Clinic Day 2

Wow. What a great day!

We started the morning knowing there would be a ton of people at the clinic today. We could see the line along the road to the clinic, and just after breakfast Joanne told us she had never seen so many people there before. I haven't heard official numbers from Marcia yet, but I think the medical clinic saw close to 200 people.

I started the day out counting pills and waiting for scabies patients. There were a few, but no one was any where near the level of yesterday's case. (The picture is of Lexi and me giving a little boy a treatment.) After a while I traded Chad places and became the bouncer. Basically I told people when it was there turn to get weighed, where to stand until it was their turn, and when they could go back to a table. I loved it because I got to see everyone coming in, play with the babies while they waited in line, and give out stickers to all the kids. The part I'm not really fond of is standing and staring at the people while they wait. I can't communicate with them, and there's not much to do. A lot of the time I felt like I was just standing around. I also liked that I didn't have to count pills though. :)

In the late morning a man came in holding a newborn baby. The baby was crying and moving it's mouth like it was hungry. Haylee was worried about the baby, so she pulled the guy out of line and snagged a translator. He told us the baby hadn't eaten anything all day and the mother wasn't breastfeeding because she had something wrong with her head. Finally the mom came, but she didn't want to breastfeed. The baby ended up eating part of a bottle, and we sent them home with some of those 3 oz Similac bottles for newborns.

The highlight of the day for me were the kids. There were some awesome little babies that came in who smiled and giggled and clapped for me. Our last patient was a tiny 7 month old who was super smiley. I got to hold her for a little while while her mom had some lab work done (aka peed in a cup). I know other people got pictures, so I'll post some when I get them.

Clinic's Opening Day

Today was AWESOME!! We opened the clinic around 10:30 am after organizing ourselves and all the new stuff we brought up the mountain. We saw 126 patients and the eye clinic saw roughly 80 people today. We had four clinic stations set up, with a vitals station that all the patients funneled through first. There was also a pharmacy and a scabies station. I manned the scabies station with Lexi, who is 16. Most of the time we counted pills and made 30 pill packs of Tylenol and vitamins. I think we had about 10-12 scabies patients today. About 60% of them were small children, but there were some adults. The scabies treatment consists of rubbing a special lotion all over an infected person. Here are the directions I was given.

1. For children under 4, rub the cream all over the scalp, behind the ears, between toes and every where in between. Make sure you get the tip of the penis and the butt crack. For kids older than four, the scalp is unnecessary.
2. Kids younger than 12 need to be lathered up by a "professional."
3. Watch the teens and adults to make sure they get everything.
4. Tell them to wash all clothing and bedding, and they can wash the lotion off in the morning.

Our first scabies patient was a 20 something male. Lexi and I quickly agreed that watching him put on the lotion was not necessary, so we just asked him to put his hand over the curtain when he needed more. Most of the scabies treatments were pretty simple, but we had one little girl who was heartbreaking. She had the worst case of scabies some of the medical people, who have been here frequently, and had open sores all over. She had a really nasty one on her leg, one on her crotch and several others. She was crying when she got to our station, but when we started putting on the lotion she lost it. With every screech my heart broke a little more, and by the end I was crying with her. It was traumatizing. I had to leave the building for a little bit after she left because I just couldn't handle it.

The rest of the day went fairly well. We are looking forward to tomorrow.

Organizing

This morning Beth took the three girls (Beth M., Hannah, and me) up to "36" to do some organizing. Originally 36 was a private home, but Beth and Willem are able to use it as a guest house. It sleeps 18 people in beds with more room for mattresses on the floors. They use it for groups that come to Port au Prince as volunteers with other organizations. Beth provides a cook for breakfast and dinner and household chores, so the people can focus on what they are here to do. It is a very nice facility, and a great service they are able to provide.

Beth and Hannah put some hygiene packs together.


I worked on sorting the various medical supplies. Some are going to the hospital. Some will go to other missionaries and the rest to the clinic.


The beautiful view from the porch we were working on.


After a couple of hours everything was sorted and packed.


Now the rest of the medical team is arriving. Hopefully we'll be busy working again soon.

Resurrection Sunday

I had the pleasure of celebrating Christ's Resurrection with some Haitian brothers and sisters this morning. It was fabulous. I wanted to make a short video, but I decided against it. I didn't want to be a distraction.

My chauffeur David and our sweet ride.


The look of Gramothe (pronounced gruh-mott) has changed drastically since I was last here. The old church (on the right) had just been built when I came in 2000. The bottom story of the elementary school was there (barely two rooms), and there was a dirt path between them. Now there is this.


The new sanctuary is on top of the school cafeteria. It is much bigger, and very nice. I should have taken a picture of the inside. Maybe I can do that later this week.

Arrival

We have safely arrived in Haiti. I believe Haiti has the quickest Immigration and Customs procedures of any country I've ever visited. However, baggage claim was a whole different story. Here are some pictures of the uncontrolled chaos called Port-au-Prince Baggage Claim.


Beth M. is the girl all the way on the left looking for her luggage in the sea of people. She's wearing pink and brown.


We met Beth Charles, the missionary we are staying with, just outside the airport door and booked it to her vehicle trying to avoid the masses of men trying to carry our bags to earn a tip. We immediately saw some very colorful taptaps like this one.


As we drove from the airport to the house we saw many buildings like this one. There were many buildings that were completely collapsed, but just a few blocks away there seemed to be no damage whatsoever.


There were also many tent cities, but I didn't get a picture. It was just too sad. We did see people selling lots of things along the streets. This particular place had an unusually large concentration of coolers, luggage, and lawn chairs.


I'll post more pictures of the guest house when the internet is cooperating a little better.

Leaving on Jet Plane

Travel Itinerary & My Fabulous Commentary

Friday 4/2
3:30pm Leave for O'Hare Airport--encountered stopped traffic for about 30 min on the toll road due to construction
8:00pm Flight leaves for Ft. Lauderdale--mostly I slept
11:08pm Arrive at Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport--found a cozy little corner and attempted to catch some ZZZZs
3am Small child screeches every 2-3 minutes for pure joy
3:30am Eavesdrop on an angry Jamaican woman telling her boyfriend what she really thinks of him; incidentally I made a note to save important conversations with a significant other for a private place and a decent hour
4am Arise and prepare for the day
5am Coax Beth to forsake her vanity and check her bag
5:30am Survived security
6:00am Discover free WiFi and party like it's 1999! (or prop feet up and blog)

So, so, so excited to be on my way to Haiti!
6:10am

Maybe You Had to Be There

It was the last day before spring break. I admittedly was not the most attentive teacher--especially when it came to the students who finished their book projects during class. I was more worried about the kids who didn't even have their projects started. Because of my distracted brain, one of my more responsible students found time during class today to bless us with some of her artwork.



She finished her project early on, so she found other things to occupy herself. First she draw one picture on the board, and then moved on to something else.



But the chalk must have been calling her name. She couldn't stay away from the board for more than a few minutes at a time.



While none of the drawings bore any resemblance to an actual person, each was supposed to represent a student from class. I wish I had a picture of the final product. The boys all ended up with hairy arms and legs. Some had boogers or armpit hair.



My favorite, though, were the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles with black eyes.

As great as the pictures were, the best part of the day was when another girl--who has an unnatural obsession with both Lady Gaga and Hello Kitty--finally noticed the pictures and loudly declared, "You're soooooooo weird. Look at those pictures!"

My little artist wasn't offended in the least. "Whatever. I'm not the one who likes Lady Gaga and Hello Kitty."

I could have peed my pants I laughed so hard!