I am a teacher, not a nurse

Here are some of my job responsibilities:

• teaching English in grades 7-12
• after school computer class
• after school Laboule English class
• taking pictures
• helping in the clinic
• refilling prescriptions when the clinic is not open (mostly tums, tylenol, and high blood pressure meds)
• helping Johane with administrative projects

My title is "English teacher". That's pretty self-explanatory. I'm a team player, so I don't mind helping people with their responsibilities. I even enjoy it most of the time. (The jobs I don't like require filing the dossiers back into their respective boxes. I generally put them in numerical order and hand them off to Nalouse.) However, there are these jobs that are occasionally thrust upon me that I just can't handle.

Need an example? Good. I've got two from this week. First, one of our neighbor kids had a prescription for Amoxicillian and ibuprofen. Johane asked me to get the meds from the clinic on Monday when I went to school. Not a problem. I'm a team player, remember? I like to help. So, I go to the clinic. Before I even step foot in the pharmacy (which is seriously one step from the door to the outside), an elementary kid is there saying, "Britney, mwen malad." This kid is notorious for attention seeking behavior, so I didn't believe that he was sick. However, before I could shoo him away, he took off his shoe and then his sock. Just my luck the kid has a nasty big toe injury that I can't ignore. Gross.

Anytime one of the high school students gets hurt, they send someone to find me. It doesn't matter where I am, they expect me to have supplies and the willingness to bandage them up. I think the fact that I'm white makes these kids think I am medically trained. I understand that 90% of the white people they meet are working in the clinic, but I am not medically trained! AND I DON'T LIKE NASTY WOUNDS THAT ARE LEAKING BODY FLUIDS. Don't they know the principal's office has a first aid kit?

The second example doesn't involve any body fluids. Thankfully! After I cleaned and bandaged the nasty toe, I started looking for the two medications I needed in the pharmacy. While I was there three students and the librarian came to ask me for medicine. Three of them were very easy: tums and/or tylenol. The fourth boy, Wilson, was extremely ill. He had a fever and was shaking so much I was afraid he was going to fall over. I immediately made him sit down and I gave him some ibuprofen to help with the fever. It wasn't clear whether he was vomiting or had diarrhea, and I couldn't think of anything else to do for him. I told him to drink a lot of water and that he should go home and sleep. I also told him he could take more pills in 4 hours.

Later I realized that we had some rehydration packets in the pharmacy, so I sent some home with one of his friends who promised to deliver them. I was really worried about Wilson. He was clearly very sick, and I don't think his family would be able to take him to the hospital/doctor if he got worse. This morning, Arold texted me as soon as he got to school to say that Wilson was there and completely fine. Thank you Jesus!

The moral of this blog post is you should really ask more questions about your job responsibilities. And when I say "ask more questions" I mean you should probably ask, "Will I be responsible for cleaning and treating open wounds?"

I am a teacher, not a nurse

Here are some of my job responsibilities:

• teaching English in grades 7-12
• after school computer class
• after school Laboule English class
• taking pictures
• helping in the clinic
• refilling prescriptions when the clinic is not open (mostly tums, tylenol, and high blood pressure meds)
• helping Johane with administrative projects

My title is "English teacher". That's pretty self-explanatory. I'm a team player, so I don't mind helping people with their responsibilities. I even enjoy it most of the time. (The jobs I don't like require filing the dossiers back into their respective boxes. I generally put them in numerical order and hand them off to Nalouse.) However, there are these jobs that are occasionally thrust upon me that I just can't handle.

Need an example? Good. I've got two from this week. First, one of our neighbor kids had a prescription for Amoxicillian and ibuprofen. Johane asked me to get the meds from the clinic on Monday when I went to school. Not a problem. I'm a team player, remember? I like to help. So, I go to the clinic. Before I even step foot in the pharmacy (which is seriously one step from the door to the outside), an elementary kid is there saying, "Britney, mwen malad." This kid is notorious for attention seeking behavior, so I didn't believe that he was sick. However, before I could shoo him away, he took off his shoe and then his sock. Just my luck the kid has a nasty big toe injury that I can't ignore. Gross.

Anytime one of the high school students gets hurt, they send someone to find me. It doesn't matter where I am, they expect me to have supplies and the willingness to bandage them up. I think the fact that I'm white makes these kids think I am medically trained. I understand that 90% of the white people they meet are working in the clinic, but I am not medically trained! AND I DON'T LIKE NASTY WOUNDS THAT ARE LEAKING BODY FLUIDS. Don't they know the principal's office has a first aid kit?

The second example doesn't involve any body fluids. Thankfully! After I cleaned and bandaged the nasty toe, I started looking for the two medications I needed in the pharmacy. While I was there three students and the librarian came to ask me for medicine. Three of them were very easy: tums and/or tylenol. The fourth boy, Wilson, was extremely ill. He had a fever and was shaking so much I was afraid he was going to fall over. I immediately made him sit down and I gave him some ibuprofen to help with the fever. It wasn't clear whether he was vomiting or had diarrhea, and I couldn't think of anything else to do for him. I told him to drink a lot of water and that he should go home and sleep. I also told him he could take more pills in 4 hours.

Later I realized that we had some rehydration packets in the pharmacy, so I sent some home with one of his friends who promised to deliver them. I was really worried about Wilson. He was clearly very sick, and I don't think his family would be able to take him to the hospital/doctor if he got worse. This morning, Arold texted me as soon as he got to school to say that Wilson was there and completely fine. Thank you Jesus!

The moral of this blog post is you should really ask more questions about your job responsibilities. And when I say "ask more questions" I mean you should probably ask, "Will I be responsible for cleaning and treating open wounds?"

Hot Sauce & Cholera

Arold arrived at his technical school today and found some other students sitting in the lounge eating. He noticed they were putting a lot of hot sauce on their food. It's really hot in the city today (95*) and he told me he couldn't imagine eating hot sauce on such a hot day. He apparently mentioned it to the guys too because they told him the hot sauce was to kill cholera.

Oh my word! Hot sauce as a preventative against cholera. That's hilarious! You can't make this kind of stuff up.

As funny as the idea of hot sauce killing cholera may be, this incident illuminates one of the issues I've been wrestling with lately. Most of my students (and many adults that I know) don't have a basic understanding of the human body or healthy living. What I consider "common sense" in the realm of human health and well being, is clearly not common sense. Obviously things like "keep open wounds clean" and "don't put bleach in your mouth" are not intuitively understood truths. They are lessons that must be taught.

The simple solution is to start teaching people about health. But where do we start? Do we create our own curriculum or find one that works elsewhere? What's the best way to get information to the people? How much information can they handle at one time? Is this something that can be implemented in our MTM schools? If so, will the teachers need to be trained? How much training do they need?

If only hot sauce killed cholera, then I wouldn't lay awake at night wondering how to educate high school graduates about germs and how to prevent sicknesses.

Hot Sauce & Cholera

Arold arrived at his technical school today and found some other students sitting in the lounge eating. He noticed they were putting a lot of hot sauce on their food. It's really hot in the city today (95*) and he told me he couldn't imagine eating hot sauce on such a hot day. He apparently mentioned it to the guys too because they told him the hot sauce was to kill cholera.

Oh my word! Hot sauce as a preventative against cholera. That's hilarious! You can't make this kind of stuff up.

As funny as the idea of hot sauce killing cholera may be, this incident illuminates one of the issues I've been wrestling with lately. Most of my students (and many adults that I know) don't have a basic understanding of the human body or healthy living. What I consider "common sense" in the realm of human health and well being, is clearly not common sense. Obviously things like "keep open wounds clean" and "don't put bleach in your mouth" are not intuitively understood truths. They are lessons that must be taught.

The simple solution is to start teaching people about health. But where do we start? Do we create our own curriculum or find one that works elsewhere? What's the best way to get information to the people? How much information can they handle at one time? Is this something that can be implemented in our MTM schools? If so, will the teachers need to be trained? How much training do they need?

If only hot sauce killed cholera, then I wouldn't lay awake at night wondering how to educate high school graduates about germs and how to prevent sicknesses.

Pendulum-like Emotions

Today I received some disheartening news in an e-mail about some problems with my house in Mishawaka. I don't know that "disheartening" is a strong enough word, though. I'm really, really frustrated. There's very little that I can do from Haiti, and the problems seeming to be growing exponentially rather than decreasing. I wanted to throw something I was so mad. And then I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry myself to sleep. Because if there is one thing I don't want to do, it's use wedding money for house repairs.

In my frustration and despair, I wrote a quick e-mail to some friends at church. I asked them to pray for this situation because I totally need a new attitude and my house needs to be fixed.  I also asked them if they knew of anyone in the congregation who might be willing to help.

One of the ladies has already responded to my plea for help. She started with, "First of all....I'm hugging you tight even tho you can't feel it.  :-)" She always knows how to make me feel loved. I can't wait to see her again and get a real hug! She mentioned some possible leads for people who may be able to help at my house, and then she had this to say:

Finally, take a deep breath...do not allow satan to discourage you and pull your focus from what the Lord has called you to do.  In times like this I have found it helpful to speak (aloud) truth to myself... reciting scripture, recalling God's faithfulness in past experiences (my own and others), sing songs of praise.  All these things help me to shift my focus from my problem to God and His power over all.  It can be a real battle but these things help me.    

And with those words my heart is feeling much better. Hopeful in fact.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving me friends who know and trust you. For people who remind me that YOU are in control and that I can put my trust in you. Thank you for this opportunity to watch you do what you do best: solve life's problems in ways that only you can do. I know that whatever happens, it won't be because of anything I can do or orchestrate. You are the one who's in control and you will have all the glory. 

Pendulum-like Emotions

Today I received some disheartening news in an e-mail about some problems with my house in Mishawaka. I don't know that "disheartening" is a strong enough word, though. I'm really, really frustrated. There's very little that I can do from Haiti, and the problems seeming to be growing exponentially rather than decreasing. I wanted to throw something I was so mad. And then I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry myself to sleep. Because if there is one thing I don't want to do, it's use wedding money for house repairs.

In my frustration and despair, I wrote a quick e-mail to some friends at church. I asked them to pray for this situation because I totally need a new attitude and my house needs to be fixed.  I also asked them if they knew of anyone in the congregation who might be willing to help.

One of the ladies has already responded to my plea for help. She started with, "First of all....I'm hugging you tight even tho you can't feel it.  :-)" She always knows how to make me feel loved. I can't wait to see her again and get a real hug! She mentioned some possible leads for people who may be able to help at my house, and then she had this to say:

Finally, take a deep breath...do not allow satan to discourage you and pull your focus from what the Lord has called you to do.  In times like this I have found it helpful to speak (aloud) truth to myself... reciting scripture, recalling God's faithfulness in past experiences (my own and others), sing songs of praise.  All these things help me to shift my focus from my problem to God and His power over all.  It can be a real battle but these things help me.    

And with those words my heart is feeling much better. Hopeful in fact.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving me friends who know and trust you. For people who remind me that YOU are in control and that I can put my trust in you. Thank you for this opportunity to watch you do what you do best: solve life's problems in ways that only you can do. I know that whatever happens, it won't be because of anything I can do or orchestrate. You are the one who's in control and you will have all the glory. 

Big Stuff UPDATE

On Monday night there were some pretty heavy rains in Port au Prince. Massive flooding. Mudslides. Deaths. It was a horrible night. And last night there was more rain, compounding the problems.

Our shindig with the President that was slated for today has been postponed. He's busy picking up the pieces of the storm. While we're disappointed we won't be able to meet him today, we're happy to have a president who is already active in the communities he serves.

And we're also thankful we have homes, not tents, to sleep in.