A Sunday Crash in the Mountains and A Lot of Coincidences! by Greg Edmonds

Our Compound manager Pastor Greg Edmonds wrote this to his friends and family. I thought I would share it with you all.

Ministry Update from the Edmonds
Monday, February 20th, 2012

I concluded Missionary Church yesterday (Sunday, Feb. 19^th) with these words to the visiting team and the other missionaries, “We will leave to go snorkelling at 2-o-clock.” Little did I know that 10 minutes later I would receive a call from Pastor Andy Troyer that would send the Wesleyan Hospital, the Wesleyan Mission Compound, and the WISH Compound into emergency mode. But God knew, and He was already working out the details before we even knew there was a problem.
The call came about noon from a missionary family in the mountains that a visiting mission team was involved in an accident in the mountains. The initial word was that 6 or 7 of the crash victims were pretty banged up and had a lot of cuts, scrapes, and bruise, and that 3 or 4 were seriously injured. We immediately notified the Wesleyan Hospital and began preparing for the arrival of the team. Within 20 minutes we had two American nurses, one nurse from England, three of our Haitian doctors, several Haitian nurses, and almost all of us missionaries standing by.
The Accident
One of the translators for the team was an American girl who was able to fill us in on the accident. She said there were 11 people piled into an old pick-up truck. The team was taking their Sunday to go to the beach and they were headed down the mountain. She noticed that the driver was going pretty fast over the rough road and soon realized that he was picking up speed because he had no brakes. On one side of the road was a ravine and on the other side was an embankment. The driver turned to go up the embankment and did somewhat of a u-turn. As the truck went up the embankment it rolled over back down toward the road and came to rest on its’ side. Many of the people were thrown from the truck and two ladies were pinned under it for about 10 minutes.
Pastor Andy Troyer and his family are missionaries with the Allegheny Wesleyans and live in the mountains of La Gonave. His 19-year-old son, Nathan, was going to visit one of their churches in another mountain village. He would usually take the four-wheeler, but yesterday morning his mom suggested he take their full-size pick-up truck that has an extended cab and an extended bed. He took the truck to the other village and was helping with Children’s church when he got a call telling about the accident. The accident was 5 minutes from the church he was visiting! He left the service and was quickly at the accident scene ready to transport all 11 victims to the Wesleyan Hospital…the only hospital on the island of La Gonave.
Back at the hospital the medical staff and missionaries were preparing bandages, stitching, IV bags, splints, etc. to triage the victims as soon as they arrived. I was on the phone with Pastor Andy, the US Embassy, MAF, and several others working on logistics. The crash happened up in the mountains so the trip down to the hospital took well over an hour. In that time the logistics for getting the team transferred to Port-au-Prince was taking place. Leading that was a Haitian man who was at his weekend home on the mainland when he was contacted by the father of one of the translators with the team. The man, Phillipe, is the owner of Hertz Rent-a-Car in Port, and he took his speedboat to the island to check on the daughter of his friend. He also is friends with the team leader, Kris. He had connections to get a UN helicopter to the island to airlift the most critical patients.
After almost an hour the truck pulled into the gate at the Wesleyan Hospital and the assembled team of medical personnel and missionaries went into action. Only one of the crash victims was uninjured enough to stay behind on the island with us to wait for the rest of the team to come down the mountain. This part of their team had not made the trip that day. The rest of the people were triaged at the hospital. Many wounds were cleaned, quite a few of the patients needed stitches, and the three or four most serious injuries were worked with to stabilize their condition.
The injured team had not been at the hospital very long when another team visiting from Michigan came walking onto the WISH compound. It “just happened” to be Dr. Steve Edmondson (Starfysh) and two other American doctors visiting with him. They immediately jumped in and began helping treat the injuries. They were coming down to take a walking tour of WISH, the Wesleyan grounds, and the Wesleyan Hospital even as the victims were arriving. Dr. Steve commented on Facebook, “Everyone was pretty roughed up and pretty traumatized emotionally too. 7 evacuated by small plane, 4 by large UN medical helicopter. Lots of fractures, head wounds, internal injuries.”
The team was at our Wesleyan Hospital for about two hours being treated and stabilized. Eight members of the team were then flown to Port-au-Prince on a Missionary Aviation Fellowship plane, and the four most serious injuries were airlifted on a large United Nations helicopter. The remaining members of the team who were not in the accident made it down to our Wesleyan Compound last night about 6pm. They ate with us and then spent the night in our guesthouse. They left to join the rest of their team in Port this morning at 6am.
My comment on Rod Geiszler’s post from Facebook last night (Sunday):
"I just received word that the 2 or 3 most serious injuries will be airlifted to the US tomorrow. It was a great team effort (Wesleyan Hospital, Wesleyan mission, WISH, visiting teams (WISH, Wesleyan, & Starfysh), Troyer family, United Nations helicopter, MAF flight, and the list could go on) getting these people treated and transferred. This was a team that seemed to have NO religious or Christian affiliation, but they saw God's people at their finest today!!! Thank you all for your prayers!"
When I called Pastor Andy last night to give him a final update on how the medical evacuation went he told me one more thing about the entire day. He told me that Digicel and Natcom had only recently built cell towers in these areas of the mountains. He said that just a short time ago none of the logistics that had taken place that afternoon would have been possible.
A bunch of coincidences? I think not!!! Thank you all for your prayers for us missionaries on the field. You may not have a clue what we need when you feel led to pray for us…BUT GOD DOES! Please continue to pray for this team from Boston. Their physical wounds will heal, but they need to know the Great Physician who loves them and wants to heal their hearts!

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Kisa sa ya? Sa se lapli.

What is that? That is rain.

We had our first creole lesson yesterday. Our teacher Met (teacher) Johnny is very enthusiastic and teaches just at my level. Creole appears like my kind of language not really any grammar and if you write it you say it visa versa…..! Not sure my spelling will improve by adding another language to the mix. We had the class on our porch with the girls and our neighbours Larry and Marty Grimes. They arrived the week after us and are teaching English and computer skills to local adults. They are great to have around.

I was going to give you all a little housekeeping so you know how we do things over here. The day starts early. Its light by 6am and most Haitians have already been up for a while. Julian insists on his teams starting and 7am and carrying on till 5pm, Monday –Friday. If it was up to the workers they would work 5-1, Monday through till Saturday. It makes a big difference having Saturday off for us as it all happens right next door. less than 10 meters away. Once the perimeter wall is built we will have less dust but still have the noise.

The girls start school at 8 and finish between 11.30 and 12. They may sometimes have homework. Often, I think, dependant on how concentrated they have been during class. They are both enjoying it, although Rebecca would insist on the opposite, and are really getting into the new way of working. Some methods are different but they are adapting and they love the extra attention which comes with 2-3 in each class.

If we have teams we take it in turns to eat with them in the guest house for lunch and supper. If no teams are here we all cook for our selves. Our groceries have to come either from the market or Port Au Prince. The market has all the fresh fruit and vegetables but you have to learn to live with the smell and the flies all over the produce inc meat and rice in open tubs. Most of the fruit and veg actually look great and once you get it home and rinsed in bleach water it looks great and I’m sure is the best local produce. Not every one here are comfortable buying from the market. i must admit I prefer to send a local person and the price is instantly much higher if you are white and then I do not need to see how many flies were crawling all over my tomatoes. I am determined to learn to do it myself and to barter but don't think it will ever be as good value….I do like a bargain!

In PAP there are western style supermarkets but the trip takes 2 days with an overnight stay, unless you are prepared to leave before dawn and return in the dark. The dark is very dark with no street lights and dusk and dawn only takes about 20min.

I have a fully functioning kitchen with a gas cooker, “Owen” as of today, a microwave oven, an electric kettle and an electric hand mixer. The sink has running cold water which is UV filtered and drinkable so this is also where we clean our teeth. I have to wash up after every meal as the ants are very persistent and will infest the kitchen in a few hours. All our food is kept in strong zip lock bags and airtight containers or in the fridge as the ants eat their way through normal plastic and find their way into the tiniest crack in packaging. The temperature is generally about 28 degrees and so many things have to live in the fridge when they don’t at home.

The bathroom is small but has a newly tiled shower with cold water. The water in the bathroom is not drinkable, so no singing in the shower, and we use a lot of sanitizer gel after washing out hands as well as bleach in the washing up water. Its amazing how a cold shower can be pleasant when its so hot outside. After the first dousing you get used to it and it feels warm enough to stand under…..! Our water is provided by the neighbouring mission, WISH (West Indies Self Help, who provides water and power to the hospital and the whole town. The water is however not always reliable and we get days of no running water and often reduced pressure. We then fill any containers we have. The girls have even had a WARM bath in a tub in the kitchen. Ella loved it. Becca liked the warm water but was somewhat embarrassed about standing naked in a tub in the kitchen. I told her that is how her grandparents and great grandparents washed when they were small….didn’t really help!

We loose electricity at 9pm, we then have to use the battery which has been charging during the day and connect fans and any lights through a extension cable. It works well but at the moment we only have one lamp and move it from the lounge to the bedroom so i can read in bed. The power comes back on at 6am and a new day starts.

Sunday is church at 10.30 and if we have a team we may get to go snorkelling. That is always a success. The Weslyanna (Sailing Dow) takes us both back and forth to the mainland and on our Sunday outings.

We had a heavy down pour yesterday, it was very unexpected as the dry season is not meant to finish till April. There was a mad panic to save materials not meant to get wet but it did settle the dust quite a bit and we had a very comfortable 74 degrees (22C I think) today. NICE!

That is a little about our daily life here in the sunshine. Hope it does not put you all off visiting!

Take care and look after your selves and each other.

Julian and Marie x

Greetings from Madame’ Big Boss!

Wow, what a busy week.

We currently have a medical team here from Canada. They arrived Saturday to Port au Prince, Heidi and I went to meet them and travel with them to Lagonave. A drive of 2 hours followed by the boat ride of 1 1/2 hours. The water was smooth but they still had several seasick people and one who needed the toilet, which is not easy in an open boat with 15 other people…but she managed!

Heidi Edmonds, the wife of the missionary station manager, and I went to PAP by plane on Friday afternoon. We got a lift with a team of three as they left for home who were flying to PAP in a 10 seater plane. It took 18min and was great fun. I had a fab aerial view of the Island but unfortunately I did not have my baring's to get a good areal shot of the hospital site. Julian didn’t hold that, or the fact that I got to do the flight first, against me, I do have a lovely husband! Both Heidi and I needed to do our monthly grocery shopping and I did not fancy braving the supermarket all by my self. We were in the shop, not dissimilar to Tesco Amersham, for 3 hours by the time we had done our shopping, my neighbour's shopping and a whole lot of stuff for the guesthouse, preparing to feed a 15 man strong team for a week. It was great though as I got many more things for our little house making it even more homely and comfortable, I even found Swiss chocolate…..it was great. Next week I’ll hopefully take delivery, via a team from Iowa, of a bundle from Ikea. This includes fabric and curtains for the whole house and a standard lamp, so we can see after 9pm when the power switches to battery operation. Heidi and I stayed in another missionary guest house Friday night with the most amazing view of PAP and the surrounding hills. It’s quite a trek on rubbish roads but really worth it for the view and the cool air.

We all arrived back to the compound mid afternoon and boy was i tired. I stayed home while the others went snorkelling Sunday afternoon as I just needed a little time to myself. I love people and as most of you know I’m quite sociable but 24h constantly with people I did not know was tiring.

The medical team have been doing remote clinics in the town of Anse A Galet, where we live. I have been with them for 2 days and really enjoyed it. The team also brought a couple of pharmacist and the medical store room I was going to slowly plough my way through is now in the process of being properly organised.The administrator even asked us to do the room behind his office, which he does not like to show off. It contains boxes of medical equipment and consumables some more than 5yrs out of date….we have cleared a lot and hope to get it under control tomorrow…..

While I have been busy the hospital wall is taking shape. The corner by our house is nearly at full height and Julian is very impressed with the professionalism and efficiency of the contractors he has employed to do the job. He is really at home here and loves his work, the people and the weather.

A little while ago, when Rebecca was missing home, we all took turn to say what we missed about home now that we were here, Julian does not miss anything, not even Tamba, he knows he is in the best place. See face book for some great photos of Tamba with the Herriot's. The girls and I miss various different things but mainly the people we know and love. –and warm showers!

The name in the title comes from Julian’s mate Frits. When we were here in October Julian was named big boss, and elevated to just below God for the building of the hospital. When we came back, Frits, who has been translating for the team this week, has persistently called me Madame Big Boss and Julian tells me that most of the guys on site also use this name for me. I’m normally introduced as Madame Julian and when in the hospital Miss Marie….I prefer the latter (Miss means nurse here).

The girls have fallen for Matt Smith….our Dr Who in Haiti…..he calls them Pond 1 and 2 and this week he gave them rides on a quad bike. They really had a blast. Matt had to leave the quad by our house and walk home as he could not get them off…….. Both Ella and Becca seem to be getting on well with school and for most of it also with the other children. Ella feels a little left out as there is not a bike in her size and she does not feel the others are good at sharing but sharing was never Ella’s strong point. She is leaning a lot of interpersonal skills right now and does not always like it……..

Finally I would like to wish Happy birthday to our niece and cousin Prudence, she had her 1st Birthday last week, My brother, Soeren, very good friends Vicki and Natalie and my grandmother who would have been 94 this weekend just gone.

Hope this finds all our friends and family well and not too cold. We have heard about all the snow. Thanks for all you emails and snippets for local information over the past week. I have really appreciated it.

Sunshine from Haiti.

Julian and Marie xxxx