2010 Haiti Journal #11 March 31, 2010
(delayed because of no internet service)
This is our 3rd trip to Haiti since the quake, and this time our Childrens Hope team visited every amputee rehab clinic we could find in the Port au Prince area. We interviewed their doctors and physical therapists to discover only 120 new limbs have been fabricated since the quake, though they estimate 4,000 to 10,000 people have had an amputation since the January 12 disaster. Thousands and thousands are missing limbs and have no way of knowing what their life will become. At one remote rehab clinic that was so far away Paul missed his plane trying to get back, two older boys drawn together by age and that both were missing a limb watched with awe as Jim Thweatt (our team’s physical therapist) showed off his own artificial limb by jumping and dancing about.
Life-times of new possibilities shown in their eyes.
Later that day at another clinic run by our friend Dr. Joey in Port au Prince, we met a Physical Therapist named Christina who is sponsoring a woman she found laying in a box. Pam was a double leg amputee when Christina found her… staring at the inside of that box. No radio, no TV, nothing to read or to do or to hope for. Pam is now on her way to be casted for two new legs. Christina has decided that no matter what it takes Pam will not have to go back to the box.
Finally we think we may have found a spot for the amputee rehab clinic that Jim wants to head up -- at Dr. Joeys clinic near Cite Soleil. What wonders it will make in people's lives!
Thank you for your constant support and good wishes. I regret I have not been able to get on line before, but your generous donations and pledges are noted and appreciated. I will be sending the rest of the journals as time and access allow. So many inspiring people here.
with peace and thanks, leisa
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