Meet Jacque, the brickmaker!

Watch this video and meet our Haitian friend, Jacque, who is heading up the brickmaking project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Nk8LfGqFg&feature=youtu.be&a

Exciting news about Haiti brick press!

I wanted to let you know that the brick press in Haiti is now operational. Please check out this link for more information:
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/An-Exciting-Breakthrough-in-Haiti.html?soid=1011187743015&aid=SpxFUuzRrQg
When you follow the "Give dirt here" link to make a donation to this project, choose the category "Haiti shelter" and write "dirt" in the comment section.
Please forward this information to all of your contacts and place the above link on all of your facebook or social networking homepages. Spread the word!

2 Corinthians 9:7 - "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

May God bless you for your generous, willing gift.

The brick press is now in Haiti and is functional!

Check out the pictures of the brick press training and the first pile of bricks made with Haitian soil! http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1176935763586#!/album.php?aid=26958&id=100000487596331

If this link doesn't work, log onto facebook and search for "Thirst No More".

Remembering those in need...

I saw a quick note on Twitter that the Brick Press has made it across the border of Haiti - I pray all will go well with this machine that so many of you have helped fund either privately, or through the purchase of the great T-Shirts... I stay in touch via e-mail with one of our support members. It has been several months sense we have been in Haiti - I would just ask those of you that see this post to pause for a few seconds and pray for those support teams on the ground and of course those that call Haiti home...

Haiti music video

Re: Goat at El Shaddai Children Home

Great news!  I may have missed my calling!  Thanks for the update. 

Jim

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 15, 2010, at 3:00 PM, Marie Nestor Prinvil <tmounlshaddai@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Dr. Jim,

The goat at El Shaddai is doing much better.  The inflammation in her foot is decreasing and she is able to walk on it now. Thank you so much! God really cares about our goat too.  We are happy about that.  Thanks for visiting us.  May God bless you! 

 

Please direct donations for El Shaddai Ministries to: www.Christianlightfoundation.com

 

Marie K. Prinvil
Servant of the Lord Jesus-Christ

Keles

This little guy is a resident of Cabaret Children's Shelter. He was found tied to a banana tree several days after the earthquake. He now has a sponser. Praise God he was saved.

Information for medical personnel interested in going to Haiti through Thirst No More, contact information also

Advice for Haiti Medical Mission Teams as of 2/13/10


Our medical mission team of 3 doctors, 2 nurses, and 3 lay people just returned from a 1 week medical mission trip to Port-au-Prince, with ground support by Craig Miller of Thirst No More (www.thirstnomore.org). The following information should prepare similar groups over the next few weeks, if each subsequent group will update the medical supply list. Our team visited 5 different sites on 5 consecutive days from 2/6/10 through 2/10/10. I don’t know each of the locations, but our clinics included a street setup near a collapsed building, an orphanage, a medical clinic by an orphanage in Carrefour, the El Shaddai Children’s home in Dessources, Croix des Bouquets, and finally at the seminary of the Church of God where our supplies were located. We also delivered medical supplies to the UN compound tent hospital and food to the orphanage in Cabaret run by Pastor Pierre Prinvil.

Some of the greatest medical need certainly is inside the most crowded of the tent cities in the downtown area of Port-au-Prince. However, we did not have what I considered adequate security or supplies for such a venture. Food and water are being delivered to these areas by the US military prompting long lines but orderly distribution is available with this type of support. I am proud to see what the United States is doing in regard to humanitarian assistance there as I saw hundreds of people leaving these distribution points with 50 pound bags of rice labeled “USAID” on their heads.

As noted above, our physicians provided medical care in more of the outlying areas where population density was somewhat less and security was less important. Each doctor saw about 50 patients each per day, so that we treated over 700 people (and one goat!) during our trip. The following list contains the characteristics of the patients we saw.

• Headaches – we assumed this is due to dehydration or stress, and treated with Tylenol or ibuprofen.

• Fever – many people complained of fever, but on further questioning, most of these symptoms seemed to be noninfectious, as best as we could determine. Obviously malaria is a risk in that area, but we only treated 1-2 people for malaria.

• Dizziness - ?dehydration

• Abdominal pain – worms vs. H pylori vs. GERD, uncertain cause. We commonly used omeprazole or ranitidine. Vermox was used frequently and may have been useful to use on every patient. We didn’t use peptobismol, but that might be another option.

• Vaginal infections – it seemed that all the women had vaginal discharges and it was difficult determining whether these were STD’s or bacterial vaginosis or yeast. We treated most with diflucan, some with metronidazole, and some with topical medications, but the medical provider should determine some way to quickly come to a plan for each of these patients.

• “Grippe” – URI, possibly due to the rubble dust and trash and smoke and tent living, nearly everyone has URI symptoms which can be treated with cetirizine (Zyrtec), loratadine (Claritin) or Benadryl.

• Cough – related to above, only a few had actual wheezing though.

• Rashes – we used a lot of hydrocortisone and antifungal creams

• Wounds – there continue to be wounds that go days without being dressed and these people show up in clinic to have their wounds cleaned and redressed, but there were only 5-10 per day.

• No appetite - ?worms

• Insomnia – probably related to stress, Benadryl was a good solution

• Diarrhea - ?worms vs. viral infections. We have lots of loperamide there but didn’t use that much of it.

• Vomiting – there was a little vomiting, but not that much

• Eye pain – this is a very common complaint, possibly due to irritation from air pollution as noted above. Consider taking lots of visine type eyedrops, or possibly acular, optivar, or naphcon.

• HTN – we didn’t do bp checks on everyone, but we did detect a significant amount of HTN on those we checked. I would recommend doing bp checks on all adults coming in to clinic, possibly using an automated cuff with various sizes of cuffs. Regarding treatment, we used captopril, but in retrospect, I think it would be better if you would bring in a lot of norvasc, which would likely be more effective for that population and wouldn’t risk renal problems if they were to get dehydrated. There is some hydrochlorothiazide and lasix there also, but you might consider taking in some beta blockers too.

• Palpitations – several people had these symptoms, possibly stress related. Metoprolol or propranolol might have been a good option, but we didn’t have those.

• Diabetes – many have diabetes. There are glucometers there but you will need to take in the specific test strips listed below for the glucometers we have. Metformin and glipizide are available there at this time.



Below is a list of items that are well supplied. DO NOT BRING THESE SUPPLIES (at least as of 2/13/10)

• Biaxin in any form

• Any IV fluid

• Thermometers

• Lidocaine, with and without epi

• Oral rehydration salts

• Neosporin

• Rocephin (ceftriaxone)

• Betadyne

• Rubbing alcohol

• Hydrogen peroxide

• Bandaids

• 7 or 6 ½ sterile gloves

• Bactrim suspension

• Nonsterile gloves

• Tongue blades

• Alcohol prep pads

• Clindamycin

• Sutures

• Doxycycline

• Ciprofloxacin

• Moxatag (sustained released amoxicillin)

• Narcotics or any controlled substance (unless you dispose of it at the end of your trip)

• Benzonatate (Tessalon)

• Saline for wound cleaning

• Loperamide

• Salbutamol inhalers

• Beclomethasone inhalers

• Glucometers

• Sterile 4x4’s

• Sterile gauze such as kling or kerlex

• Scalpels

• Needles

• Syringes

• Amoxicillin 250mg chewtabs

• IV tubing

• Medicine bottles (6oz amber bottles)

• Malaria testing kits



Now to the list of things that you should BRING.

• Sharpies – red and black

• Well built plastic crates

• Trash bags

• Lots of medication baggies (with picture instructions as available from Blessings.org)

• Lots of adult vitamins (give to everyone)

• Lots of children’s vitamins, including chewable and prepackaged liquid vitamins

• Chloroquine

• Lots of omeprazole or ranitidine

• Eyedrops for general discomfort (visine, naphcon)

• Lots of hydrocortisone cream

• Lots of mebendazole (vermox)

• Lots of elimite (permethrin) cream

• Ivermectin for scabies (2 tablets at one time treats scabies in older teenagers and adults)

• Albuterol inhalers

• 20-30 aerochambers with pediatric masks

• 20-30 aerochambers

• Lots of Benadryl

• Lots of cetirizine or loratidine

• Norvasc (2000-3000 tablets if possible)

• Beta blocker of your choice (metoprolol)

• Children’s Tylenol (chewable and prepackaged liquid)

• Glucometer strips for Infacare Prestige IQ glucometer

• Automated BP cuff with regular and large cuffs, with batteries – possibly 2 of these

• Hand wipes

• Hand soap

• Hand sanitizer

• Amoxicillin 500 mg tab – 5000 tablets

• Ibuprofen or naproxen – 10,000 tablets

• Some sulindac or clinoril

• 2 arm slings of each size

• 2 wrist braces of each size

• 2 ankle braces of each size

• 20 disposable sterile suture sets

• Some type of plastic container for nonsterile 4x4’s after the paper wrapper has been opened, like a Tupperware breadbox

• Chewable cetirizine – 5 mg, you could probably use 2000 of these if possible

• Toys and candy for children (and adults)

• Stool softener

• D50W – 1-2 amps

• Non-electric cast cutter to remove casts

• Valproic acid (especially for Deborah – the niece of interpreter Meliane)

• Urine cups (these seem more useful for delivery of liquid medications through syringes than the amber medicine bottles)



You should consider developing an EMERGENCY BAG, to be carried by one person. We found ourselves walking to surrounding areas in poorly lit conditions and we could have used this type of kit. It should contain the following items:

• Gloves

• Scissors

• Tape

• Chucks

• IV start kit

• D50W

• 1:1000 epi

• High flow pressure tubing (no filter)

• Tourniquet

• 18, 20, 22 gauge angiocaths – 2-3 of each

• Butterfly IV needle

• TNG

• Flashlight/headlight

• Stethoscope

• BP cuff

• Nonsterile gauze

• Mask

• Resuscitation mask

• IV – saline – one liter and 500 ml

• Glucometer

• Baby wipes

• Hand sanitizer

• Trash bag

• Oral airways – several sizes

• Various syringes and needles

• NG tube and 60 cc piston syringe (for suction)

• 11 blade scalpel

• Possibly lorazepam (there is already some in the supplies if you can find it)



Other ideas for your group

• Consider giving vermox 1 bid x 3 days and one month of vitamins to everyone, and you would benefit by having these prepackaged prior to your trip and labeled in the picture instruction type baggies provided by Blessings.org.

• TENTS ARE BETTER THAN GOLD. Consider taking 10-20 tents with you to give to your interpreters, pastors, drivers, and their families.

• The UN compound tent hospital will run blood tests for you if you take the blood to them (special tube for their I-stat) and wait there for quick results. They can do cbc, Na, K, glucose right now, but may get more testing capability later.

• Some medical personnel may want to volunteer in the UN compound tent hospital on the airport grounds. The nurses from Tulsa were very fulfilled with their work there.

• From a financial standpoint, be prepared to pay $300 per day to Thirst No More for transportation and interpreters while in Haiti. Pay $500-750 for bus from Santo Domingo to Haiti each way if you can’t fly in to Port-au-Prince. $100 each way for liaison in Santo Domingo.

• Be aware of international calling rates while in Dominican Republic - $20 per MB data (a website page might cost up to $100) and $2 per minute talk time. Texts are $0.50 a piece. In Haiti, through the end of February, AT&T has waived fees for international data and phone, but I haven’t confirmed that on my bill yet. An iPhone generally works quite well in all locations in Haiti, and texts or emails are better ways to communicate than phone calls.

• Generally, when bringing medications, it’s better to bring meds in bulk rather than bringing in individual donated samples which are hard to organize.

• Don’t underestimate the importance of organization of medications and supplies. One of the most frustrating parts of our trip was the inability to find medications that we knew we brought, but we just couldn’t find them. I would suggest immediately taking the supplies and medications that are available and arranging them in the rent house on shelves, then adding your supplies to them, then stocking adequate supplies in your crates to carry out to the field with you. At the end of each day, restock your crates from the supplies.

• Buy something with which to gift your interpreters. Tents would be the ultimate gifts. I would really appreciate if someone would give a tent to Jack, one of the interpreters, so his family would have a tent. I took extra tents, but by the time I was going to give it to him, it was gone.

• Consider leaving your clothes with the Haitians.

• A blog is an excellent way to elicit prayers and communication with your church. You will be so uplifted by their comments and prayers. Put plenty of pictures on the blog. Have each person practice blogging from their cell phone or computer before you leave the states. Someone will need to take along a laptop.

• Other various items to take and consider

o Flip flops for showers

o Bug spray

o Sunscreen

o Camelbak backpack is best, because water is very important. Other people liked fanny packs and small backpacks.

o Break for lunch (out of sight of patients) and bring extra food/MRE’s/water for your interpreters.

o Hat

o Extra battery/power source for your phone

o Bar soap

o Camp towel

o Headlamp

• Get your shots – up to date on tetanus, hep B, hep A, polio, MMR. Typhoid injection or oral vaccine. Malaria medication for prevention.

• Please try to discard the controlled medications in the pharmacy (hydrocodone, ketamine, something else)

• One of the most rewarding things our group did was to purchase several hundred pounds of rice, along with beans, sugar, oil, water, and detergent for an orphanage in Cabaret at a cost of around $1000.

• Please utilize this list of “BRING” and “DO NOT BRING” and keep it up to date for the next group coming in.

• Please try to work toward continuity of care, where we are trying to minister to various sites on an ongoing basis through the local churches. It is so helpful to be able to say to a patient, “Come back in 1 week or 2 weeks when another doctor will be here and he can recheck your ________”. This also allows us to not have to hand out so much medication at one time, knowing someone else will be following us in a week.

• International dialing is awkward, but my iPhone was set to “international assist” and took care of most of the calling. The Haitian phone numbers are usually 8 numbers that must be preceded by 509. Occasionally one must add a “+” sign then 011 (the country code for Haiti) to get a call through. Usually to call a US phone number in Haiti, one could dial +1 then the 10 digit number to connect. This also seems to be in flux in Haiti right now though, so that is why texting and email seems to work better.

Useful contact information:

Craig Miller of Thirst No More – email craig@thirstnomore.org

Thirst No More – http://www.thirstnomore.org/ . This is an organization that deserves our financial support, especially as they are seeking to purchase vehicles. Craig did an outstanding job in supporting our group and they need financial support as they rent a house for continuing work in Haiti and as they need to purchase 2 vehicles. I personally vouch for the integrity of their Christian mission, purpose, and honesty.

John Caubble of First Baptist Church, Rogers, AR – http://www.fbcrogers.org/

Doug Porter – pastor in Georgia with numerous Haitian contacts (put us in touch with 2 of the children’s homes) - contact me for his contact information

Pastor Pierre Prinvil –  runs children’s home in Cabaret where we gave food. - contact me for his contact information

Elizabeth Clacklin – she runs the El Shaddai Children’s home in Dessources in Croix des Bouquets. Donations to this excellent facility can be made through the Christian Light Foundation, with information at http://www.christianlightfoundation.com/ . We were EXTREMELY pleased with the work and ministry in this facility and they deserve our support.

I hope this information is useful. Please call, text, or email me if I can be of help.

Jim Byrum MD

Cell 479-936-1021

Home 479-271-9431

Email jbyrum2001@gmail.com

Last leg

All of team arriving at xna in the next hour, except Chad. Forgive us
for not having the blog updated, hope to get updated soon.

Sent from my iPhone

February 10th--A refreshing children's home

What a wonderful time we had with Marie and Elizabeth at the El Shaddai Children's home were amazing! What a rest it was to drive a away from the noise and chaos of town to the peaceful breeze of the country. In a facility which is dramatic, especially by Haitian standards, is a glorious setting for the loving and raising of children. I found that these ladies are doing a fabulous job raising these kids but also pouring the love of Christ into them. The children were smiling, polite, happy, engaged in interacting with people of all ages. The older kids are focused in their studies. I had the honor of meeting Alex, who loves math and wants to study engineering. He is fluent in at least 3 languages. He was a great help in the pharmacy today and the adults marveled at his quick thinking and obvious intelligence. In addition to the mostly finished 7 bedroom house, there is a gazebo, barn, laundry shed, garden with irrigation and solar panels to run their limited electricity. They have a back diesel generator. God has blessed with with adequate food and water for the entire home. One of their supporting churches provides the salary for a full time gardener who assists with the grounds. There was a lack of desperation for survival in the eyes of these children that we had seen elsewhere in Haiti. This is a children's home, not an orphanage. The goal is to, when adults, return these children to Haitian society. In my opinion, they are building an A-team for Haiti!

We had clinic in the pavilion behind the house which will become church and with tarps for dividers for school classrooms. We saw more than 100 in the clinic from the community of kind, appreciative people. One baby in particular, was of great concern. He was the fifth child of a mother who had apparent cerebral palsy and mental deficits. She was kind and smiling, but treated the almost two year old as a tiny baby. She repeatedly swaddles him and does not encourage him to stand. The history was very difficult, in that she could only give answers which where totally unrelated to the questions. There is no social services infrastructure in Haiti, and once again, I became aware of what I take for granted in the US. Marie and Elizabeth have taken on themselves to help this mother with parenting, supplies and other needs she and the other children in the home have.

Upon examining the child, I found him listless in his mom's arms, only watching me. He was burning up with fever, and the rest of his exam suggested pneumonia. We decreased his clothing, gave him an Tylenol and sponged him off. He had an injection, given an treatment for a respiratory inhaler and was started on oral antibiotics with specific instructions for treating his illness. The ladies are going to check on this mother and baby frequently over the next week. The photo above was after his temp was done and he donned a washcloth on his head! What a cu-tie.

Marie and Elizabeth are praying for the physical and spiritual healing of their country. We completed our stay with them with an authentic Haitian meal. There are no common restaurants in town and most of our other evenings included waiting about 1-2 hours in a smoking, greasy diner on the UN campus. What a treat for us to enjoy good hospitality and great food, with people of have a heart for the Lord and are following His lead in their calling.

Nalda - my new friend for life...

Yesterday for me was tuff, I'll explain later in this post... Our day started out by purchasing some rice, beans, oil, sugar and laundry soap for the children's shelter north of Port-au-prince. We went to a Haitian market where Chad and I were the "ONLY" Americans there out of thousands of people. For those of you who gave of your money to help purchase the foods needed I promise you it went to great use - thank you for giving! Chad, Edie and myself took two of our translators to negotiate the best price for us in a market of people who were standing shoulder to shoulder and some how we were able to split the crowed and drive our 4 wheel drive through what we in America would call a sidewalk. God was with us and all turned out well. We received the Haitians price for all of the goods that would have cost me as an American 3 times as much. {Ok} - upon driving into the shelter Edie (Our Nurse) came along to draw blood from a little girl named Nalda - what I did not know was I was going to fall in love with this little girl. I am not sure why God placed me at that shelter at that exact moment until I meet Nalda. During our brief stay we took a tour of the grounds and Nalda held my hand as we walked around. At the end of our tour we all meet at the front of the shelter and she wanted me to hold her which of course I did. I was able to scratch her little back as she placed her head on my shoulders while standing in the shade. Before I knew it was time to go which of course I did not want to do. I jokingly asked our translator to ask her if she wanted to come home with me, however the translators response was "actually Jeff she just asked if she was going to go home with you"... You talk about breaking my heart - this little girl did just that. Even as I type this post my heart goes out to her and my eyes are watering even now... May God continue to bless Haiti.

Santa Domingo

Ok, were here. We made it safely across the border into Santa Domingo. Just wanted to give a quick post to let you know where we were. I have not had internet for the past two days so we have lots to post which I am currently in the process of doing. Thank you for your continued support of the lost in Haiti and especially the prayers for our safety. God Bless...

Departure

Haiti team on air conditioned bus driving from port-au-prince to santo
domingo now. Big rain this morning turning our camping areas to mud
but it did stop prior to breaking camp. Home tomorrow night. Will blog
more from Dominican tonight.
Jim
Sent from my iPhone

Happy birthday to Cindy K. from Haiti!

Today provided a beautiful contrast of Haiti for us. We went a little farther inland to a children's home outside of Croix des Bouquets. This was a gorgeous setting with mountains out the back window and a church behind the house. I will certainly want to include some contact information in the blog because this was a wonderful place. We treated over a hundred people and one goat! We were invited to a special feast of delicious Haitian food and we were treated with phenomenal hospitality. Though not directly affected by the earthquake, every thread of this society feels the enormous effect, and this community is no different. We were also told that Haiti would be observing a national 3 day fast this Friday through Sunday. Certainly they need the spiritual awakening that this could provide.

We read aloud your comments and prayers on the blog this evening. You couldn't understand how meaningful that is and how much your chosen scriptures give us encouragement.

Last full day in Haiti coming up. We plan to have clinic around the seminary, get meds ready for the next Rogers team, and take a much larger supply of rice and beans to the orphanage in Cabaret. We're also planning to have Edie draw blood on a chronically ill child there and see if the UN compound hospital will test it for us.

Jim

Please pray for Alberta, who came to our clinic today, believes in God, but sees no need for Jesus. We provided medications and prayed for her.

God's Supplies - T- shirts

As I prayed for God to guide me in what to bring to Haiti, besides the obvious supplies needed for natural disasters, white T-shirts were impressed upon my mind multiple times. I called the church to speak to Michelle to send out an SOS to ask the AWANA  Groups for travel size hygiene items and of course white T-shirts! I must confess, I laughed because underwear was never given to me during my time with the Lord. I took alot of teasing from the group over my asking for  the shirts. Still why white t- shirts? I was amazed at the generous supplies given by the  children in AWANA. God meets our needs! With only a week to gather them, there was a mother lode supplied. There was an issue with packing as there was a lot of medical supplies taking priority. I was adamant the shirts go.  Medicine helps to maintain life but one needs clean water to live.  God is so awesome! Thirst No More teaches people how to filtrate dirty water to clean water using  -white T-shirts!! A white t-shirt helps what we do not question having.  I have experienced God in a tangible way. I have seen Him in His leading me to bring white T-shirt to help the hurting people of Haiti. Edie Marlin

I just spoke with the pastor at the orphanage in Cabaret where we donated the food yesterday. They do not feel they need mosquito nets since their building has been deemed safe and they are staying inside. So we will turn our attention to getting then more food over the next 2 days.
Jim

Some of my favorites...

I have spent a lot of time focused on the people of Haiti when you are this close to them and trying to capture the emotion held within their dirty, lonely and needy faces you cannot help but to get a very large lump in your throat. The people here are amazingly full of energy and this can be seen in their busy lifestyle even considering that everything they had is gone. Many have lost their wife's or husband - many have children who have gone to be with the Lord. When driving through Haiti I took a minute to listen to my fellow partners each having their unique way of expressing how it make them feel - NOTHING can describe how truly sad it makes each of us. I pulled out my iPhone which by the way works better here than at home and started playing the Revelation Song by Phillips, Craig and Dean before I knew it everybody in the van started signing this song, even our Haitian translators were trying to sing it - God you are truly amazing in how you work. PS Brother Ken I may have found you some new choir members, I'll send you there names. During this song we were in the worst area possible not to mention probably not the safest and this song brought a peace over us... On a side note I have spent many hours with children just loving on them - imagine that and I have to be honest these children are beautiful and full of an energy I have not seen. I took a picture of one little girl and turned the camera so she could see it and she started laughing so loud that I had 15 kids at my feet wanting to see. As stated in the title I want to post some of my favorites thus far. Enjoy and God Bless!

Street Vendors

Post earth quake the vendors were no where to be seen, however just recently they started to re-appear which is a good sign because this is how they make there money. Everybody here stays very busy in an effort to try to bring normalcy to their lives. I will share some of the images that will speak to there busy lifestyle.

"Green Clinic's"

I thought it would be a good idea to start early this morning with something fun. I spoke to both Dr. Byrum & Dr. Goss about having a print made of this image to hang somewhere in their clinic in Bentonville so the Nursing staff can see it and possibly use some of our expert technics learned in Haiti in there current workflow. Surely they can use either a banana tree or a tarp somewhere in the rooms LOL...

2 more days in Haiti

I'm sure you heard the news before we did. A man was rescued from the
rubble today and was brought to the UN compound tent hospital where I
worked yesterday. My job there yesterday was to bring a little order
to the care of about 12 injured Haitians and assure they got their
therapy and wound care and medications. Today, we set up clinic in a
medical clinic next to an orphanage in Carrefour, just west of Port au
Prince. The people were afraid to enter the building so we had clinic
among the trees. All of what I saw were minor illnesses, the kinds
that need only Tylenol, vitamins, a smile, a touch, or a prayer -
nothing spectacular like taking care of the two people with tetanus in
the tent hospital (yes, tetanus, that's why we doctors recommend that
people take their shots!). Anyway, off my soapbox for now. I take
comfort in knowing that God has us here for a purpose. We don't fully
know his plan, but we are open to his will and we expect he will use
us according to his plan in whatever way he deems fit.

The orphanage... They actually were not out of food but were running
low because they had shared with the community. Today they received
125 pounds of rice, a case of beans, and some cookies. They also
received several suitcases of clothes. Thank you to the Tulsa team for
actually taking the food there to the orphanage. I was told tonight by
a contact that they need mosquito nets also. I have no idea how to get
them mosquito nets. Even if we ordered them, they couldn't be reliably
shipped to them. Would you pray about that?

Downtown Port au Prince - squalor, sewage, trash, rubble, stench, tent
cities, people everywhere, tents even set up on the 8 foot wide median
on a busy dirty automobile-smoke-filled thoroughfare. Who could live
that way? It's overwhelming.

Thank you so much for your prayers, especially for those written on
the blog. They have been tremendously encouraging.

Jim

Sent from my iPhone

The need for prayer

Your prayers are being heard - we see it working. If I can ask you to pray specifically for the little children and there need for food. At every turn mothers holding there children are approaching me and asking for food for there babies. The need is so great and our prayers are needed more than ever. "Father God, I just ask you to place us where we are needed most and provide the needed supplies that we can pass along to those in need" Amen

Octavious Wilson -

We had the privilege of meeting Mr. Octavious Wilson who recently suffered the loss of his complete family and home. He came to the Church where we are stationed and shared pictures of his 6 children and wife who were lost in the earthquake. Mr Wilson remained trapped for 12 days before being pulled out by the French Civil Service. The team took a moment and prayed with Mr. Wilson and provided some basic supplies to allow him to eat and sleep. Please pray for Mr. Wilson that the Holy Spirit would move over him and provide some comfort during this terrible time.

Dr. Byrum patient...

I wanted to share with you a picture of a lady who yesterday evening had a seizure and was unconscious; Dr. Byrum and other members of the team worked on her for about 45 minutes. Today she surprised us by walking up to the Church to thank us for our help - God is truly with her.

Fresh Drinking water

We traveled out early this morning to a village in a remote area. One of the first focuses was to set up the clinic which in this case meant we constructed a pop up tent and dropped in two 8 foot tables and 4 bags of medication. As you can see from some of the pictures not only do they wash their clothes in the creek, they also use it as a bathroom including bathing themselves. Finally They pull their drinking water from this same source which is filled with deadly bacteria and other elements. The Thirst No More team sat with some of the village leaders and walked them through how to purify their water to help make it safe to drink. I wanted to take a second to describe the last picture posted with the orange substance. This is the particulate matter that they are currently drinking. The Pure treatment that we gave to them breaks down the elements and then we pour the water over a clean white t-shirt to filter the substance. The saddest part of the whole day was when we took a quick lunch break and had to eat and drink in front of the children who kept telling us "they were hungry". We can truly feel the power of your prayers here in Haiti - please continue to pray for the people of Haiti as they look to adapt to their current situation. Jeff









We traveled to a village located in a very remote area where they drink,

Tent Cities

While in Arkansas I also saw what Fox News was calling tent cities but until you see it yourself it just does not seem real. These families have woken up and realized that their home is gone. These tent area's are growing, any section of land that can be used is being turned into what will be home until they can afford to re-build... In addition the buildings that did not collapse completely are dangerously close to falling so this poses problems for people who may try to go back inside of their residence. Jeff

Orphanage

God was truly present today, we were fortunate to be able to provide two cases of beans and one 140 lb. sack of rice to the orphanage and the 30+ children that they support. This orphanage will raise the children until they are young adults. I spoke to Craig with Thirst No More and he spoke about providing them enough food to get them through a full month - we will look to do a follow up this week and drop of the additional provisions. Take a peak at some of the images from our visit today.

"Thirst No More"

I wanted to share with you who Craig Miller is who leads the Thirst No More organization that we are working with seen here walking in with Dr. Byrum after a long day.

Quite a day here. Driving around town seemed surreal, having to remind yourself that these piles of rubble are actually fresh graves.

We split into 3 teams along with the Tulsa team, organizing large amounts of meds and supplies, some going to an orphanage to provide medical care, and others going to another established clinic site.

We saw one young man saved today. After clinic we were called to a nearby home where a woman was unconscious, vomiting, and possibly having a seizure. She regained consciousness and will be kept at home tonight after we treated her and prayed for her. In the US, she would have been hospitalized but the resources are just not available here and the family was unwilling to take anyway. Then while driving back, we provided emergency care for a man hit by a vehicle with a head injury and facial lacerations. Again he should be hospitalized but we are not sure that there is a reasonable option for hospitalization in this ravaged city.

Finally we are back in the compound, lying in our muggy tents hoping to get more sleep than we did the last couple of nights!

We hope to connect by phone during Sunday morning worship at FBC Bentonville. Thank you all for praying.

Beauty within the destruction...

God is truly amazing - among the craziness you can look up and realize He is present... Jeff

Arrived at un compound at airport

We crossed the border into Haiti without waiting. The road is well traveled but no military convoy in sight. Making good time

Rice & Beans

We are in our hotel in Santo Domingo, 2 hours ahead of Arkansas time, at 10 pm, safe and sound, ready for a nice rest, before we depart at 3 AM, hopefully to be able to do some medical work tomorrow afternoon.

We were notified about an orphanage which had run out of food, and money was donated to buy rice and beans for them. Pictured is Jesus and Chad, in a Dominican supermarket at 9 PM, buying 150 pounds of rice, 80 pounds of beansand 20 packages of cookies. Consider the situation people are facing in Haiti - an orphanage with no food...

Jim ,

Please Pray for Safe Travel

Please pray for the team as they travel by bus from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince. For the team's safety and the security of the supplies, their bus driver has decided that they need to leave at 3am. This will allow them to get to the border in time to meet up with a military convoy and travel with them into Port-au-Prince. Also pray that the team members will be able to get good rest in the short amount of time they have at the hotel tonight. They are very tired from travel and will not get a full night's sleep.

Thank you for your prayers.
Susan B.

Jeff, Chad, Paul, Steve, Edie, Maureen, Angie, and Jim

We easily made our connection at ohare. I have no idea whether our bags made it but we trust that we'll have everything we need in Haiti.
Jim

We're on our way!

So this is what 4:30 a.m. at XNA looks like!

Pray for us daily as the journey begins.

Entire team with supplies on the plane. 40 minutes to connect at ohare. God is always in control.

As we prepare to Leave

Please remember us as we prepare for this trip. What can only be described as Providential intervention, an incrediable team has been assembled. Last night we were blessed to hear from Drs. Lance Faddis and Shannon Jewel about their experiences in Haiti. May we have insight that we can plan interventions that will impact these sweet people in the long term. As my friend Lance prayed last night, just as we have been given an example of when God brought hope and healing to a broken world, so may we use our gifts to bring healing to these sweet people in their broken world. May all that is done on this trip give glory and honor to the Lord.

We're packed!

Whew!  The marathon pack is done!  Thanks for all the help from the youth and many others that helped to get us packed tonight.  We got all of our needed medical supplies as well as a large amount of small toys and hygiene kits packed tonight.  Hopefully, American Airlines will be generous with our weight limits!  We had a time of prayer with church members, and were joined by Dr. Jewell and Dr. Faddis, just back from Haiti themselves to help us prepare and pack.  Thank you all!

Our team has grown to 8 now, with Jeff P. joining us.  He'll be helping in the pharmacy and doing some photography for us, so maybe you'll start to see some of his pictures soon.

We depart early Friday morning.  Please pray that we and our luggage will get through Chicago O'Hare in the mere 40 minutes between our flights Friday morning.

OK, this is the actual quote from an email from our ground support (Thirst No More) today.  "Jesus will be coordinating the transportation" and "your team will also need to bring $100 USD to give to Jesus."  Can you believe it?  Jesus is going to be driving us into Haiti!  Dr. Faddis has experienced his driving before and said his name might be Jesus, but he drives like the devil!

Rogers team is home

The medical team from Rogers returned this afternoon. It will be
interesting to hear more of their experiences after they get a little
rest.

Our trip is gearing up. Maureen and Mary found an excellent Creole
gospel tract about the Father's love for us. Many have given very
generously toward this trip. Thank you and may God richly bless you
for your gifts. It is so encouraging to see God working through his
people.

Unfortunately, Blessings International did not send our meds and
supplies from Tulsa so we must go there tomorrow to pick them up.

Tomorrow is the big day of packing. How can we fit it all in? We'll
find out tomorrow night.

Jim

Initial packing done

We did initial packing today at FBC Rogers.  With the reports from Haiti, we didn't feel like we had to overload ourselves with supplies so we just packed some of the necessities from the supplies that the first team left behind.  I think we'll have plenty of room for the rest of our supplies and medications.  We do our final packing on Wednesday.  At that time, we'll be able to pack more things for the children.  The FBC Rogers team went to an orphanage this morning (53 children), and contacted their home church during their morning worship service today.  It was quite touching to watch over the internet.  I would recommend following their links as published previously in this blog.  It will give you an idea of what we'll be encountering.

Today's issue with the Christian group trying to take children out of the country troubles me greatly.  We should pray that this will not lead to any type of limitations on our work there.

Jim B.

FBC Rogers team encounters first full day

As the Rogers team continues to work, we get some idea of what we will encounter in one week. I spoke with Dr. Faddis this evening. They are seeing many less wounds than expected but lots of respiratory illness due to dust and burning of rotting trash in the streets. There are lots of pelvic infections in the women, aches and pains, stomach issues, skin rashes, and newly orphaned children. Their most severe injury in clinic today was a 2 year old, whose back was broken in the earthquake, paralyzing the child.

The team is camped at the end of the Port-au-Prince airport, with C-130's flying over repeatedly. Cold showers and toilet facilities are available and a cantina and a vending machine make life a little easier for them when they return from their outlying clinics.

Angie E., Susan G's friend from Conway, will be joining our group, and will be helping with interpretation since she speaks French. Creole is dialect of French, as I understand it.

Lastly, I was glad to hear that AT&T is offering voice, data, and messaging services to all relief workers at no extra cost, so that will allow us to update the blog regularly without concern about cost.

Please continue to pray for the Rogers team as they work, travel, and rest, and for the people they are serving, both physically and spiritually. Our team will begin initial packing at FBC Rogers Sunday afternoon.

Jim B.

FBC Rogers team arrived in Haiti 1/29/10

Our team will be keeping up with the FBC Rogers team in Haiti starting today.  There are several websites available to track the work they're doing as they pave the way for our work next week.  Though I don't know everyone on their team, I know it includes Dr. Lance Faddis, Dr. Shannon Jewell, Dr. Adam Maass, Dr. Jacob Kaler, missions pastor John Caubble, and several other medical professionals, including some from Jonesboro.  Their work can be followed on the Facebook link at http://www.fbcrogers.org/.

Two other lines of communication give more information about our ground support in Haiti.  Thirst No More is a Christian relief organization, whose president is Craig Miller.  Craig is our liaison and is providing ground support for us there.  The organization's website is http://www.thirstnomore.org/, and for those more sophisticated folks who tweet, search http://www.twitter.com/ for "tnmtweets" to check on Craig's daily activities and involvement in Haiti.  Craig was the collegiate pastor at FBC Springdale for many years, and if my memory is correct, he also preached in our church before Brother Phillip came to us.

We will certainly be praying for this team as they begin their work and give us a heads-up on what we need to bring, how to prepare, and what we will be seeing.

Why I'm going to Haiti

Three and a half months before the Haiti earthquake, FBC Bentonville hosted Rev. Chuck Sackman, pastor of Piney Point Baptist Church.  He shared about his ministry to Haiti over the last several years, and my heart was warmed with the idea of volunteering in Haiti.  I recognized this "feeling" because twenty years ago, I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to join a dentist in several medical/dental missions to Guatemala after sensing this same "heart warming."  Knowing it had been nearly 5 years since I had volunteered in Indonesia after the tsunami, I wondered if God was leading me to go to Haiti.  So, I placed this concern on my daily prayer list - "Should I go to Haiti?" 

For the next 3 months, I felt no clear answer, until the earthquake.  My wife will attest that since the earthquake in mid-January, my mind has been consumed with the thought of providing medical relief to Haiti.  During the first several days after the quake, I wrestled with options of entering the country, to no avail.  It would be foolish to enter without ground support and security was poor. 

Then Lance Faddis, my partner in medical practice, along with John Caubble, missions pastor at FBC Rogers, found a way to enter Haiti.  This opportunity arose through Craig Miller of Thirst No More, a Christian relief agency, who had entered Haiti soon after the earthquake.  Lance and John quickly assembled a medical team from their church and paved the way for our entry.  God had answered, "Should I go to Haiti?" with a "yes!"

Once a second team's entry was approved, God brought us together as 2 doctors (Jim and Steve), a nurse practitioner (Paul), 2 nurses (Edie and Maureen), and an assistant (Chad).  At this point, we've had a Skype conversation with Craig in the Dominican Republic, purchased our airline tickets, made initial plans, and ordered $4400 of medicines and supplies from Blessings International.

Over the coming week, prior to departure on 2/5/2010, we must secure the remainder of medications and supplies, pack all of this within the limitations of commercial flights, and prepare for experiences we've never encountered before.  Please pray for us that we will prepare wisely, gathering supplies that will be needed for the work we'll be doing.  Pray that God will use each of us to touch hurting people with the love of Jesus Christ in a real and practical way, and that we'll have opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them through our Creole interpreters.  Certainly pray for these people who have suffered so greatly that God will provide relief in their time of need, and that they'll realize that their help has come from the Lord.

Jim Byrum