Haiti [Part I]

I honestly just have to say . . .

WOW!

I find it so . . . hard to believe . . . that Haiti is done. gone. history!

I feel like I dreamed ... and planned ... and waited for this time to come. And then it came -- much quicker than I expected. And my time there seemed to come to an end so quickly. It was amazing. It turned out to be a better experience than I dreamed or hoped it could be. It wasn't all easy. But overall, as I look back over the experience, it really was incredible. I'm so thankful it worked for me to go! God is amazing . . .

As many as you know, I got the virus that is new to Haiti, and has been infecting many people. It's called Chikungunya . . . with it, you can get moderate to severe joint pain, fever, flu-like symptoms, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, headaches . . . I got all of that. I first got this virus when I had just been in Haiti four days -- which means I got bitten by the mosquito that infected me soon after I arrived to Haiti. I was cooped up in my apartment, sick for three days. But it took six days to get over the worst of it, and even after that, the joint pain and fatigue took awhile in leaving. I got the virus a second time about five days before I left Haiti -- and even now I'm mostly over it -- but still have soreness and stiffness in my joints at times. So that made some days hard . . . but I survived :-)

So I'll show pictures -- over a few blog posts, and give stories and explanations as I go along. So . . .

 . . . enjoy! 

. . . my very first sightings of Haiti . . .

Port au Prince 

[Haiti's capital]

After the earthquake -- many lived in tent cities until they were able to build houses . . . this mountain of houses was not in existence until after the earthquake . . .

The guesthouse I stayed in at Titanyen

[CAM's mission about half an hour from Port au Prince]

Beginning out drive to our final desitation . . .

Lasource, Haiti.

It was a five-hour-drive.

It started out on paved roads . . .

Where the drivers were absolutely CRAZY!

But went from that to gravel . . .

Over mountains . . .

Through potholes and deep ravines . . .

I don't think I've driven on such terrible roads!

A roadside market . . .

Mmm . . .

I had lots of mangos

& watermelon

& bananas!
During my time in Haiti . . .

A lottery shack . . .

A very common sight in Haiti.

Bananas anyone? --

That truck is LOADED!

It's called a . . .

-- tap tap --

Haiti's "taxi"

[believe me -- you might be surprised how many people and luggage these things can and DO hold!]

A lovely break on our five-hour drive!

At a beautiful resort on the Carribean Sea.

The last "big" town before we hit the gravel, bumpy, pot-hole roads!

Market day!

Our first climb of the mountain . . .

The roads look fine here . . .

But believe me, they got A LOT worse!

We drove quite a ways along the Carribean!

-- it was gorgeous! --

And finally . . .

We arrived in Lasource --

My home for nearly a month!

My first day at the clinic . . .

Some sweet orphan children --

A Haitian bakery . . .

We bought our bread from here.

Common sights as I walked through the small, remote village of Lasource.

Our washing system! 

I actually enjoyed doing laundry this way :-}

A small, sick boy . . .

I'll include a little story I wrote about him.

A knock sounded at our door. We had come home from the clinic for the day. We opened the door. It was a mother with her limp son in her arms. He stared at us listlessly. The story came out. This young Haitian mother had been doing laundry all day, and her son was being watched by friends. The young mom babysitting the boy had a small baby and six other sons, and was very busy. This young boy had started vomiting, but she didn't notice how bad he got. It got to the point where he couldn't even stand anymore. He was three years old. He was very dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea. His eyes were sunken, his skin was wrinkled, his pulse was very weak, and his blood pressure was extremely low, he was also lethargic. We started giving the boy a pediatric electrolyte solution to replace the electrolytes lost with his vomiting and diarrhea. We also monitored his vitals. Every five minutes we gave him more medication to replace the fluids being lost. Would we need to take him to the clinic and put him on IV, thus we'd be stationed there watching him all night? But slowly his vitals started improving, and after only one time vomiting and some diarrhea, he started getting better. He was looking around, and was much more aware of his surroundings. When he was in stable condition, we sent him home. The child would have most likely died from dehydration if he would not have come to us . . .

And just for interest sake . . . a few words and facts about the Haitian language:

N is silent most time . . .

A few words in the Creole language I used most often:

Wi (yes)

Non (no)

Bonjou (good morning)

Bonswa (good afternoon)

Bon nwit (good night) 

Kijan ou ye (how are you)

Mwen Byen (I'm fine)

E ou menm (and your self?)

Miss (nurse)

Vini (come)

Fini (done)

And that concludes the first post -- and introduction to my month in Haiti. Keep your eyes open -- more posts to come :-}

Until next time,

Clarissa