A Visit to Seguin

After three years off the mountain, I decided to go back and visit again with all my friends in Seguin. There is an agriculturalist that works here at Christianville, and he was interested in visiting Seguin with me and possibly feeding the school children in the HCO school, so Ryan and I, Nora and Titus, along with Edsel (the agricultural expert) and Jimmy (a friend) took a long ride up to Seguin a couple weekends ago. I made the mistake of taking the Fond Jean Noel route up the mountain, because I knew it would have a good view, but I had no idea how horrible the route had gotten. It took us quite a bit longer to get up there than I had expected. Once we arrived, everyone in the local area came to see us. It was great to see everyone again. Margarethe made us some food, and we sat in Christnet's home and chatted awhile. Then we visited with everyone in the yard. Nora played with the kids, and Titus cried because of the cold and all the strangers.

I was able to visit with Papa Alexandre, the local voodoo priest, for awhile. He is going blind and not very healthy. I talked to him about accepting Jesus as his Savior, but he is convinced that he is a good enough person to make it to heaven on his own merit.

We were able to visit with Marie Lourdes and her newborn babies. She is still very weak and anemic, and her babies are small and having some troubles growing. Doctor Clayton is back on the mountain now, though, so she is in good hands and hopefully she and the children will get healthy and strong quickly.

As our visit came to a close, I sat on the porch and chatted with Margarethe while Nora played with the local kids. At one point, I noticed that she was sitting down with six other kids, and that four of those six were children that I had delivered. If anyone would have told me that one day I'd be sitting on the porch, talking to Margarethe like any other day, but watching my own child play with the kids, I'd have told them they were nuts. God is good. He blesses us much more than we deserve.

When it came time to leave, I felt a tremendous sadness come upon me. I miss Seguin. It feels like home. I miss my neighbors and my friends. I also feel the burden of the poverty and great needs that are ever present there. I am thankful for Kyle Martin and Clayton Bell, who helped Seguin this past year by reopening the clinic. I am hopeful that the new Haitian doctor that HCO has found will keep the clinic running well. And I'm thankful for Margarethe, who continues to stick it out in Seguin, despite all the hardships she faces there.