A Glimpse into Haiti

Observing AMG Ministries

This column highlights the ministries of Disciple’s parent organization, Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG) International, a non-denominational missions agency.

Our team of six arrived in Haiti on a Wednesday morning. Very late that afternoon, after the sun had set and it was quite dark, I was told that the doctor and nurse at the AMG International’s Bethesda Medical Center in the town of Grand Bassin, where we were staying, were working on a little girl’s injury. I went to take a picture of the medical staff at work and was shocked to see them working with only the light of a tiny, weak flashlight. I took my pictures, which, of course, made it look like it was bright as day. It was not.

The little girl had been at the water well AMG had installed at the town market. She had put her hand on the pump at a dangerous place, had been admonished to move away, had not done so, and had her fingers mashed. The AMG medical staff examined the injury, disinfected it, and stitched the wound.

The next day Pastor Rodné Romeus took the little girl and her mother in to Cap Haitien (the largest city in the area) to have the injury X-rayed to see if there were any broken bones. As our team questioned Pastor Rodné and the medical staff, we discovered that there is only one X-ray unit in all of Northeast Haiti. The little girl would have to make an appointment to get her fingers X-rayed, perhaps days later, and either stay in Cap Haitien until her appointment or return home to Grand Bassin, and make a second trip in to Cap Haitien at a later date.

A few days later, our team “explored” the town of Grand Bassin and confirmed that the AMG well and hand pump was the only source of good water in the entire town of over 20,000 people. The pumps on several other wells were broken and useless.

One of the objectives of our team was to install an array of solar panels, batteries, and controls to supplement the generator power supply serving the medical center, school, and church. (There is no electric service in Grand Bassin.) This was successfully accomplished and has made electricity available for lights, computers, fans, and laboratory equipment anytime, day or night. This is a HUGE benefit.

Sunday evening before our team’s departure on Monday morning, an infant was brought to the medical center badly dehydrated with diarrhea. The medical staff attended to this child and its parents throughout the night, and had lights and whatever they needed!

On Sunday morning, a young boy was brought to the medical center. He was receiving penicillin shots for a badly swollen and infected leg. This was his third in a series of daily visits for treatment of his very painful malady. The family brings this little fellow to the medical center from their home—three hours each way by donkey.

The team also observed Pastor Rodné’s ministry to refugees from January’s devastating earthquake in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Over 70 families from the capital region have relocated to Grand Bassin. They have come with nothing but the clothes on their back. These refugees are receiving medical care and medicines at the AMG Bethesda Medical Center at no cost to them. They are receiving packets of rice, beans, and cooking oil on a weekly basis—at no cost to them.

The children (20 so far) have been provided with school uniforms, shoes, and school supplies. As needed, Pastor Rodné is also providing clothing and basic health kits. On April 9, a 40-foot sea container left port in Florida to deliver relief items to the AMG ministry partners in

Haiti for distribution to the Port-au-Prince earthquake refugees. It arrived a few weeks later with a load of 10 pallets of rice and pinto beans, 3 pallets of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), 2 pallets of cooking oil, 2 pallets of individual health kits (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, washcloth, comb, nail file, etc.), and other supplies.

The Lord continues to use AMG International as a conduit for His love to Haiti and many other parts of the world. To learn more about how you can be a part of this ministry, click HERE.

Roger Thomas is the coordinator of special projects for AMG International in Chattanooga, Tennessee.