Sharing: From Tunics to Hospitals

Even though you and I are probably not from Haiti, as I sat with the women at Heartline yesterday I realized how very much alike we all are.

We love our babies something fierce.

We want what is best for them.

We are proud of our children.

We all fail and yet find grace and forgiveness at the feet of Jesus.

But there's something we don't have in common with the women in Haiti.


Moms & Babies at Heartlines' Child Development Class

Recently Beth McHoul, founder of Heartline had to take two of the women in her care to a nearby Haitian hospital to deliver. Let her words really soak into your soul...

"...the conditions of this hospital sent my head spinning. I saw two doctors and one nurse for many, many laboring women. The plight of Haiti - understaffed and overworked. Broken equipment, no sheets, no supplies, bare, dirty, rooms, no clean up crew rushing over for every spill of vomit and blood. ...I stood there, looking around, trying to keep back the flood of emotions. I so wanted to grab our ladies and head back to our clean, sterile maternity center. But they have what we don't. An operating room for a possible c-section. We know our limits, we know when care is beyond our skills.

I envisioned our ladies grabbing our bodies and hanging on as we headed out the door. They didn't. They hugged and kissed us with promises to call when babies were born. They accepted this. They are poor, Haitian and this is what hospital means to them. They were not as appalled as we were. They were not fighting back tears. They were not thinking human beings should not birth in places like this. They understood.


Mom laboring at Heartline with Beth and Joanna T

I don't understand. And as a person with power I have to advocate and fight for them. We can be a voice for them. Our prenatal program services 20 pregnant women at a time. We lavish them with good care, dignity, love and respect. All women should have this. We feel ownership once a woman joins our program and we have a commitment to see her through till that child is six months old and flourishing.

Sometimes pregnancy means complications especially with an impoverished population. We can only go so far when dealing with these complications. I want a better transport option. I want quality care in decent surroundings. This should not be a luxury for the wealthy only. All laboring women should be guaranteed good care in a clean environment.

If we can't find it here then we have to take action. We either need more money to send our ladies to the hospitals that only the rich and powerful can afford to go to or we expand and provide a hospital ourselves. Let's do it. A small hospital with clean sheets, equipment that works, a caring staff and patients that come out whole in body and spirit. Our field hospital showed us that this is a possibly. We can do it and we can do it well."

This verse came to my mind as I sat with these women yesterday...

Luke 3:11
The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.

I wasn't thinking about tunics, cause I'll be honest...the last thing the women of Haiti need are tunics. Heck, it's so hot here, if it's got sleeves on it, no one wants to wear it. Thankfully, Jesus wasn't talking specifically about tunics. Jesus was making a point. If we have an abundance of something, we need to share the extras with others.

There are two beautiful hospitals in the town I call home in the States. Both of those hospitals are filled with doctors and nurses who love and care for the women who come to their facility to deliver their babies.

My heart hurts that women here in Haiti do not have a safe, clean birthing experience like we do in the States. Today we have to admit that we don't have this in common with our sisters in Christ in Haiti. We have lots and lots of incredible hospitals in the United States where we can deliver our babies while the women of Port-au-Prince have none.

Heartline is attempting to remedy that in Haiti. They are trying to build a birthing center for the ladies in their program. Because of the work that Heartline is doing these women currently have access to the gospel, they are surrounded by people who love them and share God's love with them, they take classes every week that teach them how to love and care for their babies. Heartline provides literacy skills and job training so that these women can be free from the chains of poverty. They are fighting the orphan crisis and caring for the orphan by providing mothers the resources they need to successfully raise their own babies. But Heartline wants to build a woman's hospital. (Originally posted by Heather Hendrick)

Will you join us in building this hospital? In providing good care for our Sisters in Haiti? Please donate today!



Beth laboring with a Heartline mom