Hospitals Of Hope

by Leta Reppert

A crowd began to assemble as the sun set on a balmy evening in February in Les Cayes, Haiti. As it grew darker, the crowd swelled to close to 1,000, drawn by the vibrant music of local church worship teams, singing over the hum of the generators powering the floodlights. As the evening progressed, local ministers preached and visiting pastors from Wichita shared their testimonies, with the help of interpreters. This scene repeated itself for three nights—nearly a thousand people gathered in front of a makeshift stage, worshipping. Many came to know Christ for the first time, coming forward to kneel and pray.

This time of revival was facilitated by the hard work of a small team from Wichita, including three pastors from Haverhill Christian Church and two nurses from Via Christi Hospital. Upon arriving in Les Cayes, they set up camp in tents pitched next to the Clinic in a Can—a mobile clinic in a semi-trailer, built by Hospitals of Hope for Haiti in 2005. In the morning, the team did repair work on the Clinic in a Can; in the evening, they set up generators and sound equipment on a rickety wooden stage with cattle grazing on one side and the intense blue of the sea on the other.

The team’s construction work was necessary because, in Haiti’s warm climate, termites had infested the Clinic in a Can, destroying cabinetry, flooring, and ceiling panels. Over the eight days of their trip, the Wichita team took care to remove all of the termite-infested wood, after which they replaced it and sprayed to prevent future damage, ensuring that the Clinic in a Can will continue to see service for years to come.

While the medical care the clinic will offer has the potential to save the lives of those who visit, for many Haitians, the team’s greatest impact was on their spiritual health—an impact that will last far longer than the short span of their lives on earth. In both these ways, this team has helped to fulfill our mission of “showing Christ’s love by healing bodies and souls.”