Haiti Medical Response: June 2015
June 22, 2015
by Jack Minton, HFI Founder
When passion and profession converge in missional service, the outcome is profound. This month, 654 villagers, both young & old, received compassionate care from the hands and hearts of eleven willing Jesus-followers serving in HFI?s adopted village of Sous Savanne, Haiti. The team was comprised of healthcare professionals, those who worked in crowd management, community health education and support roles. The team saw a little bit of everything while there: from a healthy 90-year-old grandma to a severely malnourished five-month old; a young woman with breast cancer, a child with malaria and an elderly gentleman with a song in his heart. Some came in need of critical attention?and those in need of assurance that their child is healthy; all in all -- a rewarding, challenging and meaningful week of service.
As a member of this team, I was especially privileged to work with a friend of many years. We first met Danielle Brown when she was a little girl of four. ?Dani? is now a nurse, and as I observed her in action as a part of our team in Sous Savanne, I couldn?t help but be deeply touched by what I saw.
In the early 1990?s, Dani?s family entered into our lives when they came to be trained for international service, and we?ve maintained a close friendship ever since. In fact, her father Terry is a founding board member of Hope Force International. Dani?s service in Haiti was the fulfillment of a long-standing dream?and a joy to witness.
A few years ago, Dani went back to school, earned her nursing degree and has been waiting for the opportunity to invest her skills in the area of her passion: serving the poor, needy and suffering people in difficult places around the world. Not only did Dani minister to the people of Sous Savanne -- but in the process, Dan felt rewarded with a sense of God's pleasure as she represented His love for those she tended. The one who came to give?in turn, received so much more.
Earlier this year, we met with HFI healthcare volunteers to consider ways in which we might better prepare ourselves for future calamities. We concluded that we should further develop opportunities to serve together in the field prior to a disaster and under less stressful conditions. Believing that this would enable us to identify areas of opportunity to strengthen our systems and practices, it would also provide first-time international volunteers the ability to build confidence and become acquainted with what it takes to be effective in unfamiliar conditions. All the while, offering our beloved, adopted community much needed healthcare.
Dani?s team is the first of two that will be providing medical care in Haiti this year. I believe that in this recent trip, we accomplished both of those objectives and more. Team members were deeply impacted by their experience, and there is a renewed determination to invest their time, talent and passion on behalf of poor and suffering people as an expression of their love of God.
