Read and live through a medical emergency with us on the Plateau, and find out how it became a testimony to the love of God…
On Wednesday afternoon, the air was suddenly shattered by loud cries and commotion on the road in front of Lemuel. One of our first grade students was crossing the road to her home when she was hit by a motorcycle at high speed. She was unconscious and bleeding, and her leg was obviously broken. Some thought she was dead. Thankfully, she was not.
The First Grade Class
But there is no emergency room. The nearby state hospital is never sufficiently staffed or stocked with necessary supplies. When they arrived with Bendjina, the hospital said, “Sorry. Nothing we can do. You’ll have to go somewhere else.”
Where?
Gonaives? You could make that two hour drive only to have them tell you the same thing.
Amazingly, our friends in La Pointe (about 5 hours away) told us that there just happened to be a visiting orthopedic doctor in the hospital at this time!
But how do you transport a little girl with a broken leg for that long trip over rough roads recently made worse by rains?
The Lemuel Ambulance!
The Lemuel Ambulance getting a check up.
When the Brunsch family moved to Haiti, they bought and prepared a Ford Excursion specially equipped to take Haiti’s roads. When they moved back to the States, they generously left the vehicle for Lemuel to use in its ministry to the community. Already, it has been a true Godsend in two medical emergencies. It can tackle the potholes and the mud. It doesn’t shake the passengers to pieces. It has air conditioning. And it is large and long enough for someone to lie down in, even hooked up to an IV!
It literally is a life-saver.
We have begun to call it the Lemuel Ambulance.
Bendjina lives with her grandparents, both of whom are staunch voodooists. But, her grandmother admitted, “God must have put that vehicle here especially for us.”
We sent our motorcycle ahead with two guys to help the Excursion make it through the extra rough spots in the road. Thony went with Bendjina, and they finally made it to the hospital. The orthopedic doctor did an x-ray and said she would need surgery. The operation was done on Friday (Oct 19), and she came through it well.
But, all these things come with cost–not only the cost of the operation, the doctor, and the medicine, but the cost of things like food for Bendjina and any family members staying with her at the hospital. Medical emergencies are an overwhelming expense for families.
And here is where our staff showed up in unity and an outpouring of love. All 28 members of the school staff agreed to give 500 Haitian gourdes out of their precious salaries.
Gulbert, a staff member and local community leader, collected more funds from other staff and families in the community. When he handed the donations over to Bendjina’s grandfather, Gulbert said, “We are so thankful that God put Lemuel in our area. Lemuel gives us jobs, and because of that, we are able to help in this way today.”
Manis is often repeating to the church and to our staff, “We must live and minister in such a way that even unbelievers will have to acknowledge that God is at work here.” It renews our hearts to see this happening as we live life and its emergencies with our community.
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