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In the pool of light from my headlamp I could just see well enough in the black Haitian night to clean the road dirt from the lacerations that covered the little girl's face, head and body. She was whimpering now and then, but still bearing up bravely. I spoke words she couldn't understand, but in soothing tones I hoped she would recognize. The scene was surreal. A loud mass of Haitians were pressing in around me and the other four doctors and six support people as we attended the victims of a car accident. Three were already dead. The piercing shrieks and wails of the death mourners all around us added to the chaos.

When the screaming from the accident had first erupted a half hour ago, we had been attending some patients at a small clinic north of Port-au-Prince. Dr. Steve Hall had just delivered a baby. I was cleaning and dressing a deep burn wound on the back of a woman who had been pinned against her cooking fire when her roof collapsed during the earthquake. As I finished taping on her new bandages, there were suddenly the sounds of running and screaming and yelling, and the bleeding bodies of several victims were carried to us. In the end, the little girl and a man with a fractured shoulder and forearm were stabilized, hooked up to IVs, loaded into the back of a pickup truck and driven a half hour to a small hospital. Fortunately there was an able physician available as the little girl's abdomen was becoming more tense, indicating possible internal injuries.

In the week I spent in Haiti with One Vision, a Christian ministry headed up by John Miller locally, and co-run by Dr. Francisco Noel in Haiti, I worked alongside Dr. Steve Hall, Dr. Guy Smoak, and Dr. Alan Savell in cleaning and dressing countless wounds from the earthquake, casting a few fractures, and treating the routine ailments and infections that came our way. Several other men were invaluable in getting us and our gear organized, transported, and set up for work. We also spent time with 125 orphans who Dr. Noel had found a few months back, living unsupervised and uncared-for under a thatched roof. One Vision had moved them to a piece of land, housed, and fed them. But like so many other structures, the orphanage building had collapsed in the earthquake. By God's grace none of the orphans were killed or badly hurt. Now they were living under large blue tarps awaiting other arrangements. As we checked them over, three had malaria and one had typhoid but most were in fairly good health. Even more enjoyable than giving them medical care was simply playing with them. Throwing them in the air and watching their smiles was a delight.

Port-au-Prince is in ruins. Haiti is devastated, and in fact was in a tragic state even before the earthquake. As in the night of the car accident, there is a great deal of chaos and darkness and death. The task seems overwhelming. But as in that night, a start must be made somewhere. Light must be directed into the dark and work begun. One Vision has a model which makes sense for Haiti. They have bought 40 acres of land. On that land they hope someday to have seven components: an orphanage, a church, a school, a medical clinic, a farm, a training center for learning a basic trade and a team center to house visitors from the U.S. or other countries. If such centers for physical and spiritual life and learning can be put together and multiplied, perhaps Haiti can be brought back to health one piece at a time. Check it out and consider helping out at OneVisionIntl.org. A final thought: we are so very blessed.

Dr. Andrew Smith is board-certified in family medicine and practices at 1503 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville. Contact him at 982-0835.