Solidad Paul

     Here is a letter I received from Solidad Paul. Solidad has been sick since soon after the earthquake.

Dear Brother Mike,

     I am very happy to write this letter to you. How are you, your wife, your children, your projects, your activities, and your whole family? I believe you are not too bad by the grace of God. Here where we are, we are not too bad by the grace of God. Brother Mike, thank you, thank you, thank you for everything that you have done for me. When I was sick, you took me to the hospital, and helped me pay my rent, and helped me with food; thank you very, very much. Tell Shea thank you too, because he is the one that always took me to the hospitals. Brother Mike, excuse us because we did not call you when we arrived in Santo Domingo, it was because where we were going to stay there was a death. Now we are in the street, we don’t have a place to stay. I went to the hospital, and they gave me appointments, sent me for laboratory exams, and sent me to buy medicines. We couldn’t do them all, because we do not have money. Brother Mike, see how you can help us please. Please, if you have buckets that have soap, toothpaste, and toothbrushes; you can send it to give your children a gift, because we do not have anything to use. If you have boxes of meat, you can give your children and family in the Jesus a gift. Thank you very much in advance. You can see how you can help us rent a room, please. Give salutations to everybody for me. Give salutations to your wife, your children, Shea, Tiboutson, everybody that works at the hospital, and the doctor. Thank you, thank you very much for everything that you do for me. God bless you. I love you all in the name of Jesus Christ. May God bless you, protect you, amen. Bye-bye

                                                                                                                                                                         -Solidad

     

     Solidad’s mother, Antoni, had a successful seamstress business before the earthquake. At one time, she made some curtains for the front of our church. She would often get contracts to make all of the weeding clothes for a wedding. In the earthquake, the rented house they were staying in was damaged, and thieves stole some of the sewing machines and supplies.

     About the same time as the earthquake, Solidad became very ill. She spent months in hospitals in Haiti. Since this was over the time of the earthquake, there were many foreign doctors that saw her. She would spend several months in the hospital, and then get better. She would only be at home for a few weeks, when the illness would attack her again. I remember the one time I took her in the hospital; she was nothing but skin and bones. She looked like she had advanced aids, but she does not have aids.

     Antoni was not able to start her business again, since she was spending most of her time in hospitals taking care of Solidad. Antoni aged greatly, being stressed about Solidad, and stressed financially. She was down to zero. Her testimony is that if it wouldn’t be for Jesus, she could not have made it this far. During this time, the mission helped her with rides to the hospital, food, and rent money.

     It became obvious that Solidad would not be able to be properly diagnosed in Haiti, so Antoni took Solidad over to Santo Domingo. There she was diagnosed with Lupus. Unfortunately, because they did not have enough money, they were not able to take all the required laboratory exams. The one list of exams that she needed was close to $1,000.00 USD. Some of these exams could not be done in the DR, but needed to be sent to the US. She also has not been able to stay on the meds like she should due to lack of money. One of the meds she needs costs $44.00 USD, and when she was low, she had three vials in one day. Another injection that she is supposed get costs $27.00 per dose, and she is supposed to get that med every day. Rent for a small room over in Santo Domingo is $39.00 USD per month. It will cost $200 USD to renew Solidad’s visa, and $200 USD to renew Antoni’s visa. It is dangerous to be in the Dominican with an expired visa, as Solidad could be deported at anytime. As you can see, all these things add up to quite a cost.

     Antoni has business skills, and could be things in the DR to sell here in Haiti, since she is traveling back and forth anyway. This could help with things like food, and living expenses, but she would not likely make enough to pay medical bills. Also, Antoni would need a loan or a grant to have capital to buy products in the DR to resell in Haiti.

     Thank you for your support of IFM, that we were able to help Solidad in many ways already. This is still a continuing need, so please pray how you could help Solidad and Antoni, so that Solidad’s illness can be properly treated, and so Antoni can get back on her feet financially, and be able to feed her family. If you can help with the medical bills please mark your donation “Medical Relief”. If you can give Antoni a grant or a loan to start a business, please mark your donation “Micro-Business”.