Day 5: Sunday

The orphanage kids spent their Sunday playing with their Christmas presents. We took some of them on a little field trip (led by travel guide/teacher Marty) to a small museum which was called “Our Museum, Our Story.” This showed the history of Haiti with a guided tour in Haitian Creole and English. There was also a group of kids that washed the school bus.

The construction team completed the septic tank drains, covered them up and installed the final toilets and sinks. What an accomplishment to have toilets complete!

The medical team examined and treated a lady who had been beaten up by her husband. She had a bloody eye, two broken ribs and a punctured lung. In America, she would have likely been in the ICU. But in Haiti, she was tolerating and managing pretty well. The husband had kicked her and their children out of the house so she had no place to go. In response, Charles LeMorzellec (founder of Eden Garden) found her a place to live and Eden Garden Orphanage will pay her rent for the next year so she and her kids don’t have to stay in that violent situation.

Soon after that, we were approached by a lady, five months pregnant, who asked for an abortion. After explaining that we could not do that, she offered us her baby after it was born as well as her 2 other children. We also examined a little boy with typhoid. We hooked him up to an I.V. after he had profuse vomiting and could not keep any of his medicines down. The I.V. really helped calm him down and to feel better too. We again saw the little preemie baby who is doing well, and sent Marty out to find baby formula in town. We also saw a baby with a hernia and a couple of bad parasitic skin lesions, and a girl with maggots in her ear.

The dental team examined and treated around 30 patients today, who feel much better after their treatment.