A Busy Month

Much has happened within the last month to give God thanks for – the safe arrival of a container with solar and medical supplies, orthopedic surgeries by a medical team, and installation of the solar system.

On February 8 we shipped a container that contained the last of the solar equipment needed to finish installation, along with many building and medical supplies. It was troubling to hear that another ministry’s container had recently been hijacked and everything in it stolen. The cost of our container’s contents concerned us. How could we ensure its safe delivery from Port Au Prince to the hospital? We decided to send our container and truck on a barge, avoiding gang areas by moving it along the coast and then driving the rest of the way. Other organizations have been doing the same. With much prayer, we left it in Gods’ hands. The container left Port Au Prince on a Friday and we expected it late that same day, but it was a no show. Saturday was a day of worries as it still didn’t show. Dr. Moise received word from the driver late afternoon that he was broke down and would be there by 10pm. Again, a no show. Another call from the driver and we expected it 5am on Sunday. What a blessing to see the container finally arrive at 7am! Duane had arrived with a team on Saturday afternoon, so they were able to help with the unloading process. Although it was a stressful wait, we are continually amazed at God’s providential timing.

The team with Duane included Tabitha, Dr. Dylan Nugent (who previously came after the earthquake), Emily Hutcheson, & Daniel Bravin. While Duane organized in preparation for the solar team, Tabitha did some much needed work organizing one of our medical storage areas. She also spent time in the pharmacy, analyzing the inventory and how best to order supplies. Dr. Dylan and his group worked with Dr. Lamy performing orthopedic surgeries. We are starting to be recognized as having a good orthopedic program, and as a result we are seeing more serious cases. If you haven’t been to Haiti before, visualize roughly 100 scooters for every car, travelling every direction and on all sides of the road, so it is no surprise that most of these cases are the results of scooter accidents. Our staff desires to learn better skills and procedures, and we are grateful for those who share themselves, coming and working alongside our staff.

A few days after the medical team left for home (with the exception of Duane), another work team arrived, this time for solar installation. I was joined by fellow church members Bryan Johnson and Mark Snyder, along with three Smucker’s Energy techs, Jay, Justin, and Alex. Installation took 5 extremely long days. We had the system up and running on Friday, but unfortunately a major component failed Friday evening. Not what we wanted to happen, but our whole week had gone the same way. Several times we realized we had bought the wrong components or were short on different supplies. Duane had come to the rescue throughout the week and Friday evening was the same when he found a replacement component at another local ministry. Once again, God’s constant provisions are humbling. Saturday morning the system was up and running again, performing perfectly. What a blessing it is to have electricity 24/7, especially as our generators and inverter system batteries are at the end of their lives. Thank you men for your extra efforts! This has been a huge project, and I don’t want to forget all those who have worked and donated funds, preparing for this moment. God has richly blessed us throughout this project and it is a joy to see it completed.

Our home rebuilding program is also progressing. We are providing funds as they become available to repair employee’s homes damaged by the earthquake. After we provide an initial sum, employees must show receipts and pictures of work being done before additional money is given. Duane also did onsite inspections during his almost 3 week stay. John Eddy’s home has been finished and his family have moved back in. If you would like to support this effort, please include a note with your donation.

Life in Haiti continues to be hard. Inflation has hit them as hard, if not harder, as we are experiencing in the United States. The political situation continues to spiral downhill, and the after effects of the earthquake continue. Traveling from Haiti has gone from being as easy as can be expected to as difficult as possible. This trip had many travel adventures, starting on the way down. One of the Smucker’s techs had a flight delay, causing him to miss his original flight and not receive his bag. American Airlines cancelled one of our flights home and rescheduled for the next day. More seriously, a protest occurred at the Les Cayes airport while we there. The protestors broke the fence down, overwhelmed security, pushed a plane into the street, and burned it. The airport closed indefinitely, cutting off our normal means back to Port Au Prince. We have been flying in and out of this airport from Port Au Prince for some time now to avoid the dangerous roads. We purchased tickets to fly out of Jeremy instead (a 2.5-hour drive from Les Cayes), only to find out before we left that a bridge was out and we couldn’t drive all the way there. Our driver, John Eddy, gave us a ride to the bridge in the back of a truck, and another ride was arranged to get us the rest of the way to the airport after we walked over the bridge. The Jet Blue flight out of Port Au Prince that took the Smucker’s guys home was delayed 6 hours, forcing them to drive home to Pennsylvania from Fort Lauderdale once they landed. Duane’s flight was also cancelled and he had a 26-hour layover in Miami. I think I got it all – what a mess!

We are continually grateful to all of you for your support and prayers. We pray that God will continue to bless this ministry and that Christ will be glorified in all that we do. May we be instruments in the Redeemer’s hands.

In Christ, Dan Boerman

May Trip and Other News

May 2021 Trip (19-27)

We were packed and ready to leave by 2 pm on the19th, our required Covid-19 tests completed, only to arrive at the airport and find that our tests were not American Air approved. So off we went to the parking lot testing site for a 2nd test to the tune of $300. The remainder of the trip went great and we arrived at the hospital in Les Cayes by 4 pm on the 20th. Much work was accomplished this trip, including the preparation of the new operating room. Duane built cabinets and Evert began installing air conditioning and wiring. Dr. Jose is excited to begin a new area of testing/surgery that the hospital has not done before. The ladies cleaned, sorted, and prepared lunches for the 10 Haitian workers every work day, along with visits to encourage the local missionaries. Duane led meetings with the doctors and the administrator each day, talking through and dealing with many administrative issues. We are excited and encouraged to see the work continue. Dr. Bill is missed, but the work he began is continuing for God’s glory.

Thank you for all your prayers for Dr. William and his schooling. He is very close to finishing his required thesis, which must be completed before he is officially able to get his surgical license. He is currently working at the hospital.

The two chaplains at the hospital continue to share the only true hope of Jesus Christ to each and every patient. They have a positive attitude and are always eager to pray with each member of the team.

On Sunday our group of 4 spent the day with Rod, Debbie, and Katie Wray at Camp Mahanaim (God’s Camp) and attended the Sunday School and feeding program. It is always a huge blessing to visit this ministry. Every child attending the weekly Sunday School hears the gospel and receives a manna pack.

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” – Philippians 2:3

God Bless, Duane and Ruth Verkaik & Evert and Kitty Bek

In other news…

We have completed our work on the design and engineering of the solar system and have given Smucker’s Energy permission to being purchasing the needed components. Our hope is to get all the components there by December for a mid-January installation. This has turned into a huge project; the new roof on the in-patient building, construction of an equipment room, design and engineering, solar components, shipping, and installation bring the cost to $440,000. We need to raise an additional $75,000 to cover this cost. If we aren’t able to raise the total cost, we will install the system with fewer batteries, which can be added at a later date as the money is available. Pease consider donating to this project. We are looking forward to being able to offer excellent 24-hour care to our patients without the obstacles of unreliable electricity and limited generator power, coupled with fuel shortages during times of civil unrest. We are so thankful for those who work to make this mission possible. We would not be able to do what we do without the support of so many. Tabitha Sheen, our recent board member addition, has worked very hard to reconnect with the IDA foundation in the Netherlands, which supplies low cost medical supplies for mission organizations. We have placed an order for supplies and they should be on their way in a couple of weeks. Jim Heist, a retired machinist, has also been hand-making much needed external fixators for our expanding orthopedic department. There are many more who work behind the scenes, using their God-given talents to aid this ministry.

We are sad to have to share that our head of nursing, Miss Corrine, passed into glory at the hospital on June 7 from complications with type 1 diabetes. She was a huge part of our ministry and had served with dedication for many years. She will be greatly missed. Please pray for her family and our staff as they mourn her loss and seek to find someone to fill her role.

“Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” – James 4:14

Thank you for your partnership in sharing Christ as CSL! Dan

Haiti Update – January 2021

Friends of CSL,

As a board of CSL we are deeply saddened with Dr. Bill’s passing. However, he had a very difficult few months leading up to his home going and we are happy his suffering is over.
Dr. Bill has given us a very good foundation to work from and we hope and pray that we, with God’s help, can continue the work that was begun in Haiti.

Over the past few years we have been blessed to have Welser Romelus as administrator and Dr. Moise and Dr. William as doctors. They have proven to be very capable of serving the patients and the people at the hospital. The day to day operations at the hospital are in very capable hands, each one trusting Christ as their Lord and Savior.

The past few months have been both a challenge and a blessing and we are very excited to see God working through the projects that have been tackled. We are amazed that even with all the issues we have faced this year we have been able to get several teams safely to and from Haiti. We have been blessed with a very large number of people who have supported this work in so many ways. This couldn’t happen without your support and we are so grateful. These projects and improvements will allow the staff at CSL to expand and improve the service to the Haitian people. Our goal is that everyone who visits CSL will see and hear about the Love of Christ. The Chaplains reported that there were 82 salvations in December and 122 in January. Praise the Lord. This is why we do what we do.

There has been growth and additions in several departments at the hospital – physical therapy, a physical therapist, an orthopedic doctor, and the return of Dr. William – bringing the need for additional exam rooms. This has made the hospital very busy and in need of reorganizing and adding space to operate.

The first step in November was to move the Dental Clinic into a new space that was created for them. We converted a storage space by adding plumbing, electrical, and tile, making a small but effective place for them to operate.

Then in December, their old building was completely transformed; the inside was completely stripped and 9 office spaces were built. When the walls were up, doors installed, electric in, and plumbing and painting completed, we moved the USAID program into the newly remodeled building. This freed up badly needed space in the clinic. We also had a team come to start preparing the electric system of the whole facility for a solar system installation.

January 2021 was extremely busy. A team arrived to install new steel doors throughout the whole facility, 85 of them. Seems like we are constantly spraying for termites. However, almost every door had been damaged by them. These new steel doors are beautiful and will never be affected by termites. We also had two teams come to replace the roof over the in-patient area. This roof needed to be redone to be able to have solar panels mounted to it. An unbelievable amount of work has been done. It completely changed the look, and it looks great. The out-patient clinic and pharmacy have been remodeled with moved walls, new doors, and electric.

We have completed the prep work for a Solar system. We will now be getting final quotes on a system. A system is expensive, but with the uncertainty of electricity from the government, it is sometimes difficult getting diesel, and the cost of replacing and maintaining generators gives us good reasons to install a solar system. We also desire to increase the level of service we provide; using generators and inverters we can only provide very limited electricity during the night. Our emergency room continues to get busier and busier as the community realizes we provide good service. Having a good system will allow us to have 24 hr. good electric service.

This process started in September. We again can’t begin to thank all those involved in helping. We can’t help but think about 1 Peter 4: 10-11: “Each should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” Thanks for giving your talents and gifts.

I have attached a picture of the hospital and a picture of Welser Romelus the Administrator.

Welser has worked for CSL since 1993. He and his wife Bertilde have two children – a boy and a girl. He is a life-long resident of the area. He has a very difficult job, but he has a big heart to serve the Haitian people; we look forward to working with our brother for a long time.

Duane, Dan and a whole team of people