Tim Gerke returns to Haiti

Orthopedic Ministries of the Caribbean will be featuring the blogging of Tim Gerke this week.  Tim is the son-in-law of Terry & Jeannie. He is married to their daughter, Summer, and together they are actively involved in both the orthopedic care for patients at HAH as well as caring for children of near by orphanages. He will be sending updates throughout the week he is at HAH and in Carrefour working with Scott Nelson.  

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We made it safe and sound to Haiti last night, my friends Leah and Andrew were a little behind in the bus and the driver went to the wrong bus station but they eventually made it to. We spent the first afternoon scouting out one of the orphanages (Mary Lou) to see how we can rebuild and improve her orphanage this week. Then long term volunteers Amy and Nathan made us a nice dinner. It was great to see them again and meet all the new faces.

Weather here is a nice 90 degrees, not to humid yesterday. The new volunteer bunk house is a little cramped but it has AC and a shower with warm water (took the first warm shower ever in Haiti today).

We are making some orphanage visits today before Scott comes so we should have a good day.

 

Streets around Port Au Prince

Mary Lou's Orphanage

Play area which opens onto a steep drop off. The team will build a wall for safety.

Their kitchen

The inside of Mary Lou's orphanage is smaller than Summer's and my bedroom, it houses 15 children form age 6 to 14. They don't have beds, they just push these 2, (yes that's 2 mattresses for 15 children) on the floor to sleep

"Bathroom", the board gets taken off and there is a hole in the ground to use. No running water

We plan to build a tin roof over the entry area to give them a nice place to play

The team for the week, Jonathan in orange, Jeff (5th year ortho resident from St Louis), Gregory, Roosevelt and Mary Lou. We plan to build a wall around the roof, it is the only flat area for the kids to plan and currently there is only a steep drop off

Panoramic View of Haiti from Mary Lou's roof. Haiti really is beautiful.