It has been an amazing week since I arrived back in Haiti. I wish I could share every detail, but I don’t have time to write it all and you don’t have time to read it all. However, today I just could not postpone writing another day. Today God showed up in a mighty way. This afternoon, about an hour before we were to walk back into the village to have VBS with the children in the back of the village, a young mother and her mother showed up to the clinic with a baby. As soon as Tony saw him, he thought the baby resembled the twins he has been taking care of for several months. This baby was very malnourished, just like the two he had seen a few months ago. Come to find out, his mother is the sister of the mother with twins. This child is fourteen months old, but he looks like he is three months.
This is Davenson and his mother Daena. His is fourteen months old but only weighs about fourteen pounds. Please pray for provision and improved health.
At first it seemed as if the mother didn’t want to feed him, but we soon found that she was just feeling helpless because her child wouldn’t eat. The reason he wouldn’t eat is because all she had to feed him was corn and he couldn’t eat corn. The nurses with the team who have been working in the clinic this week fed him some formula, and all he would eat was about two ounces. He immediately fell asleep.
The team felt led to give the family some food, so they asked Tony about it. Tony told them where he keeps the extra beans and rice for families who move in and Stan took the large ring of keys to the storage place to get the rice. There were about 40 keys on the ring and the door opened with the first one Stan tried. We got a 40 lb bag of rice, a gallon of oil, and a bag of dried beans and walked with Daena, Davenson, and his grandmother far into the village to deliver the food supplies.
The grandmother carried her grand baby along the trail through the village to their house. Soon he woke up and could actually hold his head up! It’s amazing what 2 ounces of food did for his energy level. Someone handed him a cracker and he held it almost the whole way home.
We all followed the grandmother and daughter through the brush down the long dirt pathways of the village all the way to their home. At one point, the grandmother took me by the hand and began to share with me how happy she is that God has brought us to her village. She said that she had prayed for God to provide for her family, and He sent Tony to the clinic of Hope Center and he gave them food to help her grand babies grow. (I was pretty excited that I was able to understand her as she said all of this in creole!) She and I began to sing “Mesi Jesi” (Thank you Jesus) over and over again. I put my arm around her and we walked and swayed as we sang together.
Standing in the grandmother’s home, we prayed for her family. We prayed for God to continue to provide for them and protect their health.
The grandmother showed us her home and told us that we were welcome. She asked us if we would pray for her home and her family. We stood in her little home made of mud and sticks and prayed for God to protect their health, provide food and safety, and give the grandparents wisdom as they continue to raise their family. After we prayed, we went back outside and made an exciting discovery. Daena was so excited that little Davenson was actually taking the bottle that he had refused earlier at the clinic! She was elated!
Davenson happily takes the bottle his mother is giving him. She was elated! Her baby was finally eating!
We visited a little while longer and took a few pictures then headed on back to Professor Soloman’s school to do VBS.
Here is the grandmother with her twin grand babies and Daena with her baby Davenson. All of the babies have been severely malnourished, but God is providing for them….by HIS hands we are fed!! Hallelujah!!
I was completely moved by this experience today. It tears my heart out every time I see children who are starving and their desperate parents and grandparents seeking any help they can find for their children. The thing is, we see this nearly every single day. But you know what? God is moving every single day too. The very reason we are here is by His hand. The very reason we have food to give to people in need like this is by His hand. The very reason people come here to help in the clinic and share the love of Jesus with our people is by His hand. God is providing in amazing ways, and the people in this village are so very grateful for the ways God is answering their prayers.
God is great. God is good….and we THANK Him for His provision of food. By HIS hands, they are fed, as He gives us daily bread.
“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
haitiwest 
Update: This morning I found out a bit of information that I MUST share as a post-post. Yesterday, when Davenson arrived with his mother and grandmother, we had actually given out all of the cards we had for the day. No one else was going to be allowed into the clinic. However, the medical team was about finished with patients by around 1:00 so they agreed to take about 7 more. Kent Banks, one of our team members brought seven more patients in, and Davenson was one of them. Since we are going mobile today and tomorrow, we are not having clinic here. If Davenson had not gotten into the clinic yesterday, he would have had to wait until Friday to be seen. Tony says he probably would have been dead by then….BUT GOD knew his need and sent his caregivers here and saw to it that he was seen. God is good…..
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