The Stories We Could Tell

Late Entry from Sat May 8th: National Train Day 0938am

yomonk1 — Mon, 17 May 2010 03:10:27 +0000

Today is National Train Day, Coincidentally, as I type this, I am riding on Amtrak rail from Lynchburg, Va to Penn Station NY. Happy Train Day to all you basement enthusiasts with your engineer hats on; to O. Winston Link; and to B.L. Ayers who is probably teeing off on at the Par 3 right about now. Choo Choo Buckaroos!

Ois Update: Courtesy of Kez

yomonk1 — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:06:01 +0000

http://myhaitiankids.blogspot.com/2010/03/ois-update.html

The Ois update

Ois continues to improve! I have been able to visit him three times in the past 10 days and he is better each time. Angel Missions is paying for him to stay at a small private hospital where he is cared for by a nurse round the clock (not that he needs much care now, but the company is good for him). I have arranged physical therapy and speech therapy for him, and we are working on a medical visa for him.

As you can see in the below photo, his left eye cannot move further than midline. He will need eye surgery to correct this and prevent him from having long term vision problems. I just got his birth certificate so that we can start the passport application process and then apply for a visa. With his birth certificate, I realized we have been mispelling his name all along. His last name is Oyis and his first name is Retasse, but he has asked to be called Oyis, so Oyis he will remain.

Xrays of his leg indicate that the external fixator needs to stay in for another month, but doctors say he can start to walk despite it. Two months without any activity have taken a toll on his leg, so Rony, the PT, is starting him with just standing and stretching exercises this week. Oyis is anxious to walk and play again. You would think that it would bother him to have a piece of metal sticking out of his leg, but his biggest complaint was this: “My leg is too short, Kez!”

Interacting with Oyis just makes me wriggle with excitement. He has gone from virtually catatonic to full sentences and even some smack talk! He loves to tease me, my silent shadows Obed and Jean Marc, and the nurses that we have skinny arms. “The only person with big biceps is me!” Oyis proclaims. (I think his arm is as wide as 3 of my fingers).

His speech is definitely slurred, but it also definitely the speech of a fully brain functional kid. He uses the slang that all the kids here use, he laughs at every little story I tell, and he asks me intelligent questions like, “When is Giset (his older sister) coming to see me?” and “Will you come with me when I go to America?” Although I know that he can speak now, a part of me is still jumping up and down with joy when he starts to tell me a story about “My big brother hunted down a brown cat and killed it for us to eat…It was delicious. Have you ever eaten cat?” And when he cracks a joke, I have to whoop and cheer out loud!

I asked Oyis how old he is. “Eight,” he answered. I nodded and then thought for a second. “No, you’re not. You just had your birthday on the 11th.” “OK, I’m 10,” he said. “What happened to 9?” I asked.

“Oh, I skipped 9.”

Posted by Keziah at 6:12 PM

Back from Haiti: Angel Missions Haiti Director Shares Her Story – WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville |

yomonk1 — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:41:08 +0000

Back from Haiti: Angel Missions Haiti Director Shares Her Story – WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville |.

Earthquake/ Tsunami

yomonk1 — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:44:25 +0000

Another horrible tragedy in Chile today. The Chilean government seems positive that they are more well equipped to handle the recovery.

I am very relieved my friends in Maui are safe and did not suffer too much damage from the resulting tsunami. Maui No Ka Oi.

Picture of Emmanuel Christian School, where we stayed.

yomonk1 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:12:27 +0000

1367.88 miles from home

Pikliz Recipe (Haitian spicy pickled vegetables) | Haiti | Whats4Eats

yomonk1 — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:27:20 +0000

Pikliz Recipe (Haitian spicy pickled vegetables) | Haiti | Whats4Eats.

Back home

yomonk1 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:57:12 +0000

Hey guys. All 13 of us plus Vanessa from Angel Missions Haiti are back home finally. Arrived about 2am in Roanoke last night after minor delays and a nice wake up call from Mother Nature yesterday in the form of an earthquake. All are well and we really are proud of the work we were able to do, but even more than that is the degree to which each of us were touch and so positively affected by the kindness, love and friendship shown by the people of Haiti. We are thankful that you allowed us to share a small piece of your lives and hope we were able to provide comfort to some of you. God Bless you all.

Earthquake News

Wakey wakey grounds a shaky…Feb 22 5:53am

yomonk1 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:52:17 +0000

Good morning! Rude awakening this morning. At about 0440 we were all awakened from a deep slumber by a solid aftershock. Hard to tell how long it lasted. Our guess is about 10 seconds. We could hear the crumbling of already shattered rock and structure. And quickly the wails and screaming follow as the rest of the city was awakened as well. After the initial shock, all appeared well. No obvious damage. That being said. I was up and almost completely packed in seconds. I respect things I have no control of. Mother Nature for instance. And the deciding factor is one door in and out of our building with steel bars and concrete elsewhere. One small shift and bend the frame and we are stuck. Needless to say, no shower and at least 4 of us are out of the building safe on top of solid land bags packed waiting for ride to airport. The other 9 nervously try to rest that last hour back in the dorms. While the chances of winning the lottery then getting bit by a shark that has been struck by lightening is pretty low, the odds of getting injured or killed in an earthquake in Haiti is pretty high. Call me a gambler.
We are all safe but ready to get the heck out if here. See you soon. Love you all.

Its over already?…Feb 21st 2:03pm

yomonk1 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:50:26 +0000

What started off a little sketchy has now almost come to an end and left us all thinking “Its over already? You mean we’re done?”. Yes our time has come to a close and we all are in constant conversation, remembering names, remembering smiles, people we have touched thru our mission and the countless that have touched us to our very hearts and souls. The pst few days have been a whirlwind. Clinics have run smoothly and with precision Friday and Saturday. We hope we have been able to provide even a smidgen of the comfort and happiness to the Haitian people as they’ve provided us. We have now said our goodbyes to our ward patients Ois and Christopher and to our parent Christine. A river or tears were shed and that doesn’t even count the ones that were held back in poor attempt to look strong. We all know those tears run freely and we aren’t fooling anyone. Our pillows are the soaked evidence of the tears that fall in a dark room. Christine was able to take Christopher home so she could care for all of her children at once. Vanessa is working on his visa and paperwork so he can get the surgery he needs for his hydrocephalus. Hopefully all of that will come to fruition in the very near future. We got a scrub shirt and everyone signed it for Christine. She was very moved and she has become one of our “family” now and really had. Hard time saying goodbye. I was able to accompany His to his hew hospital at Dr. Joey’s building. His family came to visit Friday and woke time from his nap and the look on his face was not unlike a child at Christmas. That all got us blubbering (again). He has a visit with the orthopedist soon to hopefully remove the external fixator in his right femur. Then his rehab will (hopefully) begin. He hs a long road ahead of him but he is strong and determined and we all know he can do it. We have seen this young man, in one week, go from simply lying around moaning inconsolable, to drinking out of a bottle by himself, throwing a ball and helping us straighten up by tossing stuff in the trash. He is so interactive and we are all amazed by what he has accomplished. It was impossible to be strong and hold back the tears when I dropped him off. Pillow-1. Me-0.
After clinic was done for the last time and ward was closed, we were treated to an unexpected visit to Visa Lodge for a cooked sitdown meal with beers or drinks and dessert included. We had running water and flushing commodes which we all acted like were discovered for the first time. And in true SW Va redneck fashion many of us jumped in the pool fully clothed or at least dangled our feet. What an absolute treat! Thank you again Vanessa! And Adam for the mighty fine Prestige Beer. The evening could t be complete without a rooftop visit with the children. We played our games that we have grown to love, “Shaky Shaky” where we are holding hands in a circle and a random few are inside the circle demonstrating their mad dance skills until the time when we cover our eyes, spin and choose a new dancer. Tonight will be no different as I’m sure we’ll jump rope, “shaky shaky” and laugh and take pictures until dark. This we will truly miss.
This morning Vanessa picked us up early and took us to a Haitian church service where we sat with a translator and enjoyed a beautiful service on a warm gorgeous morning closing with a special treat of a couple of songs from the children of the congregation. Everyone was so friendly and we were quickly greeted by all of the English speaking members after the service. Now….. We speak of our trip with fond melancholy and pack up all of our leftover supplies for the soon to be Surgical Center here. We have truly enjoyed our time in Haiti, the good, the bad, and often the uncertain. We have had much more here than we expected to and every single one of us are richer people from the experience we he gained here. Our only hope is that we have each given peace, comfort and hope to one person each here. There is still a huge task at hand here in Haiti and every one of you can help in any small way possible. Thru our time here we’ve expressed to you what we’ve seen from a patient experience and some personal encounters. What we haven’t shared with you is the magnitude of the poverty and destruction here even one month after the earthquake. Usually CNN shows the worst part of a disaster and places emphasis on that. Imagine the worst snapshot you’ve seen of the disaster and plaster that snapshot everywhere you look across an entire city. This devastation and disaster is very real and very widespread. Please consider a donation no matter how small, it can be put to use. Please contact Tom or Vanessa at http://www.angelmissionshaiti.org. To see how you can help.
We miss you all and can’t wait to get home to you and all of the comforts of home. Comforts which I am very sure not a single one of us will take for granted again. Au revoir. Anbwase

Yes, we’re still here…Feb 18th 8:07pm

yomonk1 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:48:57 +0000

Hello all. We are fine. Due to technical difficulties I can’t post as often as I’d like. We only have generator power a few hours every few days and my phone is not holding a charge very well. Aside from that all is well. We’ve been doing well in clinic, seeing 100-200 patients a day is seeming routine now. We had a bad experience in clinic yesterday with an elderly lady that was not well at all. We were told not to attempt to resuscitate because there was nothing we could do for them then. No equipment, facilities or ambulances. I think we all felt awkward having the knowledge but still encouraged to not do anything. Things are different here. I worked over right in the ward which was a great night but kind of boring because it was one of the few nights our patients slept so good all night. We also had quite a downpour. This makes things bad for the locals. Because they are still gunshy to be in any building after the earthquake but they still need shelter. So they line up in the outdoor hallways and bring their blankets and sleep on the floors. The walkways were lined. The rain really affected us to because the water poured in thru the hole in the roof that is partially covered to the now destroyed surgery clinic on floor above us. So the water poured down our stairwell and we had quite a bit of standing water in our ground floor create g quite a mess with supplies that were there for the clinic. By afternoon the staff had it cleaned up much better than before. After clinic today some of the staff joined a few of our interpreters in doing a “Street Treat” which amounted to walk g into another village and giving out vitamins and worm medicine. I heard several accounts of this trip, from heart wrenching to absolutely horrifying. Most people were absolutely mugged by loads of Haitians that were scared of us and didn’t come to our clinic. Most of them were just the people that NEEDED to come to the clinic. After that, a few of them went with Reginald, one of the interpreters, a Haitian who has lived in Boston for quite some time, they rode into another town nd hd a sit down lunch at a hotel and were nice enough to bring us back a few Heinekins and a couple bottles of wine which we are enjoying as I type this. We also shared a beer with the mother of one of our ward patients who gladly joined us. Moving on, we are getting more and more out of our young neuro patient. He is more and more interactive and he is letting us know although he cannot verbally communicate he helps us do more and more every day and he even threw the made up ball with us today. He and I have grown tight and have spent a good bit of the day together wheeling him up a d down the hall and even took him up on the roof so he could look out over the city. We now hang out and chat about our adventures and sip our wine. We aren’t sure of our return trip details at the moment. We don’t really have a solid plan on that yet so I hear so wish us luck. One plan sounds like it includes a 10 hour bus ride to Dominican Republic so we can all get out together but let me tell ya, this aint no Greyhound bus we’re talking about. More details to come on this. We’ll fill in more later hopefully. Our return home wishes so far are, warm shower with soap and running water, a warm soft bed, a soda with ICE!!! In all seriousness, be very thankful for every single thing you have. You do not know how lucky you really are until you see what we have seen. Love to all. See you soon.