Last year was a difficult year for Haiti, marked by building political and social unrest. As the year unfolded, the country was essentially locked down. That's what the protesters called it: Haiti Lockdown. Schools were not able to open, fuel is still hard to find, and the food supply was disrupted. For a period of about six weeks in the Fall season, we had to suspend clinic operations for the safety of staff and patients.  Thankfully, the tension has recently eased and the clinic has been able to resume operation.

Because of the unrest, we had to postpone most short-term trips and several projects we had planned. In spite of this, there is good news to report. We were able to bring in a medical expert from the U.S. to do staff training in the late Spring. Lots of kids received the gift of a backpack as they passed through the clinic. They will be ready when school reopens. Late in the year we did a fundraiser to raise money to buy medications. Our pharmacy was completely depleted due to supply disruption, and we needed to resupply from the U.S. It was a great success as we exceeded our goal and medicine is now back at the clinic. Church on the Porch gave us a very large gift of over-the-counter medications which was also a great help. 

Throughout all of the trouble, the clinic staff remained faithful. Despite the temporary closure, many patients were served during the year. There were 1289 patient visits. Of those, 532 were kids, 473 were women, and 284 were men. Many of those also received lab services and medications. Everyone was treated with dignity and respect, and were shown the love of Christ by caring staff.

As of this writing, the political situation has calmed somewhat. We hope and pray cool heads will prevail in the new year. We expect to resume short-term mission trips this year. We have a long-awaited project on the calendar for April to help the people in the little village of Dolval put a new roof on their church. We expect the medical outreach will continue with our permanent clinic as well as mobile clinics in operation. We are grateful to all of you for standing with us during the difficult year that is now in the books. Please pray for a peaceful 2020!