Bonswa

Hi all. Back at the Hotel Oloffson to use the internet and there is some Haitian folk dancing or something going on here tonight. Since I wrote last Thursday, Lauren (a nurse) has left, Tuwanda (a doctor from Chicago) arrived, Cassidy came back, Little Paul (LP) came back, and Heather left today. We also have two new roommates- Michelle, an RN, and Arndell (not sure on the spelling of his name). Everyone that's just arrived is great but it was sad to see Heather and Lauren go. They said they'll be back, which is good!

Jeanne and I went to the tents again on Friday with our translator, Jameson. Then that night we went to this really nice restaurant called LaReserve, had drinks and dinner and met a guy named Alex who is trying to make a lot of beneficial changes to the health care system in Haiti. Saturday, Jeanne and I rode with Nick, a guy who lives with us, up to Petion-ville to this awesome patisserie. We got croissants, chocolate croissants, and awesome ham and cheese sandwiches (all for around $15, and this was for a lot of people!). BP then got a call from Medishare that they had a pregnant woman that needed to be transported to what MMRC calls the "baby factory," a hospital where really all they do is have babies. It was crazy to see this place.  Let's just say Haitian women are not particularly concerned with privacy during labor. Everything's pretty out in the open and there's really no such thing as a private room, more like stalls. Anyway, we dropped her off there and hopefully everything went well for her.

Saturday night, we went to this really cool restaurant that is a sugar cane museum during the day...I think. Heather decided that it was going to be my birthday so she got this little mariachi-esque band to come sing me happy birthday. You can imagine I turned red, especially since the song went on for at least 5 minutes. The birthday song that never ends. Sunday was lazy, we ate egg sandwiches and came to the Oloffson to lie by the pool.

Ok....Monday. Jeanne and I spent almost 12 hours at the tents, definitely the most trying day yet of this whole trip. It's been at least a few months since I did anything for 12 hours straight, much less something like this. It was a pretty regular day as far as TB tent days ago, until a patient fell into respiratory distress....her right lung was almost filled with fluid. Megan started a thoracentesis- a procedure that she does regularly for many TB patients that involves sticking a needle and catheter through spaces between the ribs to reach the lung space so the fluid can be withdrawn. Jeanne and I alternating pulling out the fluid with a 60 ml syringe while Megan positioned the catheter so that it was in the correct space. Anyway, we worked with this patient for a long time, but unfortunately she passed away early the next morning. Her brother is one of the sweetest, most helpful men I have met in Haiti and my heart really goes out to him and the rest of his family.

Yesterday, we went and checked out an orphanage....sweetest kids ever, a few needed antibiotics and I think we are going to go back next Monday and bring them more stuff since we now know what they need most. Jeanne and I were back to the tents today, this time with Pierre as our translator (Jameson deserved a break).   It was an efficient day, Jeanne has pretty much mastered starting IVs and I'm catching up with her slowly but surely. We have started to solidify relationships with some patients, and our Creole is improving. GrassRoots United has Creole lessons every Thursday night, so we might try and catch those tomorrow.

A few random thoughts- Haiti is in the EST zone, but they don't do daylight savings as I've mentioned. So the sun rises at 5:15 (seriously) and it's pitch black outside by 7 pm. Still not quite used to it, but my eye mask helps some at night, haha. I had a small ganglion cyst (or bible cyst) on my left hand before I came as a few of you may know. Well, it got smashed. With a book, just like in the old days. Why I subjected myself to it I don't know, but sure enough, it's gone. For now. Another housemate of ours is Kitty Rat, a rat that's so large it almost can be mistaken for a cat. I have yet to see it, somehow Jeanne spots it just about every night. I need to see what I'm up against here. I've almost finished The Girl Who Played With Fire (and sure enough mom and Milly, it has totally fallen apart!) and it's really good. Will be moving on to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest next, then maybe Slaughterhouse Five. Decided I want to reread the Great Gatsby so I'm going to try and get my hands on a copy of that.

Will be trying to upload Snapfish pictures after I post this, so check it out. Thanks for being in touch!

E

Two days in a row!

This is a rarity. We are at the GrassRoots United house, having a kind of meet and greet with them and some of the other people that live with them. They have a cool "earthship" here, which is a structure built out of old plastic bottles, tires, and concrete. They also build huge domes that look like giant jungle gyms. Pretty neat. The coolest part is that they have a literal hole in the wall that leads to the Haitian neighbors who sell beers. There is a little purple bell you ring and they come and take your order. So I'm having a semi-cold Prestige, enjoying myself.

So for anyone that went to Puerto Vallarta spring break 2010, I was looking around PAP today and realizing that it's slightly (key word) like PV, in that there is a large bay, and the rest of the city rises up into the mountains. There is actually a lot of beautiful scenery here, and a very pretty sunset tonight actually. There are a lot of steep hills and a lot of houses that seem on top of each other. I know there's still a lot of the city that I haven't seen, but so far this is what it seems like. There are always tons of people on the streets, selling anything from Cokes and Sprites to fried bananas to toiletries, refrigerators, and bedroom furniture.

Today, Jeanne and I got to go to the General (aka HUEH, the General Hospital) and work with Dr. Megan Coffee who does amazing work with tuberculosis patients. She has three tents at the hospital that house maybe 60+ TB patients and she is there every single day for at least 12 hours. In Haiti, the family members often take care of tasks that nurses would sometimes do in the US, like dressing changes, bathing, etc. So when patients come in without family, they are frequently anxious about who will take care of these activities, so Megan does these tasks for them. We got to come in and take some of the work off of her plate by doing dressing changes and blood draws. It was great. Even though it was in tents and you have to wear a heavy duty mask to protect yourself from the TB. I don't know if I've ever been so sweaty, and that is saying a lot coming from me. We plan to go there tomorrow and as many days as we are available. I really can't say enough good things about Megan and I have only known her for a few days. She is doing truly amazing work and is so dedicated.

So I really don't want to make Facebook albums for Haiti for some reason, and it seems that I just don't have the time it takes for Blogger to upload them directly to the blog. So for now I'm going to put them on Snapfish (sorry, I think you will have to make an account to see them, but I hope you will if you don't have one already!). I might be uploading occasional pictures from my phone to Facebook, but the Snapfish ones should be better quality. Click here/copy and paste this link and email me if it doesn't work: http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2372139021/a=1455062021_1455062021/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/.  So check both. I might not have time to add captions this go around, but I will eventually. All is well here, hope it's the same back home or wherever you are.

E

Internet can be a hard thing to come by in PAP. Right now we are at a restaurant in Petion-ville called Muncheez, eating pizza and french fries...So on Monday, we all went to work in the clinic I mentioned, which was set up in a church that has been under construction since before the earthquake. It's really beautiful and neat and I wish I had taken some pictures. We saw about 85 people that day, we joined the group that was already working there (a doctor and nurse from Brazil) and together seemed to be pretty efficient.

On Tuesday, Jeanne and I didn't go to the clinic because we were down a translator, so there would have been 1 translator and 5 nurses. It just didn't seem very efficient so Heather and Lauren went instead. Jeanne and I helped with some organizing and distributing supplies instead. Big Paul left for Miami yesterday, for a much needed break. He'll be back Saturday. So we've been trying to get organized in terms of what we need to accomplish this week. Lauren leaves Friday, and Heather leaves in a week. Today we visited three orphanages: Orphanage #1: someone referred us to this orphanage because a lot of the kids have some sort of fungal skin infection. We also dropped off some food and plan to go back soon with medicines and some mattresses. Orphanage #2: the orphanage mentioned in Paul's blog with the nuns. We dropped in to bring them food as well and to check on everyone. A lot of the girls had really distended bellies so we think they might all have parasitic infections. Orphanage #3: It's called Kola, and the two Pauls have had ties with them for a while. Little Paul built them some great house-like structures in their yard, and the kids are adorable. If I got to upload pictures, the pictures with the kids are from Kola. They run up to the gate and all want to hug and kiss you and find out your name. They love to be held and have their pictures taken too.

Other than that, we have all been doing a lot of organizing supplies. It rains here every afternoon and into the evening. I'm covered in bug bites, and it seems like no matter how much bug spray I put on they're still everywhere. Thanks for all the personal emails, please know that if it takes me a while to respond it's only because my Blackberry might give me carpel tunnel. But all the correspondence means a lot. Will check in again soon.

E

So far

Hey all. This might be a long one. I'm at the Olofson Hotel, with about 10 other people, having a glass of wine and waiting on dinner. It's a cool old hotel that has a bunch of voodoo stuff all around. There's also a dog and cat wandering around under the table. I'm not as friendly to them as I would be in the states.

So, about my little incident yesterday...I bought my flight down to PAP on Travelocity, which I try not to do because I prefer to go through the airlines but it was just so much cheaper. So I had a US Air flight to Ft Lauderdale and an American flight to PAP. After a two hour layover in Ft Lauderdale (not a great airport) I realized the document I'd gotten for my AA flight wasn't really a boarding pass because I got it from US Air when I checked in. So I went up to the desk just to make sure I was good to go. I wasn't. The AA woman told me I needed a boarding pass (not a big deal, just needed to show her my passport) but then she informed me I needed a return flight to Haiti, that no one was allowed to enter without a return flight or official documentation of what they were doing while in Haiti. I felt like I really did my research, so this was embarrassing and upsetting- I emailed the Haitian embassy a couple months ago, who told me you only need a visa if you stay longer than 90 days, which I'm not. She told me I needed to buy a return flight or she was taking my bags off the plane. So after a quick call to dad (thanks dad!) I bought one. It was a full fare (aka really expensive) ticket, the good news is that it's fully refundable, so I'll be cancelling this flight and getting a refund soon. Oh yea, and all of this happened while the plane was boarding. And, my friend Jeanne also flew American, on a different flight, also without a return flight, and none of this happened to her. So I still don't know the reasoning behind it because after this happened I was never asked for any proof of a return ticket. Whatever, it was upsetting at the time because I wasn't sure what I would do but it's all good now.

The PAP airport wasn't awful- customs, immigration, and baggage claim are all in this very small space and I had to watch my bags go around the carousel probably 4 times before I could even get close enough to grab them. When you walk out, there are about 50 men grabbing for your bags, so that they can carry them for you and get a tip in return. I'd been told about them, and told to avoid them, and at first I thought I was good. Then one guy literally wouldn't let go of my bag, no matter how many times I said "No thank you, really I have it!" so we both had our hands on one of my bags, dragging it down this long walkway to where people wait. Thankfully, Jeanne and Paul were right there, and Paul tipped the guy for me, which was really nice of him.

MMRC rents a little truck, so usually the driver and one passenger ride up front and everyone else rides in the truck bed. I got the front seat for the ride home and Paul gave me the rundown about driving in PAP (I don't plan on ever doing it). There is really only one general rule: drive on the right side. But this doesn't mean people don't drive on the wrong side- there aren't lines on the road, and there definitely aren't emissions regulations. Public transportation here are called tap-taps, they are basically pick-up trucks with benches in the back- they are always full and I always wonder if they'll be making it up  some of the big hills here.

We got home- Rue Babiole 31 to be exact (sorry dad, still haven't gotten the GPS coordinates yet, but you can google map that address)- which is a big house that MMRC rents. It withstood the earthquake and was checked out by a structural engineer so its pretty safe and sturdy. The lower level is kind of an extension of the driveway, with concrete floors...it's kind of like a large patio with a roof, and there are 4 big tents down there, one of which belongs to Jeanne and I. I've taken pictures but forgot the card reader that I need to load them on this computer, so they'll come later. If you go to mmrc-us.org, and click on the link for the house for rent, there are some interior and exterior shots of the house. Lots of people rent rooms inside and work for other NGOs. I have met almost all of them and most of them hang out with everyone when they're not at work.

There's a lot here that I wasn't sure would be here- running water, showers, normal toilets, an accessible refrigerator, and lots of clean water to drink. I can't complain at all about my living conditions. A very brief description of the people that are here: Jeanne- my friend from home, Paul (Big Paul/BP)- the cofounder of MMRC who is awesome, Heather- an ER nurse from Brooklyn with 13 years experience, has spent a lot of time in PAP since January, there's also Megan, Chelsea, Lauren, and Gramps. There's also Ralph, ODB, and Forrest- all from PAP and very nice.

Since it's the weekend, we haven't done much "work" yet- went out for drinks last night at the Plaza hotel. It's where Anderson Cooper stays while he's here, but no sightings yet. I slept much better than I thought I would. Jeanne and I each have our own stand-up fans (very nicely provided for us) which create great breezes in the tent. Today we went through a ton of supplies that surround our tent areas- there is really so much stuff here- and we divided it into piles for Project Medishare, Adventist, PID (Partners in Development), "the Cubans," and ourselves. Paul and Heather have worked with all of these organizations enough to know who needs what, which was impressive. A small portion of the stuff is essentially useless- expired medications and tools- and just some stuff that no one needs, and that no one would even need that often in the states (which is probably why it's here....). During this process we encountered some huge spiders- or at least huge to me, 3.5-4 inch leg span. After I saw the first one, I told Jeanne that keeping our tent totally zipped up at all times was imperative, haha. Don't want to find one of those in my bed or suitcase. No thanks.

This is way too long already, if anyone is still reading I'm impressed. Basically, all is well so far and I've really enjoyed the 26 hours that I've spent here. It's definitely going to be a crazy experience. Tomorrow, Paul has arranged for Jeanne, Heather and I to head up to a clinic and work there. For the day, for the week, indefinitely, I don't know, but I'll keep yall posted. Paul and Heather let Jeanne and I practice starting IVs on them...let's just say they're really good sports. I miss everyone, be on the lookout for pictures soon. Much love.

E

After a potential setback...

Just a quick note to tell everyone I got here safely and have settled in! Had a small issue at the airport, but it was overcome, will tell more when I'm on a computer (typing from blackberry now!). So I have perfect internet/email service, which means I can bbm, gchat, email, facebook...I can receive texts for $.05, so that's not a big deal, but if you text me you'll probably get an email back- sending texts is $.50. Also, Haiti is an hour behind EST because they don't do daylight savings. Lastly, my dad wanted me to point out that Blogger is set on PST and I can't figure out how to change it, so it looks like I'm posting 2 hours after I did. Just FYI, haha. Will update with more detail soon- bed time!

E

Last 24 hours...

In 24 hours (and 30 minutes) I'll be officially on the way to Port au Prince. I'm really excited, pretty nervous, and sad to be leaving home. But I am incredibly ready to start this new part of my life. Today I have a lot of errands to run and a lot of people to say goodbye to. Thanks for everyone's support and please keep me in your thoughts! Hope everyone reading this is doing well.

E