Haiti cholera response: Light in a dark place
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.
It poured in Haiti this week. Our night shift left with rain jackets and galoshes, ready to weather the night. It has been windy and wet. Our patients are wrapped with heavy USAID blankets.
Before cholera, we prayed for rain in Haiti. It was a welcome break from the heat and humidity. But now our hearts fill with dread each time it rains, because we know it will result in a spike in our patient load. The bacteria is ushered into new areas through the movement of rainwater, and then breeds in the resulting puddles.
Monday, we rejoiced to hear the numbers at our Bercy site had dropped to just above 30. Then Tuesday morning, we heard the disheartening news that there were 70 patients.
Over 30 were admitted through the damp night, many who trudged through the slippery mud and rain to carry in their sick. Cholera is continuing to have its way in this region. The Samaritan’s Purse clinic is still the only treatment center here. We will stay until cholera is gone.
It’s been two weeks since we opened the clinic at Cite Soleil, and our work is just beginning. We are treating about 80 patients a day.
From the outside our cholera center is quite impressive, transmitting beams of light into the dusty air and serving as a beacon. As you drive towards it through the blackness of the Haitian night, it radiates brightness.
It’s the only structure offering light off the main thoroughfare into Cite Soleil. It’s an appropriate representation, because there is a certain warmth that resides within. In the quiet rhythm of the night, our medical volunteers are present, serving and caring for the patients from bed to bed.
Samaritan’s Purse has over 40 medical volunteers here from the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ecuador—all with a common purpose.
Haiti is still in limbo over the presidential election results. A recount is tentatively planned for this week, and the final candidates have yet to be determined. There is a tension here, and continual occurrences of riots and fighting are reported daily.
From the outside, Haiti appears like an absolute mess. It some ways, it certainly is. But it is in the middle of the messiness that we end and God begins. He is at work here.
Despite the weather and protests, our Cite Soleil hygiene team is out traveling to each zone conducting large community trainings and getting critical information to people who have not yet heard how to stop the spread of cholera. They have not let fear and the elements deter them. Because of their diligence, people will be saved from cholera.
In Williamson, near our Bercy clinic, the team has reached 900 households with hygiene messaging through our model of educating trainers. Our water, sanitation and hygiene team has installed 18 water filtration systems—each infusing 12,000 gallons of clean water every day to villages with no other access to water.
Thousands of people are collecting clean water now because of these systems. Every drop counts, every message prevents.
Cite Soleil is a harsh place in many ways. It is obvious that kindness, then, is amplified in a setting like this.
Inside our clinics, you don’t have to look far to discover mercy. I happened upon Mary Ann, a volunteer nurse, in a quiet corner comforting a frail woman named Elizabeth.
Mary Ann smiled broadly. “She’s my favorite,” she said as she took a hold of Elizabeth’s hand and patted it carefully.
Elizabeth gazed up at her with gentle eyes, full of affection for her new friend.
“Her pastor had brought her in, she was very sick,” Mary Ann said as she looked at Elizabeth, her hands still clasped tightly around her thin, fragile fingers. “She doesn’t have family, so I’ve become her family while she is here.”
Elizabeth was slowly nursed back to health over three days with Mary Ann at her side. A light, in a dark place.
It wasn’t hard to spot Fredrickson and Madeline. A playful spirit between them drew me over. He was sitting up, giggling with his mom.
The scars on Madeline’s arms show that her journey has not been an easy one. She’s lived a hard life in Cite Soleil, you can sense it almost immediately.
“I’ve raised him here, in Cite Soleil,” Madeline said, looking at Fredrickson. “This is not an easy place for a child, you know. But he has survived.
“The other day, he was very sick at home. He was too weak to walk, and his eyes were rolling to the back of his head. I was scared. I thought he was going to die. But I carried him, me and a friend, and now …”
Her voice trailed off. “He is so much better. God came, and brought Samaritan’s Purse with Him to save his life.”
It was hard to imagine that just the day before, he was brought in almost dead. Today, his spirit was alive, overflowing.
Bed after bed, children are waging their own wars with cholera. Some of them, like Manase, are in the arms of their father as they fight. Some, like Nellie, are alone. But all are under our care, each one of them entrusted to us by a God whose compassion is boundless.
We don’t take this calling lightly. So we continue on in this battle, with every passing hour, with each new patient, until we claim victory over cholera.
Thank you for not tiring of walking alongside of us.
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.
