Time Back In Michigan
My time home for the holidays was wonderful! Because of COVID, I was not able to see many friends, but I spent a lot of time with my family instead! When I flew back to the Dominican in January, I was fortunate to bring 3 suitcases full of donations down!! We have not had any Service teams come down for over a year, so the supplies in our pharmacy is very low. I am so thankful that one of our past volunteers, Matt, and his family generously donated a full suitcase of medicine for me to bring down. I was able to go with them and pick out all of the meds that we needed the most. Along with that, I was able to bring down prenatal vitamins, and other supplies we were running low on! I also have a little angel named Kit, sending me some donations of supplies we have started to run out of. THANK YOU!
Donations
From my last post, you may have seen that we got a donation of masks for one of the schools in the mountain. Since Covid hit last March students have not been in school and moved to online learning. This made it extremely challenging for all of the students in the mountain. They have the option to watch class on TV or listen to it on the radio. The Sisters who run one of the schools decided to keep the students in person, but modified instruction with safety for the students in mind. With the donation of disposable masks and now reusable masks, the students have been able to continue learning! Thank you to Barbara and her amazing team!
We had another generous donation given to us to purchase backpacks for the kiddos. The children were given a backpack with a notebook and pencil! They LOVED IT!~ Thank you to Kathleen, Lanae, Elliot and Quinn.
Nelson
Some of you may remember me telling you about a little boy named Nelson who was 3 and half years old when he came to live with us in our mission home 8 years ago. He was severely malnourished and spent about a year with us recuperating. When he was healthy, he went back to live with his family. However, over the years he became severely malnourished multiple times landing himself back in a nutrition center. We needed to find a better solution for this child, so that he would not become malnourished over and over again, which likely would have resulted in a premature death. Sister Lluvia, who lives in Haiti graciously took Nelson into her home in Port-au-Prince, to care for him and to make sure he went to school. After 3 years of care with Sister Luvia, Nelson went back home to his family last month.
Over the weekend, Luna took her first work hike into Haiti with me to visit Nelson! He has the same smile that he had when I first met him when he was 3 and half years old. Although we were not able to communicate very well it was so good to see him!!
Clinic Update
After what seems like an eternity… we finally have windows and doors on the clinic!! The building looks completely different now. We even have the base layer of paint on!! Sinks will be installed and floors are going to be placed shortly!! Please go to the Clinic of Hope tab for more pictures!
Sometimes, it feels like it is taking forever to finish the clinic, but the reality is that we have made amazing progress over the last two ½ years even with COVID challenges. I finally can see the light at the end of this tunnel. Construction is getting close to being done. We are missing the electrical wires, a final coat of paint and some solar panels for the clinic and then it will be finished. The house side is about 70% complete. We are also working to get a sea container together. Our hope is to have it full of medical equipment, dental equipment, furniture, etc.~!
Trivia Fundraiser
Thank you to everyone who participated or donated in our recent fundraiser!! Trivia night was a lot of fun! I loved being able to see so many familiar faces!! We raised just over $4,000! I am so very thankful for all your support.
COVID Update:
Our curfew continues to get better and the COVID vaccine made it to the DR. This week in El Llano they started vaccinating those over 60. This gives us a lot of hope that we will be able to resume our mobile clinics in the mountains soon!
Prayers:
For the transition of Nelson into his family again, and that he can continue to be healthy, grow, and go to school.
For the Clinic of Hope that we can continue to push forward with construction.
For the health and return of Adam & Jess Carlie and their family to the DR.
Please continue to pray for the children and their families in the mountains that we have not been able to provide medical care for during the past year.
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