they have no water yet after the hurricane. Hope to go to the church in Foizon today if I can find a motorcycle to rent. Please pray for the people here, especially Foizon, they have not had much rain since November and many people have lost crops. The hills look really dry. There is hunger in Foizon.

2009-03-15T05:56:00.000-07:00

Here is some of the corn I was talking about, this lady will get a harvest out of it but not much. I looked around and could spot the occasional ear of corn.

F-100

2008-12-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone, It has been a while, and for that I apologize. Things have been very busy here. We have received a large shipment of F-100 and F-75 from UNICEF and that has been a big help here. F-75 and F-100 are therapeutic milks for children with malnutrition. The F-75 has 75 calories per 100ml. When a child gets to a certain point with malnutrition that child no longer wants to eat which is where F-75 comes in. F-75 gets a child from the point of not wanting to eat to having an appetite again. Once the child has regained the desire to eat they get switched over to F-100 which will help them to rebuild the weight they have lost. I go with Annelies on her rounds in the Hospital occasionally and have seen this stuff work. It is amazing, kids that almost had to be force fed are now happily drinking down their portion of F-100. They change drastically from being sad and having no energy to running up and down the hall of the hospital playing and laughing. One child in particular named Regiles has had a great turn around. Some of the other patients tease him by pretending they are going to take his milk away, well… he is only about two years old but I think you would have a big problem on your hands if you did manage to take his milk away from him :] A sincere thanks to UNICEF for their generous response and sincerity!

In my last blog I told about the discouraging 2 weeks we had with loosing so many children. I am happy to say that we have not lost any little children to malnutrition since then. But, we are still looking to ways we can help prevent some of those types of cases. Annelies and I have been talking about the possibility of starting a little extension clinic up in the mountains near where many of these patients come from that would be able to refer patients down to the clinic here where Dr. Anne-Marie works. Last Sunday we went up into those mountains to visit the church and some patients in the region. While we were on our way to see John Little, the kid two posts below, a man stopped us and asked if we would stop by his house and take a look at his wife who had an infection. There is a real need for some simple medical help up in those mountains and it pulls heavily on both mine and Annelies’ hearts. Annelies and I are getting married next year and have a lot of changes happening in our life at the moment so it is not even certain when we will be able to return to Haiti. But I see a clear need up in that region that Annelies and I could be of great help in.
In other news we made a request to FAO for seeds for the farmers here, we asked for seeds for about 9,000 farmers and received a commitment for about 500 farmers. We received the first shipment of seed from FAO about 2 and a half weeks after planting season. Of the committed 200 bags of seed we have received 40. It has been a bit difficult working with them and a large amount of our time and resources have been spent holding their hand coaxing them to do what they should be doing without our help. We are still waiting for the remaining 160 sacks of seed and where told that they would be here a week and a half ago. But the farmers here where happy to get what they could at the distribution, we are loaning the seed from them and expect them to return it with an increase if they get a good harvest. We would like to start some sort of seed bank here so the farmers have somewhere to go when they need seed. Storing seed is complicated and risky however. But all in all we are thankfull for the help FAO has been giving the farmers.
Annelies and I visited John little, you can see his house here. It has since been replastered. His family situation is complicated and while we would like to build him a new house with a tin roof and a water storage tank we are not sure that he would benefit in the end. His house is about a half hour uphill hike from the nearest water fountain. We may be able to help them out with a new house once we get back and get to know them better. Please be praying for John Little and his family. Also pray that we would have wisdom how to help and how not to help them.
Annelies and I have only two weeks left here in Haiti. December 31st we will be flying to the States for two weeks in California with family and friends. Then we head out to the Netherlands to be with our family and friends there. I may come back to do some work in March in California and Annelies has a job lined up in the Netherlands. We look forward to seeing all of you soon, but we already know that we will be missing the people here in Haiti a lot. Please pray that we would be open to where God leads us in the future.

The Children are dying.

2008-11-18T07:22:00.000-08:00

This morning we lost our seventh child in the last two weeks. Betty's son Wolbinski died this morning of hunger. Hunger you say, can't we just feed them? By the time they make it to the hospital it is often too late. Which leaves me with the question, how can we prevent these deaths? Relief food is obviously not making its way to those who need it most because those people are the weak ones the ones without friends in high places of local government that will put their name on the list for food distribution. Meanwhile I see those who have the connections selling a sack of the relief food from a local USAID food distribution. The way the people here see it free food has no rules, how can you steal free food? My question is how do we help kids like Wolbinski? How do we find Wolbinski before his mother brings him to the hospital beyond the point of recovery? How do we help Betty the mother of Wolbinski without making her permanently dependent upon charity? Mortality should never be accepted for the sake of sustainability though. So what can we do about this situation as a whole? The people here need to be able to make their own food. In order to do this they need to have education. In order to have education they need to have a stable economy. In order to have a stable economy they need to have a stable government. In order to have a stable government the people need to be honest and trustworthy. In order to be honest and trustworthy the people need to have a relationship with Jesus. I know this may sound like cheesy pop Christianity but we in the developed world too often take the values and principles that Jesus teaches and that our societies are built upon for granted.

Still here

2008-10-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hey we are still here. WFP has been delivering food to our village and that has been a blessing. We have a lot of TB and malnutrition patients in the hospital and are borrowing beds. This is John, we take him home once in a while to give him some extra care. He is not too happy with what is being done to his hair during bath time. His mom died and here in Haiti that is often fatal for her children. During the first month that we where here we lost 3 kids in one week to malnutrition. They just come to the hospital too late... The Doctor and Nurses are now scouting the villages in the surrounding area to try and locate some of these cases before they are so far gone but it is difficult to get away from the hospital. They are trying to take a look at all the kids in the area by having them come in to be weighed. We now have lights in the hospital hallway thanks to some dilligent work by several electricians (you know who you are) and some borrowed solar panels. This is very important because it reduces our use of oil lamps which are dangerous flame wise and breathing wise and are expensive. We still need to get some low wattage led bulbs for the individual rooms and hope to have them by December so that we can completely eliminate the oil lamps from the hospital.

Also of note, Annelies and I got engaged the 4th of September in the Netherlands. I had meant to make an announcement on the blog but things have been busy here. We plan to get married June 10th 2008!

Food!

2008-09-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Food has arrived! We had five loads of food delivered by the World Food Program today. We have one more that is supposed to be delivered but there seems to be some weather or mechanical problems. We still need food in two other areas that are more desparat than us because their roads are still impassable. We hear the WFP for Haiti is running out of food. I think the word will spread monday for the distribution and it will start to go out to the people who need it tuesday. Thank you for your prayers.

Water

2008-09-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
We have water! The guys here were able to repair the water temporarily the day before I got here. It broke again 2 days later but we were able to fix it more permanently. We are now working on re routing the water through a more secure pipeline. There is much work to be done. Today I will head up to the source with my engineer friend sadrack that I have told many of you about. We will see what is needed immediately to fix the water system now and what is needed for a long term solution so that it can survive the next hurricane.

In the photo above you can see where the water line is in danger of being washed out. This is our more secure waterline that will need to be moved before the next huricane. Things are bad here, many people in the clinic from hunger and malnutrition related illnesses. I will try to get photos up soon.

Whole gardens have been washed away. The problem here is most of the gardens that people get reliable food to eat from are in the valley next to the river since they can be irrigated and do not depend on rain. During the huricane whole gardens several acres in size have been wiped out. (see photo with palm tree) We are asking for assistance from the world food program, hopefully they will be able to send some food via helicopter. I spent my first days here surveying potential landing sites. The roads are bad but we have one that is now passable into our village. When I ask people what they need up in the mountains it is usually: food, roads, gardens, houses in that order. The people here need food now to survive until they can get the next havest, 2 months from now for beans.

Some have told me they need seeds to plant beans, and sweet potatoe slips to plant as well. Please pray for us, and please pray that relief food gets here. Much of it is going to gonaives but it is more difficult to delivere it here in the mountains where the roads are gone.

(the water is about 5 or 6 feet deep and 8 feet wide through the main road to Foizon.)

Many people have lost homes as well. Most stay with family.

These kids where helping me find Sadrack and check the temporary water line.

This kid told me he is not using this water for drinking, but he probably is using it for washing. But it kind of shows you how precious water is here.

Going back

2008-09-15T00:02:00.001-07:00

We are on our way back to Haiti. Please pray for the people there. We still have no drinking water. Pray for those working on the water lines.

Please Pray!

2008-09-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

Here is an email from Rob and Anne-Marie:

Ike is here and he really is a hurricane.
Trees are pulled out of the ground, water every where, animals are dying, it
is a huge storm.
We try to stay in the house but have to see the patients at the hospital. It
is dangerous to go there but we have to.
I had to put your e-mail addressess (cc instead of bcc) like this so my
parents have them too.
If internet is not working anymore than I can try to call my mother and she
can keep you posted by e-mail.

Please pray for safety!

Blessings, Rob & Anne-Marie

A lot of Rain

2008-09-04T10:43:00.001-07:00

There was quite a bit of rain in Haiti from the storm Hannah. It has washed out the pipeline for drinking water in two places. This river is normally small enough to walk across without getting your knees wet. Please be praying for everyone there and that they will be able to get the pipes back in soon.

here is an email I received from Rob and Anne-Marie. It was in dutch originally so please excuse the google translation. Annelies and I are in Netherlands so please do not worry about us.

Dear all,

We are in a disaster area alone we notice the impact is not well.

Both waterleidingensystemenare at different places riped out.
We have no water, no electricity and 2 storms still to go.

The road to the Catholic church is gone. The gabions (nets with stones)
have been moved and there can be no more car door.
At the cemetery (direction lesson Fund) is also on the road and there can be no car
more. We are therefore in an isolated area.

The whole area has no water. People are advised to rainwater to
catch.

I hear now the church of the cath. church. I think they have a meeting
have.

The consequences are worse than with Hurricane Jeanne!

Attached photographs of the river, the men in a kokosnootboom (were
surprised by the water and fled into the tree) and the radio antenna in
our house has been moved by the wind.

We keep you up to date.

Rob & Anne-Marie

2008-08-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to take some photographs of the
patients in the hospital to give you an idea what we see here on a regular basis.
On the left is Loren with her little girl Wedgina. Rob and Dr.
Anne-Marie picked up Loren on the road in Bassin Blue and brought her back to the
clinic. Loren has a heart condition which is causing her to
retain water. Her heart got stressed during the delivery of Wedgina
and she has had failing health ever since. When wegina first came to
us she weighed 1.65 kilograms 2 weeks later she now ways 2.6 kilograms.
We started her off with a feeding tube because she did not have enough strength to eat on her own.

This is Flanez and her parents. Flanez came
to us at 2 kilograms. She is underweight has problems with
her lungs and also appears to be handicapt physically and possibly
mentally. Her parents are very nice and hopefully the problem
with her feet can be corrected surgically. Her husband is
pumping breast milk for Flanez since she is too week to drink.
Special thanks to those who purchased the breast pumps for
us. Flanez drinks through a feeding tube as well.
Right now her biggest problem is breathing. She is
often congested.

This is Castrol, he has TB and is being treated.
He seems to be getting better complains about pain in his
legs a lot. He is also trying to steal my girlfriends heart!
He is quite the smooth opperator so I've got my eye on him.
On a sadder note his family left him at the hospital with no
food and no one to care for him. Fortunately the mother of a
TB patient across the hall has taken him under her wing and keeps him
fed. Someone recently donated money to the Hospital to help
feed the patients who can not afford to bring food. Because
we do not have the resources and because we do not charge a lot the
patients must bring their own food and family to cook for them when
they come to the hospital. There are a few exceptions like
Castrol and some others who can not afford food. Castrol has
a great attitude and is always good for a late night conversation.

This is the mother of Mama Anne-Rose. She is
the one who took it upon herself to feed Castrol when his family
abandoned him. Her daughter (Mama Anne-Rose) is being treated
for TB in the room on the left.

Here is Mama Anne-Rose she has TB and is being treated.
Annelies is on the left and Ryna a nurse from America is on
the right. She lost her child who was born premature.
She is doing much better now.

This is a daughter and mother. The daughter
had TB first and then her mother caught it. The duaghter is
in the 4th month of TB treatments and is able to stay at home now but
came back to the hospital to help take care of her mother.

This is the daughter of Belizer. Belizer had
a motorcycle accident and so his whole family is staying here.
She and her sisters are very cute and allways chase me down
to say hi or wave at me as I drive by on the tractor.

This is Belizer. His leg was not cleaned
properly by a hospital that will remain unnamed. The cut was
not a serious one but he fell in a canal filled with sewage and the
wound was not properly cleaned before it was stiched up. A
few days later the skin started to buble and rot. Dr.
Anne-Marie cleaned the wound and cut away the infected skin and
Annelies and Ryna have been cleaning and bandaging the wound ever
since. It is starting to heal rapidly but he is still without
skin over a large part of his leg.

Hope this gives you a better idea of what we are up to
over here. We both realy enjoy being over here in Haiti.
Sometimes it is overwhelming with the climate and the poverty
but there is a lot of joy to be found here in the people.
Please pray that we would have patience and strength for the
work over here and that our endurance holds up. We are headed
to Netherlands for a month which will give us a nice break but since
both of us plan to be here long term, years... we will need a new level
of endurance and patience than when we knew we where going home in a
year or less. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Uncle Dustin

2008-07-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

Tasha gave birth yesterday to my niece Yaelle 7.5 lbs!!!!! that is 3,4 kilos!!! nice :]

Busy week

2008-07-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a letter I just sent to John our pastor at Bethany, I thought I would put it up here for the rest of you as well. I added an old picture from last post just so you have at least something to look at.

Hi John, Just wanted to update you. All is going well here. Rob and Anne Marie are on vacation so Annelies and I are taking over there responsibilities for two weeks. We have two babies we are taking care of, both very small. One is gaining weight very well and we expect her to be heathy very soon. The other has some handicaps and is strugling but we are not giving up on her. Today I drove a water tank out to a village called vion for a week long revival they are having there. It is only 5 miles away but takes a good 45 minutes to get there because the roads are so bad. I got a bit exhausted this week from the taking care of kids and the driving on ther rough roads but was able to get some rest this morning and am feeling much better. Annelies just delivered a baby in the clinic, the baby was very large and labor was dificult. The mother ended up giving birth outside while walking around to induce labor. This is the first delivery I have witnesse other than my own :] In the end it went very well although the baby was rather swolen because of its large head. It has been an interesting week. We had two patients die this week. One while we were there with him, the father of one of our neighbors. The other a TB patient that was just too far gone. A number of the patients come from a place called Anro Moustic. Annelies and I would like to go up there someday and see what conditions are like. I would like to go up there on a regular basis so we can catch some of the cases before they get to far along. Feel free to share this with those in the church, I will probably post this on my blog as well. Thank Bethany for their financial and spiritual support. Please pray for us that we have love, patience and strength, but most of all love. Dustin

Babies and TB

2008-07-21T11:53:00.001-07:00

Ok, it is my goal to keep my blog up to date and in order to do so I will be composing these posts very quickly. So please excuse the mess.

Since we have been back Rob and Anne-Marie have gone on a much deserved vacation leaving Annelies in charge of the Clinic and I in charge of the Construction. All has been going well so far. We have a new baby girl 1 month old 1.65 kilograms. Her mom is retaining water and her legs and torso are very swollen. She may also have TB. The babies name is Wedgina. She is very cute but very underweight. Annelies put a feeding tube in her and she is gaining weight stedily. Please keep her in your prayers. She also cries a lot so please pray that we have patience! Some of you may remember little Thomas. Well he is not so little any more! He is gaining weight rapidly and other than a skin infection is doing very well :]

Today I started of the day by getting materiels for the guys. I went to the market and bought food for the week. We had rain 3 days ago and everything is turning green now! Big answere to prayer :]

The picture of the yellow house on the left side and all the people is on the right. Those are the patients that Annelies saw this morning. The picture with the kids running in front of the hut is little Thomas's family, they are a lot of fun. The picture of Annelies feeding the child is of Wedgina the new girl who's mom has the problem with the swelling.

2008-07-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

(photo after three days in Airports I think it describes about how we where feeling :]) As most of you know Annelies and I left July 8th from Los Angelas on our way to Haiti. Getting to Haiti is always an adventure. No two trips are the same and our trip last Tuesday was no exception. The first sign of trouble was when we reached the check in counter for Spirit Airlines. The ticketing Agent looked rather frazzled and she informed us that due to weather our flight would be delayed 45 minutes and that we would miss our connecting flight to Port Au Prince. She recommended that we accept a refund for our tickets and try to get another flight. After much deliberation and a quick check of fares online we determined that doing so would cost us about $1,500 USD. So we decided that was not an option. So we took our delayed flight and as soon as we got off our plane the final boarding call came over the PA for our next flight. We ran to the gate which fortunately was very nearby. We talked to the Spirit people at the Gate who assured us that our bags would make it on the flight and not to worry about it. We ran down the gate and made it, they closed the door behind us and we were on our way. Our luggage did not make it… We decided to wait in Port Au Prince overnight since it would cost us a $170 to send our luggage without ourselves. It ended up that everyone waiting for the small plane to Port de Paix had to spend the night. There was strong winds in Port de Paix, the pilots tried to land the plane three times but couldn’t because of the cross wind. So we found a safe place to stay overnight in Port au Prince. Words can not describe the small air terminal for getting on the little plane. Just imagine 200 people and their luggage packed into a room with a max capacity of 150 all trying to get onto a plane that caries 19 passengers. There are no such things as lines. To make a long story short we left Tuesday night from LAX and arrived at our home Thursday night. We still have no bags but we know where they are and thanks to a very helpful guy in the Spirit Air Lost luggage department in Fort Lauderdale we are going to get our bags back.

I am now back in our village and it is nice to be home. I really feel that this is where I should be. The first day Annelies helped out a guy who lost 60 percent of his skin on his left leg in a motorcycle accident. By 60 percent of his skin I mean you can see muscle and bone tissue on 60 percent of his leg. The guy fell into a ditch in the city when he had his accident (think raw sewage ditch) and the hospital that treated him did not clean the wound well enough before stitching it so a massive infection took over. Anyway it is pretty gnarly. Annelies is changing the bandage right now.
I spent the first day working on Rob’s solar electric system, it powers the lights in his house and the satellite system that connects us to the internet.

Our village has not received much rain and all the crops are dying. When the crops die the people here go hungry. Please be praying for rain. Also be praying for Annelies. The doctor is gone on a family emergency and Annelies will be running the clinic with the other nurses.
Next week I will be finishing up the rafters for the hospital shop so we can put some of the sheet metal up. I also have some work to do on Rob’s power system. The picture to the left is Anne-Rose playing in the river near our village.

Thank you Aunt Joan, Rick and Judy, Jason and Krystal for getting and shipping the medical supplies and infant formula. Thank you to all of you who are supporting us financially as well. Thank you Bethany Baptist!

We Made it!

2008-07-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

We made it safely to our village. It took us two days because the plane could not land due to strong winds. We are safe, we lost our bags temporarily I hope.

Thanks for praying :]

more to follow

Please pray for Annelies and Anne-Marie and girl

2008-05-29T19:06:00.001-07:00

They are taking care of a very sick girl 14 years old. Pleas be praying for the girl and that Annelies and Annemarie would have wisdom and strength.

Oh and Also Little Thomas is doing well and is spending nights with his mother! Over 2.0 kilos now and feeding from a bottle!

Psalmen 107:1

Prijs de HERE! Hij is een goede God. Want Zijn goedheid en liefde blijven eeuwig bestaan.

Thanks!

Dustin

Not that I am counting :]

2008-05-28T15:40:00.001-07:00

Countdownr

Little Thomas

2008-05-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

Good news! Little Thomas has reached 2.0 kilos! Please be praying for him that he would grow strong and healthy and for Annelies that she would get enough rest. I am still working on the documentary film. I should be finished soon. I miss Annelies very much. I also miss the Haitian people a lot too. I know that what I do here is critical to what I do in Haiti but I am eager to be back in Haiti. Please be praying for the Haitian people right now. Food prices are high and they are having a hard time of it. Thank you all for you prayers!

Job

2008-04-27T16:32:00.001-07:00

I am not Job and I would not claim to have experienced anything near what is described in Job chapter 1. But I think it is a good example of a response to the loss of someone(s) dear. Job's response is one of morning and equally of worship acknowledging the sovereignty of God!

Job 1:18-22

18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came from across^[d] the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said:

“ Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

Falenska

2008-04-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

Falenska passed away this morning. Please pray for Madam Villna(the mother), Annelies and I. Please pray that we would use this occasion to show God's love to others.

Thanks,

Dustin

Please pray for Falenska

2008-04-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Falenska has a life threatening lung infection, please pray for her healing but that we would be open to the will of God as she may also be hydrophilic. Also please be praying for the Hospital patients, there is some bad stuff going on that may be related to voodoo. Also please keep Annelies in your prayers as these events weigh upon her.

Thanks,

Dustin

Falenska = 3.1 kilos !!!

2008-04-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you for praying for Falenska!