Hey Everyone,
We often want the impact stories we share to be neat and tidy. We want the problem solved, the bow tied, and everyone walking away smiling. But when you commit to going an inch-wide and a mile-deep in a broken world, you quickly realize that real life doesn’t fit into a clean box. Sometimes, Love in Action looks like weeping over what was lost while fighting tooth and nail for what remains.
That is the heavy, sacred tension I want to share with you today from our team in Haiti. Here is this week’s 3…2…1 Impact.
1 Story of Impact
When Elinise Phanord enrolled in the First 1,000 Days prenatal program at our Mè Bel Mè Love in Action Center, the center built in memory of my dad, she received an ultrasound that revealed a surprise: she was carrying triplets. In rural Haiti, where an ultrasound is a luxury most mothers never see, that single piece of information was a literal lifesaver. Without it, Elinise would have gone into labor at home on a dirt floor, completely unaware of the complications waiting for her.
On October 10, Elinise reached out to Monette, our prenatal nurse at the center, because she was spotting blood. Monette was adamant that she needed to get to the hospital immediately. Like so many families we serve, Elinise didn’t have the money for transportation, so Many Hands stepped in. Our friend Eliamene helped get her to the hospital in Hinche, where doctors monitored and cared for her for over two weeks.
On Tuesday, October 27, Elinise underwent a C-section, and the doctors delivered triplets. Three baby boys.
In that moment, joy and crisis collided. Two of the boys were with Elinise, while the third was rushed to the emergency room and placed on oxygen paid for by Many Hands. Even finding available oxygen in a Haitian hospital is a small miracle, as money can’t buy what simply isn’t there.
We prayed and held our breath, knowing how fragile life is on a razor’s edge. Sadly, the baby boy on oxygen passed away that first night. Twenty-four hours later, around 11:15 PM, the second baby boy also passed away. Our hearts broke for Elinise.
And yet, the fight wasn’t over. There was still one baby boy breathing, a surviving triplet who had shared everything his mother had in the womb with his two brothers. And there was a mother recovering from major surgery. By Thursday, Elinise wanted to go home, even though the doctor hadn’t dismissed her. Our Director of Ministry, Christi Gabhart, had to have a tough, loving conversation with our nurse. Where Elinise lives, across a narrow suspension bridge and up winding dirt paths, a single rainstorm cuts off all access. Leaving early before a holiday weekend meant that if an infection set in, no one could reach her until Tuesday. We stood firm, advocating for her to stay under the doctor’s care until she was officially cleared.
On Friday, the doctor dismissed Elinise and her surviving son. We arranged a car to bring them to our main campus, and then a motorcycle to cross the suspension bridge toward her humble home. But the recent rains had turned the trail past the bridge into thick mud. Just days after a C-section, and carrying the grief of losing two sons, Elinise had to get off the motorcycle and walk up the hill in the mud. It became too much, and they had to stop and stay the night in the community of Kareton.
She was in a lot of pain. When Christi got the update on Saturday, we didn’t wait for Monday. She tracked down Deliyon, another one of our dedicated nurses, who hiked up to Kareton on the weekend to check Elinise’s blood pressure, change her surgical bandages, and bring her Amoxicillin and pain relievers before she and her baby attempted a longer, less muddy route home through Vincent.
As Christi texted me after that exhausting week, she summed it up in five honest words: “Nothing is easy in Haiti.”
Nothing about this is easy. We grieve the two precious boys who are now in the arms of Jesus. At the same time, we know that without the relational infrastructure built before this crisis ever hit, we would likely be mourning a mother and all three of her sons today. Because a center was built across a river, an ultrasound was given. Because a nurse was trusted, a phone call was made. Because a team refused to clock out for the weekend, a mother in pain had her bandages changed on a muddy hillside.
3 Points to Ponder
- The Stockdale Paradox of Ministry: How do you hold unbearable grief and genuine gratitude in the exact same hand? We confront the brutal facts that two baby boys died because the medical margins in Haiti are razor-thin. Yet, we hold unwavering faith that standing in that gap saved a mother and her third son. Where in your life do you need the courage to stay present in a messy reality when a clean, perfect outcome isn’t guaranteed?
- Relational Infrastructure Precedes the Crisis: You cannot build a bridge, hire a nurse, or establish trust in the middle of an emergency. The lifeline Elinise grabbed onto on October 10 was built months and years earlier by people who believed her community was worth the investment. What foundations of trust and stability are you laying today in your family, business, or community that someone will desperately need tomorrow?
- Going Past Where the Pavement Ends: Love in Action is rarely convenient. It happens on weekends, on holidays, and up muddy hills where motorcycles can’t even get traction. When Deliyon packed up medicine and walked into Kareton on a Saturday, he proved that the Gospel is much better caught than taught. Who in your path right now needs you to step off the paved road and walk through the mud with them?
2 Quotes to Share
“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand.” – Henri Nouwen
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.” — Helen Keller
Stories like Elinise’s remind us why consistency matters so much. We don’t share her struggle to pull on heartstrings; we share it because she is our sister, and her fight is the reality of why we exist. We cannot prevent every storm in a broken world, but we can make sure our brothers and sisters never have to walk up that muddy hill alone.
While our Haitian nurses and leaders are the frontline Warriors walking those muddy trails, being there on October 10, paying for the oxygen, and sending Deliyon up the hill on a Saturday is only possible because of our Love in Action Monthly Partners—the faithful Sustainers who provide the oxygen for this work every single month.
Rooted in Ephesians 4:2—bearing with one another in love—it takes $84 a month to surround one life in our communities with whole-family guardrails like prenatal care, nutrition, and education. We ask our Love in Action Partners to carry half that burden for $42 a month, trusting a brother or sister in the line to carry the other half. And because our Central Iowa Thrift Markets cover our administrative overhead, 100% of your monthly gift goes directly to the field.
Throughout November and until the end of the year, a generous family who deeply believes in this long-haul model has pledged a $25,000 Match for anyone who starts a new monthly gift—or increases their current monthly giving.
Click here to step into the line as a $42/month Love in Action Partner and unlock the $25,000 Match (or text LIA to 50155 on your phone).
If you are already a monthly partner, thank you for keeping our nurses on the road and our centers open. If you have been looking for a tangible way to stand shoulder to shoulder with families like Elinise’s over the long haul, I invite you to prayerfully consider joining us or growing your impact today.
Please join me in praying for Elinise and her baby boy this week. Feel free to reply and share. I read every response.
Live with Impact,
Tim
