Day Three: Team Revive

Today was a full day with lots of exposure to Haitian culture. We started our morning off with church. The service lasted two hours and was filled with praise and worship. The people of Haiti have so much passion and joy for worshiping the Lord that it is infectious. When we first walked in, I felt like there were more eyes on us than the pastor but it did not take long before the singing and praise from the congregation had me captivated. We were not able to understand anything that they were singing or saying but we quickly found ourselves clapping and swaying along with each song. The music was by far my favorite part. It was upbeat and there were multiple drums and guitars. It is clear that the people of Las Cayes love the Lord and love to share that joy and faith. After church, we were met at the MTI house by a German missionary who had been in a motorcycle accident 5 weeks ago. With excellent teamwork, we were able to perform a thorough neurological and vestibular exam on June's front porch. We diagnosed her with VOR hypofunction and were able to provide home exercises and an explanation of her diagnosis. She was so relieved that we were able to provide some answers and relieve some of her concerns. I know that she will be just one of many that Team Revive will be able to help this week. The remainder of the day was reserved for an adaptive sporting event. We picked up several members of June's advocy group, "our voices," and headed to a local school. Unfortunately, the rain had cancelled the event, but in true fearless leader fashion, June brought everyone (and then some) back to her house for an impromptu adaptive event. We filled the dining room with 20+ people of various cognitive levels and disabilities. They started out with a devotional session which ended with everyone saying their personal prayers all together but aloud. I was moved by their connection to the Lord during prayer and to hear all the different conversations going on with him all at once. Next came volleyball. This started out as a friendly game in a circle and quickly led to a heated match between two sides. The passion that we witnessed at church this morning definitely carried over into their game playing. The night ended with us returning everyone back to their homes which involved multiple dependent transfers into and out of the truck. It was eye opening how many of the girls had wheelchairs that were simply not adequate for them. It was difficult to think how much more these women could accomplish if they had adequate equipment. The most amazing thing for me today was to watch how some of the participants had mastered mobility. One man, Maxime has bilateral long leg braces and is ambulatory with forearm crutches. Watching him transfer into the truck with no assistive device or knee flexion was amazing. The same with Mary-Joe. She has a bilateral below knee amputation and was able to hoist herself into the truck with ease. She also had amazing trunk control and balance reaching to the extremes of her limits of stability to hit the volleyball. She even balanced on top of a rollator to reach higher. She was a truly amazing individual. As our trip continues, I pray that God will continue to use us as he intends and provide many more opportunities to help the people of Las Cayes and allow them to teach us as well.


-Valdora

Snapper for lunch. In true nerd fashion, we even dissected the brain!

Volleyball...before it became intense