Haiti cholera response: Heartbreak and Hope
According to the latest report from the Haitian Ministry of Health, 2,167 people have died from cholera. Overall, more than 96,000 cases have been reported nationwide since the outbreak was first detected in late October.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization now estimate that the cholera epidemic in Haiti could affect as many as 650,000 people over the next six months.
The cholera treatment centre in Cite Soleil has been open for a week. We continue to see a steady flow of the sick coming in. Consistently, nearly half of them are children.
Monday afternoon our numbers climbed from 40 to 56 in a short time. Our night crew is caring for two full wards of sick children as I write this. Little lives being carried in ... some with family, others orphans, many left alone.
There is a somberness, a sorrow, that hangs in the air here. It’s thick. Cite Soleil is a place where a spiritual and physical battle is being fought every day.
Meet Melaika. She and her mother, Mary, came in a few days ago. Her father wants no part of her life, making Mary a single mother.
Tiny and wide-eyed, Melaika sits up on a soiled Noah's Ark blanket, watched over by her young and vulnerable mother. Her stomach is bulging, awkwardly large for her small frame. She has a terrible cough.
Things that would be minor ailments become exacerbated in a place like Cite Soleil, where health and hygiene are a constant struggle. When she coughs she sits up, sticks out her tongue, and her whole body shakes. Her little mouth makes a small, sweet sound. Mary cradles her, learning to be a mother before my eyes.
“I have no job, her father is not around, and now she is sick,” Mary admits quietly, looking down. “I feel scared.”
Melaika looks around curiously, blinking frequently, taking in her surroundings as an IV slowly infuses health back into her. Next to her, other children wage their own battles against cholera.
Her mother had come in stoic, reserved. There is no doubt she has seen much hardship; she carries it around like an invisible shield. Her eyes were void of hope, of spirit. But she has softened, her guard has lowered. Our staff have cared diligently for her daughter and she feels their warmth. Mary offers a smile freely now. Her daughter is slowly healing. She will pull through
I wish I could bundle Melaika up and take her and Mary home with me. What kind of life will she have growing up in Cite Soleil? It’s heart breaking. These are the things I find hard to reconcile. Hardship, suffering, Melaika. But I must press on, for I know there is more to her story.
Our chaplains prayed over the mother and daughter, told them about the love of Christ. Mary wanted to know more. She asked Him into her heart. We will connect her with a local church that can walk alongside of her. This is her hope now.
Samaritan’s Purse runs the only primary care clinic in Cite Soleil, and one of the only cholera treatment centres in the area. We’ve poured our efforts into caring for this community, preparing and educating before cholera arrived. Pastors and chaplains are praying over these lives, every hour of every day is covered in prayer. And now, we are treating little ones like Melaika.
We can only hope it has helped curb the spread in Cite Soleil, where the repercussions of a mass outbreak would be devastating. And so we treat, pray and prepare.
Roseann Dennery
WAYS YOU CAN HELP
PRAY:
Please thank God for the lives being saved through our work. Please pray for the people suffering from the disease, and for strength for our staff.
GIVE:
Please visit our donation page to help us respond to emergencies like the one in Haiti and others around the world.
