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MISSION VIEJO. Calif. — When Judy Beltis embarked on her first mission trip to Haiti on Jan. 9, she never imagined a mere three days later her team would be outfitting an emergency medical clinic.
Beltis, a mother of six with no medical background, found herself sanitizing hacksaw blades, vise grips and bicycle inner tubes used as tourniquets between medical procedures after the 7.0-magnitude quake devastated Port-au-Prince Jan. 12, at 4:53 p.m. local time.
The death toll from the earthquake continues to rise, with authorities fearing it will exceed hundreds of thousands, with more than two million homeless.
With hospitals closed, hundreds of people poured into the Maison de Lumiere Orphanage, turned clinic, in the days that followed.
Resources and supplies were continually depleted and replenished in the days that followed as medical doctors, nurses and supplies found their way to the makeshift clinic.
The 10-person Mission Viejo Christian Church, from Mission Viejo, Calif., missions team saw numerous injuries, the majority of which were not minor.
“Most of what we saw was serious to gruesome,” Beltis said. “The things that we were having to do and see and hear, my natural human reactions weren’t there. We just had to let the love of Christ pour out of us.”
The temblor hit while Beltis was reading a book on the roof of the orphanage when she saw buildings all around the orphanage fall and large clouds of dust rise. The Orange County resident then stretched her arms out and pleaded the blood of Jesus over the orphanage three times.
The structures at the orphanage sustained no damage except for some cracks and two surrounding walls that fell outward. A little girl named Daphne sustained a broken leg, the only injury of those living at the orphanage.
Run by former Orange County residents Bill and Susette Manaserro, through Child Hope International, the orphanage consists of a boys home, girls home, guest house, and cement soccer field.
Triage and miracles
The front yard quickly became a triage center, the boys home a post-op hospital ward, and the soccer field is where the children slept, with many too afraid to go inside the buildings.
“It was dreadful, but it was amazing,” Beltis said, noting a number of miracles that occurred.
One involved an 8-year-old boy who was knocked unconscious and was going into shock. After trying unsuccessfully for two hours to give the boy an IV, several team members surrounded him and “just prayed and prayed and prayed.” The boy was revived later that day, a heartwarming development for team members who were often exposed to expressions of voodoo, which is practiced by half of those in the country, according to the CIA World Factbook.
It was unsettling at times.
“In the wee, wee hours of the morning, we could hear voodoo practitioners with drums all around us,” Beltis said. In response some group members began “praying the blood of Jesus over us again.”
Amputations—done without anesthesia—also proved to be eerie sounds at night.
“When we did get to a moment where you just couldn’t take it any longer, you would get a second wind,” she said. “That’s when I knew they were praying for us at home.”
Prior to her departure from the United States, Beltis said she had been led to meditate on Proverbs 3:24-26, “When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” (NKJV)
“When it hit, I wasn’t so much hearing certain Scripture, but we realized we had been prepared,” Beltis said. “Prayer, praise and singing; I really learned to use those spiritual weapons very well.”
Light in the darkness
Maison de Lumiere, literally translated, means lighthouse, a name that Beltis felt rang true both “physically and spiritually.”
With the help of diesel-powered generators, the orphanage—situated on a hill above the city—offered one of the only sources of light at night.
Spiritually, she believes, “This is the beginning of the end of the darkness in Haiti. People in great darkness are ready to see the light.”
While “no hostility had occurred toward the missionaries,” sanitation issues and “fears of hostility with dwindling supplies” led the team to make the difficult decision to come home, said Mike Maiolo, senior pastor of Mission Viejo Christian Church.
With the help of Paul Beltis’ employer Deloitte, a consulting and financial services firm, most of the team was airlifted out of the country. They were transported first to the Dominican Republic, then to Puerto Rico and finally to Los Angeles International Airport on Jan 17.
Mission Viejo church member Robert Taylor stayed behind. Taylor, an ex-Marine, served at the helm of the triage operation after the disaster.
Sobering exit
Beltis described leaving the country as “very sobering.”
“God, what an honor to be chosen to be put there and used by God to show His love,” she said, adding that she’s concerned about the workers they left behind.
“On the tarmac I thought, ‘How are they going to carry this burden?’”
Following the team departure, the orphanage is still attempting to continue their work, but has repeatedly run out of diesel fuel, which runs the generators, according to Child Hope’s Web site.
Emergency aid distribution is proving to be difficult.
“The streets are so obstructed, there is just no way to get through. I don’t even know how they got us out,” Beltis said. “The logistics are just mind-boggling.”
There were no known deaths of those treated at the orphanage at the time the team left.
The orphanage was started by the Manaserro family in 2004. The family, who are former members of Mission Viejo Christian Church, receive monthly support from the congregation.
To donate funds to the Maison de Lumiere Orphanage, checks may be written to Mission Viejo Christian Church with “Haiti Relief Fund” in the memo, or visit www.childhope.org.
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