It's All About Relationships

LDS Humanitarian Services always partners with agencies that can get supplies and service on the ground to people in need. Such was the case with Operation Continuing Promise 2009 aboard the U.S.N.S. Comfort. Katie Money, a neonatal intensive care nurse from Ogden, Utah, shares her perspective.

A Hug Makes All the Difference

Angela Berrett, RN, is on board the USNS Comfort--a US Navy hospital ship in the Caribbean--for two months of its four-month humanitarian and medical expedition. The video shares one of her stories while working with patients in Haiti.

Hygiene kit helped African refugee keep hopes alive

Mariama Kallon was a typical teenager—excited about girlfriends, family, and boys. But what should have been one of the best times in her life quickly turned into horror. Her parents were shot and killed, her brother was abducted and slain, and she saw her sister get her legs brutally cut off. It was 1992, and civil war ravaged Sierra Leone.

“My family was constantly on the run, trying to escape the rebel soldiers,” said Mariama. “It was terrifying every time the rebels came through a city. Someone would see their torches approaching in the night, warn the others, and we would run for the bush, grabbing whatever we could along the way.”

One day Mariama arrived in yet another village to live with a friend. As she was telling her story, one neighbor said, “Mariama, we don’t have anything to offer you except an invitation to church tomorrow. That’s where we find safety. That’s where we find hope.”

Mariama decided to go.

“My first Sunday in that branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a day I’ll never forget,” said Mariama, who soon joined the Church. As the war continued, the Church sent food and humanitarian kits. “Everyone was so grateful even to get a small bag of rice or beans,” said Mariama. “I received a blanket and a hygiene kit that included a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, a comb, and a washcloth.”

Soon, the rebels hit again and set fire to the house Mariama was living in. “As I was running to escape the flames, I took time to save only two things—my scriptures and my hygiene kit, she said. “We had to live on the run for a while, and I used my hygiene kit to help those around me. I would go to the river and carefully pass my bar of soap from person to person. The blanket too was invaluable. It sheltered us for many days until I used it to wrap an old woman who had died.”

Mariama eventually went back to her home and decided to go on a mission. She was called
to the Temple Square Mission in Salt Lake City.

“I arrived in Utah with practically nothing,” said Mariama, “but I insisted on bringing my hygiene kit. One day, we were taking a tour of the Humanitarian Center and I recognized a blanket with an embroidered Relief Society logo—just like the one I’d had in Sierra Leone. I then saw hygiene kits like mine and familiar bags of beans and rice, and I began to cry.”

“This is where they came from! Tears streamed down my cheeks as I remembered what these things meant to my friends and to me in Sierra Leone. I was so grateful to the
Lord for preserving me, for bringing the gospel into my life, and for allowing me to serve a mission. I knew that His angels truly had been round about me, to bear me up.”

Massive relief operation in Caribbean

Jenna Rix is onboard the USNS Comfort, a navy hospital ship on a seven nation tour in the Caribbean, Latin America and Central America. The mission "Continuing Promise" is a goodwill medical training mission orchestrated by the US Navy in partnership with private volunteers and non-governmental organizations. During its four-month mission, over 90,000 medical procedures, including 3,000 surgeries, will be performed.

Jenna reports that there are 14 LDS humanitarian volunteers on board. Humanitarian Services of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also sent 10 shipping containers of medical equipment and supplies. On a recent blog, Jenna published several stories from the nurses:

"Our first patient completely broke my heart. I can honestly say that I shed a few tears. He had a deformed jaw, deformed fingers and joints, and he walked with a substantial limp. He looked like he was only like 10 years old. I found out he also has typhoid. He has no one and nothing in this life. There was nothing we could do for him except give him some vitamins to take for a couple weeks. That's it. The doctor came out of her little cubicle and started crying, which made me cry. It broke my heart there was nothing we could do." ~ Angela

"Yesterday while some were on shore a young child was observed crying while a mother was pouring dirty water (all the water in Haiti is dirty) over a large burn on his back. It was reported and the Admiral went and looked for the family and gave them a ticket to be seen and immediately transported the child up to our area of triage. I was told the child is blind and was hit by a car and subsequently burned from the muffler on the vehicle and the mother was trying to sooth the burn with the water. It is a sad, happy story. Sad the child was injured, happy that we will be able to help." ~ Joyce

"Some of our next patients were 30 kids from an orphanage. Oh, they were beautiful! The older kids were carrying and taking care of some of the younger kids. They were waiting in line and one of the military commanders pulled out a harmonica and started playing for the kids. They were so excited! When a lot of us pulled out pictures and asked if we could take pictures of them, the older kids started turning the younger kids around and posing with them. They were so excited to see us." ~ Angela

"An older gentleman who has been paralyzed since 1982 came in this old broken down wheelchair. He didn't have leg rests on his wheelchair, so someone had tied a rope that he had to manually lift his legs up onto the rope when someone was pushing him. Well, someone donated a bunch of wheelchairs to this mission. So, this man got a brand new shiny red wheelchair with leg supports. The smile on his face was so huge when he realized that he was going to get the wheelchair. Something we take for granted every day changed this man's life." ~ Angela

See Jenna's complete blog at http://continuingpromise2009.blogspot.com/