Ernst

Meet Ernst. He is 26 years old. He came to the clinic Lori and I went to desperately hoping for help. When I saw him first, he was sitting on the ground with most of his arm gone. His wound was open, flesh dangling off and bones sticking out. He had hemostats dangling off the stub clamping veins to help the bleeding. His arm was over a big plastic tub, dripping blood into a pile of medical garbage. He sat up, alert waiting to be helped. He was strong, young. Seemed very hopeful and determined. He was friendly with everyone, smiled and winked at me. That was at about 11am Thurs when we arrived at the clinic. He sat there all day, eventually got moved onto a table where he was able to lie down. There were Quite a few Haitian doctors who had come by the time we got there. They were prioritizing those who needed attention right away and those who's limbs they could save. Ernst at this point waited. Along side him was a man, probably a brother and his sister. They slept and sat with him all night. They prayed. They cried. They waited. I watched them on and off as I worked. Often someone would pass by and offer to pray with him- every time that happened the 3 of them would huddle into each other, heads touching and pray. They did not speak English, so I imagine they were praying in their heads their own prayer as the person with them prayed for Ernst. The sun came up, Lori and I hadn't slept and he begin looking worse. His sister kept telling us that his breathing was bad and that he needed medicine. Lori checked him and he seemed to be breathing ok.

Ernst hadn't slept very much and when morning came he was sitting on his table. He didn't want to lay down because he noticed it bled less when he sat. He began to bleed a lot more and you could see in his demeanor that he wasn't feeling well. As I watched him, I noticed he began to look at his arm often. It's like he hadn't seen it yet. He was in shock- he realized how bad it actually was. He was scared. There was a doctor who was supposed to amputate his arm, and Lori and I sterilized the equipment and got it all ready. At one point there were so many people there they had to clear it out. Only one person could be in there for every two patients. His sister got kicked out. I went outside to get supplies and saw her sitting in the grass crying. She called to me but I kept walking to go get the supplies. After I go the supplies I went back outside and saw Ernst's sister crouched down on the ground, and went and sat next to her.

I asked her if she was alright. She told me that she couldn't stand. Her stomach was sick-

she was so sad. I told her that the doctors were going as fast as they could and were going to

help him soon. She started to pray:

God, this is not right. He is so strong. He has so much hope. He works, he is in school. He takes

care of his family. He is so determined and works hard. There is so much pain in our country.

There are so many hurting. There are too many dead. We know you hear us now. Tell us what

to do now. I am listening- we are listening. Don't forget our country.

The whole time she was praying I sat next to her. I wasn't praying. I was listening, and

watching. And learning... learning how a Christian should pray. How to be faithful to our God

through the worst of the worst and through whatever comes at us. To be humble, and honest,

and real. I tried to comfort her as much as I can. Tried to fill her in on what the doctors had

talked about doing for Ernst (amputation) because she had notices them picking out a saw.

Told her that the doctors only wanted the best for the people here and they were going to do the

best for Enoch.

I went in and he was still sitting there. His wound open, he was obviously tired and hurting and

scared. Lori and I were both worried about the amount of blood he was loosing and Lori

dressed the stub to try to decrease the bleeding. Zach came and it was time for us to leave.

He let us take his picture. Ernst asked to come with us. We had to go. We hadn't slept, and

couldn't do anything for him but pray. It was not fun leaving. It felt horrible. I said goodbye to

his sister and told her I'd be praying for them.

We don't know if the doctor showed up. He was there earlier that morning and left. We

could tell he was not comfortable doing the amputation alone, but there was no one else

willing/able. We don't know what happened to Ernst. I do know that I will never forget him and

his sister and the way they prayed faithfully to our creator.