Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman

Unlike most superheroes, Shelley does not wear a cape, does not swap identities with an alter-ego, and most certainly does not wear underwear OUTSIDE of her clothing (Not on purpose, anyway). She doesn’t drive a fancy Bean-mobile or fly through the air without the help of American Airlines. She does not beat up bad guys (though she was tempted to when one of those bad guys was beating up one of our good girls). She does not have Wonder Woman’s magic truth lasso or her bullet-repelling bracelets. But she is a wonder woman in her own right. She is a hero by the most simple definition: somebody who saves lives.

Let me back up a little…

A few weeks ago one of our very pregnant artisans, Makencia, was sleeping in a tent, in the mud and rain, with hurricanes and wind storms threatening to bowl over her little maternity suite like a tumbleweed. Shelley decided to ask Makencia and Serlo (Papa) if they wanted to move into our house until the baby was born. They agreed, and Shelley arranged for Makencia to get checked on by our midwifery friends at Heartline ministries. They confirmed that Makencia was indeed having TWINS, and they explained some of the risks to Shelley. A couple weeks later (a couple of days ago) Shelley noticed symptoms similar to those the Heartline folks had described for Preclempsia and so she called a nearby nurse friend of ours, Brooke, to take Makencia’s blood pressure. It was through the roof… even though makencia was still more than 2 months from her due date. Shelley drove Makencia to a hospital, consulting with Heartline folks about where to go, and got Makencia to a great place (unlike the nightmare maternity ward she blogged about a while back) where the doctors took good care of her and today, helped her deliver two healthy (albeit premie) little beautiful girls. Had Shelley not advocated for Makencia and just paid attention to her, she could have potentially died, along with her two babies…


So tonight when she came home from doting on Makencia and the babies, Shelley was rejoicing over these three saved lives. She began to reflect out loud about other lives that she has been blessed to play a role in preserving here in Haiti. As we talked she was full of gratitude and pleasure that she has been positioned to do such important work. She began to recall stories of other lives she has rescued since we’ve been here …. Marcel, saved by a $5 malaria pill. Rose, saved by a car ride to the hospital and a surgery that she didn’t even know she needed. A woman and a baby on the brink of bleeding to death at the hand of a sadistic doctor… Shelley paid off the doctor. The many earthquake victims she took to the hospitals, the others she advocated for while she was there… Shelley was running out of fingers to count the people whose lives she had saved. She didn’t even begin to count the people who have had money to pay for doctor visits or food for their kids because of their employment through the Apparent Project, or the medical team that she hosted that saw more than 100 people in a day. There’s no way to know how many precious lives have been preserved by the food and medicines and prayers and homes and all those things that Shelley labors so hard for. For her, she was thinking about the individuals. The faces and names of friends. And that is why she was in the right place, at the right time, so many times,  to save so many lives… because she has made friends with the poor. That’s it. That’s all they needed was somebody with a car, some education, some contacts, and most of all, care enough to be present, to check in, and to be available. In all these cases, it was Shelley’s friendships that made her a hero.


She would never have written about all this, and she may be embarrassed by me mentioning it, but I felt like it should be celebrated and she deserves some recognition. I don’t know if I’ve ever met somebody who is not a fireman, or a medical professional, or a police officer that has saved so many lives.  To say I’m proud of her does not seem to do justice to what she deserves for what she has poured out and what she has accomplished here in Haiti in so short a time. She’s super, and I think she makes her Abba proud to call her His.  Go Shelley!

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Marilyn Monaghan

Marilyn Monaghan

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Chaos & oppression in Haiti block opportunities for the poor.

Apparent Project offers the quality education & job skills training needed to help the poor rise up out of poverty and become future leaders of integrity in Haiti.

Psalm 2:8 “Ask of ME, and I will give you the Nations for Your Inheritance…”

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