Last month, while I was taking a nap one afternoon, a lady showed up at the gate and told the watchman that she wanted to see me. The man denied her request, telling her that I had worked the entire morning and now I was not available because I was taking a nap. The lady is the kind of person who does not take no for an answer. She insisted that she had to see me. Finally, my oldest daughter Dominique, heard her complaining, entered the house, and woke me up.
When I went outside, I found sitting on our porch an almost devastated woman with tears streaming down her face. Very agitated, she spoke in an almost inaudible voice. It took me a while and the use of all my pastoral skills to get words out of her mouth and listen to her dramatic story.
She told me that she brought her mother to Esperance & Vie Clinique (our health facility in Terrier Rouge) because she has an injury in her left leg. What she believed was a simple injury, however, turned out to be something that she would have never expected. The doctors found out that the mother was diabetic, and the injury was so profound that the left leg had to be amputated just below the knee. When they heard that, mother and daughter broke into tears and could not stay still. They were crying, their body shaking as if they were in a sort of trance-- a way some people in the country express their emotions when facing distress.
Their pain doubled when they heard that we could not do that type of surgery at our place. The doctor had to refer them to a hospital located at almost 30 miles down the road and the most devastating part was that they did not have any money for the surgery which was estimated between 40,000.00 to 50,000.00 gourdes (US$ 800.00). One can only imagine the situation of those people who live on scarce resources.
As soon as she told me her story, I went to the Clinique, talked to the doctor, found the words of hope to comfort them, and promised that Esperance et Vie would drive her to the Hospital and would take care of the bills. Their faces shined immediately. They could not believe that the miracle could happen so quickly. They immediately started to thank and glorify the Lord.
We took her to the Hospital in a town called Milot. She spent two weeks there and is now back home. I visited her yesterday. Now daily, she told me, she praises the Name of the Lord. Everyday for her is a “THANKSGIVING DAY”. Thank you to all of you for allowing those miracles to happen in Haiti.
May all of you have a “HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY”.
JMB+
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