Two Men and Their Stories...
March 4 and 5, 2010
A Creole Proverb...
"Lè w'ap neye, ou kenbe nenpòt branch ou jwen."
"When you are drowning, you grab any branch you find."
Or, in dire circumstances, one takes whatever help one can get.
A Haitian man works very hard to care for his family. While some are not educated and cannot get a job, there are some that have good jobs. A Haitian man takes pride in his ability to take care of his family, especially if he has a good paying job, can provide a home and buy food for his family. Let me tell you about two men here at the Love A Child Disaster Relief Center. Each different, but very similar.
This first man is Losie Ceome...
Prior to the earthquake, Losie Ceome lived in Coix de Bouquet with his wife and three children. Coix de Bouquet is about thirty minutes from Fond Parisien. His family rented a small house made of blocks, not very big, but a place to sleep at night and to call "home." He and his wife had a good life in Coix de Bouquet. Monsieur Losie would leave in the mornings on a tap tap and ride into Port au Prince where he was a 9th grade school teacher. He taught school in a building made of metal and concrete. His classroom was on the 6th floor of the building. The afternoon of the earthquake was no different than any other afternoon. His students were there and they were working on a math problem.
From nowhere, they heard a loud rumbling sound, and then the building began shaking, as if someone was holding it and angrily shaking it from side to side. Monsieur Losie said everyone was screaming, running and desperately trying to get away from the violent shaking, but there was no place to go. The floors began caving in as the building crumbled to the ground. When Monsieur Losie "came to..."
He was buried under debris and rubble. While his body was covered and he could not get out, he could wiggle his legs and one arm. He was unable to move his other arm because it was crushed under heavy concrete. Days passed before he was uncovered and taken for medical care. His arm was badly infected and severely broken. Other than needing his arm amputated, he had only minor scratches and cuts, even though he fell with the rubble.
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His sister is here, staying at the Love A Child Disaster Relief Center and taking care of him. This day, she is grooming and washing him. |
His wife and three children are living with a pastor's family in Coix de Bouquet as their little dwelling tumbled to the ground during the earthquake. He hopes to be with them in the near future. But for now, he is thankful for the wonderful medical care he is receiving at the Love A Child Disaster Relief Center.
Our Disaster Relief Center is kind of like a small community. It is a hospital with hundreds of people. People are coming and going, volunteers are busy doing what needs doing, and the medical teams are trying to keep up with patient calls and making rounds. It is always busy and we see people we don't know all the time. We pass people with a quick wave or hello.
I was wondering through camp one day checking on patients and praying with them, when I almost ran right into Lynne, from New York Presbyterian Hospital.
She is an IV nurse for antibiotics. One of her patients, that she is very fond of, is Jullice Luchmore. She insisted that I meet him and hear his story.
Jullice Luchmore...
Monsieur Luchmore was a policeman in Port au Prince. He was very proud of his job and worked hard to provide for his family. He was at the Police Station when the earthquake hit. The building collapsed leaving many people trapped for days. He was buried under block for two days before he was freed. By the time he was taken from the rubble, his arm was very infected. He was here at the hospital for over a week with a "dead arm." He spent all of that time lying on his little cot in his tent, with Lynne pumping antibiotics into him continuously. Not only was his arm in trouble, but his body was becoming weaker and weaker. His doctor told him that amputating his arm was necessary for his body to begin to heal. Still, Jullice Luchmore would not hear of having his arm removed. He kept saying, "I need my arm to work so I can take care of my family."
Jullice Luchmore continued to grow weaker and weaker, until one day another man with a missing arm talked to him and gave him hope. Finally, Monsieur Luchmore gave his consent for the surgeon to amputate his arm.
Now, he is physically much better and he even has hope of one day returning to his police job or another line of work. We are thankful for people like Lynne who are helping all our patients to have hope, even when there seems to be very little or none at all.
Today, the organizations came to start fitting people with their prostheses...pie fo or "false legs," as the Haitians call them. I tried so hard to hold back the tears as these brave people smiled from ear to ear and gleamed with excitement! One elderly man said, "This is the best thing that has ever happened to me! I am a tailor, I sew with a treadle machine. Now, I can use my feet again...I thought I was just trash and useless, when they cut my leg off. Now, I see I am very blessed and my life is not over." It just made me cry all over again.
This road of recovery is going to be long for our Haitian patients. Please don't forget about us just because the media is not talking about Haiti anymore. Please come beside Bobby and me as we work to find ways to help these people rebuild their lives. We need you standing in the gap with us. You can help by making a financial gift today by clicking on the red button below.
Your gift, large or small, will be a great blessing!
Love,
