Haiti Day 3

Day 3
March 16, 2013

I slept well last night and was awakened this morning by the sounds of roosters, goats and burros.  I'm sitting on my bed now and can see through the door of our room and out the back door of the building.  There is a rooster strutting by.

There was strong coffee this morning.  It was so strong even PK would have approved.  We had omelets, bread, Laughing Cow cheese and juice for breakfast.

We are heading to our first day at the clinic.

-Afternoon

We saw about 37 patients at the clinic this morning.  Dee, Trevor, Claude, Bill and I worked in the pharmacy.  We found a box of donated glasses.  Connie has done eye clinics before and is going to train Trevor and Claude to assist the patients in finding a pair of glasses.

Connie taking a patient's temp

 



 

Our interpreter, Rodney (blue shirt on right), translating for our doctor

There is quite a contrast between the dispensing of medicine here and in the U.S.  To begin with, I am at most qualified to be a teacher, but I play a pharmacist in Haiti. 

 

Weslyn in front of her cabinet of meds.

 

There is a local nurse who runs the clinic on a regular basis.  Her name is Weslyn.  She diagnoses and dispenses medications.  I'm not sure she has a thorough knowledge of all the medications.  Weslyn has her own system of organization in the clinic.  Every. Single. Bone. In. My. Body. desperately wants to reorganize the medications, but when we aren't here, it is her baby.  We had each of our suitcases of medical supplies packed with an individual packing list.  The list was more to show officials what was in the suitcases should there be any questions.  However, it would have been an easy way for us to locate the medications Rodney had sent.  The suitcases went to the clinic ahead of us and Weslyn had already pulled out a lot of the meds.  A lot of our morning was spent trying to figure out a system and get in a rhythm.

We took a break for a lunch of fried plantain, french fries, goat and a little peanut butter.

After lunch, Dee and I found the local pastor, Pastor Jacki.  His role could best be described as district superintendent.  We needed him to line up some local adults to help supervise VBS this afternoon.

The children were ready for VBS at 3:00.  Dee and our interpretor, Angie, told the story of Jesus telling the disciples to let the children come to him.

There was a lady with twin girls.  She brought the girls over for Dee to take a picture.  We told her they were pretty babies.  When we returned to the guest house, Angie came to find me because the woman who was holding the babies said I promised her something.  We have been warned and warned and warned not to make promises to the people here.  Anything we want to give or donate needs to be done through the local pastors as not to create jealousy in the local community.  I was thankful that Pastor Bill was nearby the entire time I was interacting with the woman.  When Angie  told me what the woman wanted, I told Bill.  He assured her we only talked about the babies.  Angie told the lady that.  In the past, people who have come to help have given handouts.  Although it is hard not to give, give, give, it is important not to just give handouts.  Many of the local people have learned to manipulate (sounds harsh, but for lack of a better word) the system.  The woman knew the babies would draw attention and was trying to get something in return.  She was actually better dressed than most people and well fed.

I am trying to make sense of the cultural differences.  Are we a hindrance to these people?  They do not see poverty the same way we do.  Do they resent these "wealthy" Americans coming to help them?  Do they think we have more pity for them than love?  What would I think if a boat load of millionaires transcended on my neighborhood trying to bring it up to their standards when I already love my home and community? 

I sat by a little boy at VBS who wanted me to sit by him.  It is a wonderful thing to see how much we can communicate with body language, a motion and a smile.  The little boy asked me my name.  Whenever another child would come near, the little boy would tell them my name and tell me the child's name.

-Evening

We had dinner together.  Rice and beans, friend plantains, green beans and a soup that had some veges and goat.

Before dinner, Connie, Dee and I were talking.  Connie shared that she saw a patient today with stomach issues.  It bothers the patient most mornings.  Connie asked how many times a day she had a meal.  The answer?  Once.  Her stomach hurts in the morning because she is hungry.  That made every bite of my dinner hard to swallow.  The people are hungry and I had three meals today.  Part of our money we pay to stay here supplies us with a security guard.  His name is Lamar. 

 

Lamar and two of his children.  He told us the other two are in school in Port au Prince.

 

He has been eating after we do.  Some how he missed it tonight.  Bill told our interpreter to tell the kitchen staff to bring an extra plate at each meal so Lamar can eat with us.

I just went outside and watched the stars.  So very pretty.

Our translator, Rodney (not to be confused with Doc Rodney), told us after dinner that many of the Haitian people turned to God and became Christian after the earthquake.  Voodoo has been very prominent in Haiti, but that has decreased.  The blessing in the catastrophe.