November 15, 2009

Debi and I decided to set our alarms for 7 just to make sure we didnt sleep in too long. We got up and saw that the sun hadnt quite reached the beach yet so we lay in bed talking for awhile and then figured we may as well be laying on the beach, so we went down. There was noone around so we claimed the long chairs and sprawled out for a bit then walked down the beach to see if we could find a fisherman. We didnt find any one fishing, but came across a couple of guys who were roasting conch over an open fire, then smashing teh shells open and making a pile of BBQ'ed lambi. The beach was pretty rocky so a tough walk in barefeet and after we got down the beach a little ways one of the vendors started following us so it ruined it and we turned around and went back so he would leave us alone and stop talking about his necklaces for sale. We found the others later and had breakfast and said goodbye to Wadson and Carli who were flying out today. We spent the whole day on the beach and I am very freckly with some random blotches of red. On our drive home we took route neuf and were at the same spot where the 2 Canadians were attacked in Cite Soleil. When we got back to the guest house we went up to see the progress on Travis' mural on the outside wall of the clinic that runs along the street, he has touched up the original sign and has a woman kneeling down by a young boy in a chaise roulante.
After supper we had our team meeting to plan for Monday’s activities, and I will be going to Cite Soleil to do a scouting/ initial assessment of some orphanages in the area to plan for future needs! I am so excited to be going! We have been guaranteed safety by the UN and will be meeting our security patrol tomorrow morning in the city. During the meeting Colleen also brought to our attention a neighbour of the guesthouse, who is in need of medical attention. He had a CVA and uses a wheelchair and has multiple ulcers on his legs which the nurses are going to attend to because he has been putting anti-fungal crème all over them. Colleen wants me to go check out his wheelchair and other equipment needs. So I grabbed some tools and a measuring tape and walked over to his little apartment. Turns out he is foot-propelling in a transport chair and thus more likely to bang his legs on objects. P+O says they cant get an AFO on his R ankle because of contracture so a footrest is fairly imperative, also secondary to edema I would like to see some elevation. So I measured for a new wheelchair but found out we have none to provide up at the clinic. In asking about any other difficulties he may be having I decided to check out his bathroom set-up and discovered I could barely get the door open! Inside he had a lot of room for transfers and had a shower stall with a ledge. I asked about how he is showering and he has assistance but sits in an old broken wheelchair that doesn’t look like it should be able to hold him. So I have a few things left to do for him, e-mail Healing Hands to have repairs done to the apt, and let the next team coming in know about the wheelchair and tub transfer bench that he requires.