Author: bryan@bmeyers.net (Page 67 of 101)

Friends of Haiti,

Update on Terry: Since our last letter, she spent another week in the hospital, and I am not sure I have ever seen her that sick. It was a combination of the chemo and two of the medications she has to continue taking. The doctors added another medicine to keep stomach under control. Last Thursday they removed the central line and released her to the oncologist “out” here. All of her blood counts are still low but high enough they feel she can continue her treatment locally. It has been a long winter but we know people are praying for her; we are going to ask that you not stop.

We don’t think we have ever shown you a picture of a bathroom before — or maybe it should be called an out house? Whatever you want to call it, it is the latest of Beaubrun’s continuing improvements on his school.

Although this may seem a little unusual for us to bring up, the fact is there are very few of these in Haiti. The majority of people, especially in the rural area, just go wherever they are outside. For a school to have one, and one others can use after school hours, is not something you see all the time.

According to The American Journal Of Tropical Medicine only 17% of people in Haiti had access to improved sanitation facilities in 2010. Sanitation coverage in Haiti is comparable to some countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Of 161 countries, Haiti is the only one where access to sanitation facilities became more limited from 1995 to 2010. In rural areas like where this school is located, the same article said only 10% of the population has access to improved sanitation.

The outhouse has no running water, and it is outside, but there was nothing before this one. There were also no schools before the one Beaubrun is working on so hard. If it not for you, none of it would be there now.

As always thank you for you prayers and thank you for helping our friends in Haiti.

Serving HIM together,

Steve and Terry

Friends of Haiti

I emailed and texted so much during February that these may be things you already know, but for those not on our mailing list we’ll do a recap about Terry.

The chemo and transplant went as scheduled and about as long as we were told it would take — almost all day the 4th 5th and 6th. Everything went fairly well until the 8th, and by the morning of the 9th she was in the hospital running a fever, having stomach problems — about all we were told could happen. She was there for 7 days and while there she needed 3 platelet infusions.

We are at home now but still having the tummy issues and tests done the 24th showed her stomach is paralyzed and so she is on medicine for that as well.

Thank you for all the cards, email, texts and all your prayers. We aren’t done yet, so please keep up the prayers.

Since we talk so much about the schools in Haiti and the importance of helping them in one way or another, we thought we would share some about “our” child, Alix.

We started helping Alix and his mother almost 16 years ago. He was so sick then, we asked his mother if we could take him to Port Au Prince with us to care for and then take care of his school needs. Of course, she said yes; she now lives with him. At the time he was so small he would go to sleep on Steve’s lap at night, but now he is 2 inches taller than Steve.

Alix is one of those children who has received the benefit of sponsorship and a full education; the benefit of the feeding programs, the vitamins, the churches and now he wants to help in Haiti, working with us, planting his own church and starting his own school. This is what we work for, teaching them to teach and reach others. From years of  going with us, watching and helping to do just that, he feels it is his duty to help those who are less fortunate than him.

Of course there are several of you who know Alix — and some of you have helped him too — but Terry and I have always felt like he is one of our own kids. Hopefully after this school year we can get him here and maybe meet some of those who don’t know him.

Alix is an example of what can be done if a child has help. We hope we can say that about all of the others who are sponsored or attend one the schools you help with your giving. Not only does it give them the ability to read and write, it also gives them self worth, an understanding of the world around them and we hope, as with Alix, the desire to help others.

Thank you for all you do for our friends in Haiti  and your prayers for Terry.

Serving HIM together,