Every few months, Doctor Abby Blackmon and her husband, also a doctor, travel to Haiti with Harvest Field Ministries.
"Greg took his first trip in 2008 which was life changing for both of us and I took my trip in December of 2009," recalled Dr. Blackmon.
They travel with Brian Lloyd of Harvest Field Ministries and visit a town called Les Anglais, located about 250 miles outside of Port au Prince.
"We try and care for vulnerable children, specifically we have an orphanage and a school, " said Brian Lloyd.
Harvest Field Ministries is a Knoxville-based, non-profit Christian organization that is committed to meeting the spiritual, physical and educational needs of children.
"We provide job opportunities and vocational opportunities. We feel like teaching Haitians and giving them an opportunity to have a job is a much better way to care for them than continually giving them handouts. We work with local pastors to train and equip them to be able to disciple their people and share the gospel with their people"
According to "Doctor Abby", the first challenge in the this trip was to get to Les Anglais.
"We get on this great big, old, beat up, covered truck for a total of eight hours, then we cross a river with no bridge," she recalled.
"If the water is down we go over in the truck. If the water is up we walk across. We do two clinics in two different locations. We start at about 7:30 or 8 o'clock."
While in Haiti, Dr. Blackmon saw up to 25 children a day.
"We'll see anywhere from 200 to 350 patients a day. We just move faster because the need is there."
"It is really tough," said Brian Lloyd. "This last trip we had a baby that died from a severe respiratory issue. We had a young man that had to have his thumb amputated."
Their 11-day stay wasn't enough to see every patient, but lives were changed
"We are investing in a single community with the vision of helping people over the long term," said Dr. Blackmon. "Improving the healthcare so that the men live longer and the women live longer so that the children can go to school longer so that over the long term they are able to have better lives, less desperate lives."
To learn more about Harvest Field Ministries and how to help the organization visit www.harvestfieldhaiti.org or call (865) 806-6840.