Sunday, March 18, 2012

Getting used to Haiti

This weekend has been quite crazy. Yesterday Meg was still sick, but Kate and I went out shopping with Jane, Cindy, and Brooke. We stopped at a small store that had a few imported groceries, then at another which was about the size of a Country Fair, with a little more selection. We also went into a bakery that had so many delicious looking desserts, but we only bought some bread.

We came home and then drove up to the Seminary to visit Pam, Matt, Stacy, and the girls. Stacy and Matt have the most adorable little puppy. She is so small and cute. Her eyes are still blue green. The older girl was running around in just her undies, barefoot, riding her bike, while I helped the youngest walk and chase her.

When we got back home, Meg looked pretty terrible. So we called Dr. Rodney to come and take a look at her. He decided that she had either Malaria or Typhoid. Thank goodness that I had a bottle of Chloroquine in my room. So Dr. Rodney instructed Meg to take four all at once (the treatment for Malaria). ahhh. I can't even imagine. Meg had already been taking Cipro, which is good, because it is the treatment for Typhoid. During the night she was completely miserable, she began vomiting. She, thankfully, woke me up.

This morning she was really looking bad. We called Dr. Rodney to ask him to bring her some IVs to get some fluids in her. His mother, a nurse, came in her Sunday best to give her the IV. The first IV chord was no good, so she had to run down through the compound, across the street, to the Catholic hospital to get a new IV chord.

Meanwhile, I went to the church next door with Brooke and Wadner. The church is just one big room with a stage. They had keyboards, drums, bass guitar, and microphones. Wadner interpreted for me. The oddest thing was that at the beginning of service, all the visitors were asked to stand up and introduce themselves. There were five or six of us. Thankfully I would say one sentence into the microphone, then Wadner would interpret for me to the congregation. The other thing that was odd was that their prayers were very, very long. Imagine about 10-15 minutes with your head down, except you have NO IDEA what is being said. Wadner interpreted some, but I think everything loses a little bit of impact in the translation. Especially when others around are hearing someone talk during their prayer. I felt a little out of place to say the least. Nonetheless, Dr. Rodney gave a beautiful message on the ways that the devil tries to draw you to him through the story of Haman and Mordechai.

Throughout the service I could feel many young eyes on me, adults do not mind but the young children do. There was a little baby girl, not even one, who absolutely adored me. The strange thing about the children in the service is that they are in the service. Most of the parents let the children run up and down the aisles while there are ushers who stand at the open doors to make sure that none of the little ones get out. I saw two of my students, Samuel and Roud.

After service, the three of us went back to the house so Brooke could examine Meg a bit more and take a look at her breathing (Brooke is also a doctor). Soon after, Dr. Rodney came back over again with some more medicine for Meg to take. At this point, Meg had had one full bag of fluids, the kind with nutrients, and she was working on a second. After the medicine she was given, she started to pep up a bit more. She ate some egg, applesauce, and bread with peanut butter. We all knew that she was really feeling better when I told Wadner that he and Brooke were staying for lunch and Meg said "Oh no, Wadner hates Kate's cooking" with a grin on her face. For the rest of the day I hung out with Meg, writing a lesson plan, and bringing her food and Gatorade. We had many visitors throughout the day, VaDam, Oulie, Roud, and Jake all came by, then Bud and Cindy with some cookies, then VaDam again with Brooke, and then Jane with Kim, Meg's mother, on the phone.

Meg ended up taking a bath, eating some more, taking the rest of her medicine, and now she has fallen asleep on the couch while watching The Patriot with me. It is raining. Not only God's blessings of prayer and healing, but also some much needed rain for the grass and gardens.

God is good.

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