Solo Project

Because I had the spare time, and because not a day passes without a thought of Haiti crossing my mind, I offered to complete a special project for my NGO and do follow-up from our last visit in November. I planned to go in February, and since that is the season of Spring Break for students I tossed the idea to my sister: "Want to join me in Haiti?" I dont think she even took a breath before exclaiming yes. I am so thrilled that I finally had the chance to share this experience with a member of my family! I have been raving about Haiti for years, and now I have recruited another die-hard fan so that I am not alone in the story telling. Perhaps having another person on my side will help alleviate the paranoia that people are internally rolling their eyes and thinking: "Oh yay! Another story about Haiti...", "geeze, how does she manage to find a reference to Haiti for EVERY situation..." Hopefully they arent really thinking these thoughts.
Regardless, Emily and I have already completed our project; and now I am back in Canada, dreaming and planning my next visit!

I have to admit, the night before we departed I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and wondering to myself how I come up with these crazy schemes! What had I gotten myself into! How was I going to pull this off! Going to Haiti with my younger sister in tow, I began listing the vast amount of things that could go wrong. When our plane caught fire before we even left the the jetway might have been a good moment for a panic attack to ensue...but thankfully it didnt. We arrived in Haiti a day later than planned, after an over-night in Miami (where I learned my sister is extremely easy to please during travel) and were greeted by our tour company (we use Tour Haiti if youre curious) at the airport, along with my friend Gail who handed me a charged cellphone and sent us off with hugs. Our driver was my old pal Hero so the Kreyol practice began immediately! We left the city and headed to Les Cayes with a truck loaded with wheelchairs and my lonely hockey bag of supplies. Emily's bag was stuck in Miami. We didnt see it until we returned to Port au Prince- and yes that is infuriating. Our drive through Cayes was more eventful than would be the norm because the city was hosting Kanaval! It was such a treat to spot people dressed in costumes as we made our way to the dock to meet our boat. Pulling up to the dock I spot my friend from the island, what a wonderful surprise that was! He was there to pick up people so I was able to coordinate with him our drives from our cabin to the town where the orphanage is- there are no roads on the island so we use boat. We arrived at our Haiti home and were shown to our first room. First room you wonder? We were in our first room for maybe 5 minutes before we were given a serious upgrade :) We were busy checking out our new digs, and taking pictures so we could document every second of our trip, when I looked up and spotted our roommate. My sister was in the bathroom exclaiming about how cool the mirror design was, so she wasnt there to meet him (or perhaps her?) Emily is TRAGICALLY afraid of spiders. So much so it has become a bit of a family joke. So when I spotted the enormous spider on the wall above the bed I hesitated on how to react. I chose to kindly request she remain in the bathroom. This tipped her off. When I wouldnt let her look out she knew something was up. Needless to say, when I asked a staff member to remove the spider, they took their service to a new level and offered us a cabin on the beach. Um, yes, of course we wouldnt mind moving onto the beach- how quick can I grab my bag and run to the cabin? It was such a fantastic little cabin on the beach, we were entirely smitten at first sight. (We stayed at Village Vacance if youre curious) To top off our little streak of luck, my friend who I had run into in Cayes had come to drop off his customers who also were staying at our resort and invited us to come to the beach with them since they were already being paid to drive the boat there. Who turns down a free trip to the beach which would normally be an arduous hike? Not us. While at the beach we spotted Sean Penn who had arrived by helicopter. Let me take this opportunity to explain my new found hatred for helicopters on beaches with a little math: high winds + sand + little ol me = a whole world of discomfort. Thanks Sean, Thanks. We had a nice swim and then returned to our cabin to shower and enjoy our lobster supper. Ah, living the life in Haiti we were! We were both extremely excited about finally making it to the orphanage the next morning after our delay, and Emily could finally meet all my friends (big and little!)

Back in Port au Prince

OK, I obviously failed my experiment of attempted blogging again! I am back in Port au Prince and nearly 2 weeks have passed since I last popped on here to update. We have been quite busy, nd it was difficult to sneak away to take the time to type out our daily activities. I was able to take some notes the first few days on paper, to remind me of what I would want to elaborate on later- but that, too, only lasted so long. I will try to get back into it before too long so that I dont forget! Today was a travel day, leaving Jacmel to come back into Port au Prince, so we didnt have any work arranged (that and it's Sunday so difficult to arrange any work.) We had our last breakfast overlooking the ocean this morning and then enjoyed a swim in the ocean after packing our rooms up. I borrowed Caryn's goggles and swam around to explore. I only had one minor panic moment when I was over on the rock edge farther than I had ever gone before, but I did some deep breathing and calmed :) I did see some fish, little blue ones, a middle sized orange one, a big white one and a lot of yellow and black striped ones. It was really interesting.
We left Jacmel at around 12:30 and arrived at our guesthouse at 3:30 (not bad.) I always enjoy the drive over the mountain (and the cool air) but I may have gotten too much sun on one arm- its not sore though. Michaelle made me a list on the drive of her favourite kreyol musicians, so it will be neat to see how many of them I can find when I get home. I also studied some kreyol on the drive from my iPhone app, and on one of the stops Hero (our driver) and I played a quick game of him reading the english and then me trying to guess the kreyol before him. A little girl came over and played along as well, but I dont think she had any english.
When we got to the guest house we packed a bag to send back down to Ile a Vache and then we took a tour of the new clinic! It's exciting to see how much progress they have made since May. We were able to walk around all 3 levels and imagine what it will look like. Andy says they are hoping to have it open in March. We came back to the house and had supper, set up our bug nets and now we are playing games and catching up with our technology. My iPhone is also no longer responding. I had fixed it this morning, but then right after supper it stopped recognizing my touch. This happened to me on Friday as well, so I had to let it die and recharge. Hopefully letting it die will resolve the issue again (its a lot closer to death this time fortunately)

Arrival in Port au Prince

It has been a long day, as is the case each time I travel to Haiti. Always such an early morning :) My alarm went off at 2am this morning and we were up and at 'er! I managed to forget to bring my water bottle which is laying in the drying rack next to the sink at home. Thankfully I realized this on the drive to the airport and was able to message my friend who had a later flight out of Ottawa and she packed me an extra bottle! Great team-work! I spent the rest of the drive remembering all of the other things I forgot :)
I met up with the rest of my team (physio, speech, ortho and RN) in Montreal. I didnt have too much of a wait between arriving in Montreal and boarding the plane to leave for Haiti. As we were about to board we noticed that boarding along side us was the honourable Michaelle Jean. When I got to my seat I found that it was occupied by another woman, and Caryn said that they had just had to do a big shuffle themselves because most people were in the wrong seats. Through broken Kreyol I discover that it is a woman and her mother who did not have seats together, but because the mother was elderly and not well she wanted to be close to her. WHo is going to be the bully in that situation? Not I. I was trying to figure out where her seat was, but she wasnt following my questioning because she just continued to repeat the info about her mother not being well. Luckily a flightattendent was able to get her to finally prodce her ticket so I could find where her empty seat on the plane was. It was way in the back in the middle of the middle. Convenient. I made my way back to her seat and tried to explain the switch but, again, communication difficulties and they werent letting me get into the seat which was pretty confusing. In the end someone else switched to that seat so I got an aisle seat which was preferable to the middle of the middle. I napped on the plane and played peek a boo with a little boy in my row and then we were here! Once through customs we all actually located our luggage pretty quickly, both of my hockey bags of supplies arrived. Big hugs for Gail. We then played a fun game of "find Allen" which is much akin to where's waldo, only you have no idea what Allen looks like. We didnt find him easily so we decided to head out and load up the van and Gail would go back for the mystery person when more people had cleared out. Big hugs for Noel. I bought a couple of waters in the parking lot, oh yeah, Haiti heat! And then we were off to the guest house! Big hugs for Andy. We unloaded the van and I picked a bed and then we headed out to the grocery store. It took us a very long time to get there because of traffic. We all bought most of the things we would want to bring home, in case we didnt get a chance to come back to the store before we left. I got the usuals and a few new things that caught my eye. I switched over some money into gourds as well. We had plans to go to Montana after supper, but everyone is exhausted and cant find the energy to leave. For supper we had a spicy pasta with pikliz, salad and frites and cherry juice. As we were sitting at the supper table we started to plan for tomorrow morning and came to the conclusion that if we were going to hit the road early in the morning to beat traffic to get out of town, we needed to get the wheelchairs out of the cage and organized. Mention wheelchairs and it means I get to work :) The light in the cage isnt working, just for an added challenge. All the equipment is piled into a small room, this is the same pile of equipment that we organized 6 mos ago. It is no longer in any shape or form organized. I climbed in and decided to get down and dirty to get the job done before I crashed. Luckily it didnt take us too long once we decided to be ruthless and just tear things out. I have a chair set aside for the teenager in Bellevue and I picked one out for Enrico by eyeing it and not having any measurements. I'm hoping these work out. We picked out a bunch of random parts and supplies in case we need to make repairs at the orpahange.
I apologize for this lack luster update, but the best I can manage is the bare facts of the day- no delightful insights or witty commentary from this worn out chick. I think I will actually make my way down to my bunk and crawl under my bug net.

Whoops

It seems I have fallen off the blogosphere! I did not do very well with keeping the entries up to date, but to be fair, I neglected to finish my personal travel journal on each trip to Haiti since! I often do well on the first couple of days, but then once things start to get really busy and you don't have time to get all of your thoughts on paper when it happens, you are continually playing catch up. I have quick jot notes about what happened for each of the days, scribbled in haste in hopes that eventually I would come back and give them more flavour. This never happened. At least I have high hopes for myself, right? So here I am, back. Ready to give it the ol' college try, as the kids used to say. I'm sure they don't say that now.
I haven't even checked to see where I left off, I just opened to the edit page and started a new entry. My intentions of coming here were to simply try and update myself on all the other blogs I follow- but then I clicked a button and ended up in the section where you can write...and well. I started writing. I think the last time I was actually updating was November of 2009. But don't quote me on that. I'll have to sneak back and check! Done. Yes, I was right. It was November 2009. A lot has happened since then, to say the least. The earthquake occurred 2 months after we left. What a shocking, frightening, gut wrenching time that was. It is almost 2 years later and I still cant believe how horrible it was to sit at home and watch that happening to a place you love from such a helplessly far away vantage point. I wanted to be there. I wanted to do something. Let me rephrase. I had to be there. I had to do something. I knew that as an occupational therapist my skill set was more appropriately suited to the clean up phase, not the immediate acute phase. As an OT we like to assess the situation, let things stabilize and then come in and clean up the mess. First lets get that sewed up, then I will come in and help you get back to your life. So I joined the team going in March 2010. We worked solely in Jacmel, setting up the first ever rehabilitation facility. And by facility, I mean we worked out of a large white UN tent that was kindly donated to our efforts. There is something to be said about the level of heat generated in a large white tent under the Haitian sun. That was an experience to be sure.
Then I came back home to Canada and I got married :)
My next trip to Haiti was May 2011, where I split my time between Jacmel at a school for children with special needs that runs an out patient rehab program for preschoolers, and at an orphanage on a small remote island off the south coast. We joined up with the school team to run a couple of outreach clinics in the Jacmel regions, traveling into the mountains to reach children that didn't have the means to come to the outpatient program in the city. We had busy, non-stop days, but I loved it. Perhaps I will go back to my notes and do a better update about that last trip, but don't get your hopes up. We all know my track record :)
I will be going back to Haiti next week. Back to the same places as in May and I am beyond excited to be able to do follow up this closely. I can't wait to see the same kids and continue with what we started in May, and to see how they are making out with the programs we implemented six months ago. We will be spending the first week on the remote island, we have spotty internet when on the island, but I'll see what I can do to give quick updates on what a typical day as an Occupational Therapist in Haiti is like.

November 17/18/19, 2009

Last day in Haiti, sigh. I was up early this morning because I found out on the roof last night that I was scheduled to go to St. Vincent’s School this morning, leaving at 7:30 am. They didn’t think I would make it after our adventures last night, but I proved them wrong and was up packing and ready to go. We had just a small team go this morning, Dorothy for PT and Mike for support. We dropped Kevin, Eric and Travis off at the airport as they are heading home and Kevin is on his way to Guatemala (jealous). At St. Vincent’s we delivered 2 hand carts and toured their therapy department which is mainly physio. They have some pretty ancient equipment in there so we made a needs list and will likely add them to our educational sessions in the future. They even had a treadmill parallel bars, but it was non functioning…and a scary scary electrode machine they use on people’s faces that Dorothy said was an ancient piece of equipment even when she was in school 20 years ago. We didn’t dare touch it after the director turned it on. We also toured their surgery room. Back at the guest house we did some more scrambled packing and then I went with a small group to go shopping along the side of the road. Colleen gave me money to pick out some metal pieces for the Fredericton art sale. I got Colleen’s pieces and then also a metal lizard for Emily’s collection and a painting for Sarah. It was sad to leave the guesthouse, and we always miss saying goodbye to Sultan because she is in school all day. We gave them their gifts, leather notepads and pens with our logo, flashlights, t-shirts etc and then loaded up in our vans for our last ride through the city. Our first little group made it through the airport quite smoothly, but the Fredericton group was held up for a long time downstairs. We all purchased our Barbencourt, and I grabbed more coffee and peanut butter because I felt I was lacking…and I was a little worried that the home roasted coffee Wadson gave me might not taste as good and Chris loves the coffee so I needed back up! I also got a map of Haiti, because Chris never knows the places I am talking about. In another store I found djean djean cubes!! So I got a bunch of those and a Haitian recipe book! Karen got rid of the last of her gourdes and we had hotdogs and a coca before boarding the plane and soaking up the last of the Haitian heat! It is always so sad to leave! On the plane I sat next to a drummer from St. Jo’s. They are on their way to Saskatchewan to publish their latest book based off the shoe shine dance. He is one of the books artists. In Montreal we said our goodbyes and were searched by customs (a very painless ordeal since I knew where all my stuff was packed and they only glanced at my wooden bowls) and then Jim and I went off to try and switch our hotels. I thought for sure we would see the Fredericton crew again because I was confident Air Canada would change our hotel booking…and as I type this I remember that I haven’t even journalled about the flight dilemma! So: Jim, is from Halifax, and we were supposed to fly out of Montreal tonight at 9:30 or so and arrive in Halifax at midnight. But a few days ago Colleen had checked the flights and noticed ours wasn’t there. So I contacted my travel agent who was pretty upset that no one had told us and she got me set up in a hotel and a new flight out the next morning. So, the hotel they put us in was not the same that the Fredericton crew was in…so we wanted to switch. They wouldn’t let us…so I thought at least we would go to their hotel and have supper with them…but no. So I didn’t really get to say goodbye to them. When Jim called them from our hotel they were all just hanging out in their rooms so we ate supper at our hotel and by then it was pretty late so we retired for the night. I was able to fire off a few quick emails saying I was in Canada and where I was staying and then contact my employer to let her know I wouldn’t be at work the next morning (since I would be in the air) and wasn’t feeling overly awesome anyway. I was up way too early the next morning because I hadn’t adjusted to the time change, or more so I tried to adjust but didn’t need to yet…so I had plenty of time to repack my hockey bags for the next leg of the journey. I was freezing cold in Montreal! We got to the airport, cleared security and had a mild wait for the plane. I slept right through take-off while the plane was de-icing I went comatose…I awoke earlier wondering to myself just exactly how long were we going to sit on the runway…then looked out the window and realized we were well on our way! Before I knew it we were landing in Halifax and there was Chris waiting at the baggage terminal with a big hug! We ate at the big stop on the way home because I hadn’t eaten anything all day…it didn’t settle very well in my stomach (that Canadian food eh?) and when I got home I went to bed and slept nearly the whole day. I still wasn’t feeling well the next day so I called in sick and slept for the half the day this time! I guess I was worn out! My body was having a hard time adjusting to the changes so we just ate rice and beans to see if I could trick it into thinking I was still in Haiti :)

Nov. 20, 2009: My first day back at work and in my new office. While I was away they moved the Autism team upstairs so they had to pack up my entire office and move me! I spent the day trying to find things and unpack. It is quite the adjustment. I have lost a lot of my privacy that I had become accustomed to...maybe I should go back to Haiti and try and get a job at the new health centre they are building in PaP...there were 2 OT departments there! ;)

November 16, 2009

Site Soley day!!
I had French toast for breakfast this morning, which the guesthouse made up special for the few of us that missed out on the pancakes, which was lucky because I preferred what I got! Our Cite Soliel team left at about 9 so we could meet up with our UN convoy at 10 at a gas station in Cite Soleil. As we were pulling out of the guesthouse Jus was saying goodbye to Joel as though he would never see him again, it was really funny. Turns out Noel and Joel had been arguing over who would have to drive us into Cite Soleil, I guess Joel drew the short straw! We arrived in the city and were unsure of what gas station was meant, because the one the driver had thought was the meeting spot was a ghost station with only the hood remaining and a crew of people just hanging out. They telephoned our contact and yes indeed we were at the right spot and a few moments later 3 big UN trucks loaded with armed men pulled up across the street. Our quote of the day from Dorothy: “Oh, all that is for us? I was expecting a man with a stick!” We got a lot more than a man with a stick, and likely had a lot of overkill, but it was neat nonetheless to have all the UN with us. Our first stop was at the police head quarters where we met with the chief, he wanted to welcome us into the city and wanted us to know that they are ready to rebuild and ready for the international community to come into the city to help. It was a nice moment…Cite Soleil has been through a lot. We left the station and I think they just wanted to bring us on a tour of the city because we would drive down a street, turn around and then come back, and go down a few side streets. We made our way to a school, that also has a health centre and had at one time housed an orphanage, but due to financial constraints had to close it down and send the kids off to different places. We met with the principal and toured the facilities being followed by hoards of kids in cute little pink uniforms! We saw the empty orphanage and the cobweb filled dentist clinic and the empty shelves of the pharmacie…we were able to help in that last aspect because we had several medical kits in our van with medicines and supplies that we donated to the pharmacie here. We then went to visit the general hospital where we saw the vaccination clinic and walked through a ward where nursing students were working. After the hospital we went to a Sister’s of Charity home that is supported by Wyclef’s charity. We were told that the centre’s policy is no photos on the inside and we were not to ask questions to anyone inside. I do so wish I could have taken pictures, because it was hard to believe what we saw when we entered the gates! It was like a green oasis! A very nice facility that was so impressive! The ran a medical clinic for young children so we passed all those people waiting in the front area and then went through to see the nutrition program and the kindergarten school and then around back to where they run a sewing, embroidery and card-making school for the moms of the children who are in the school or in the daycare! And then over to the daycare area where small kids come in and are fed, bathed and put down to nap while their moms are in school! It was all so great! I bought a package of banana leaf cards to use as my thank you cards for major sponsors. Throughout the day we let everyone know what the Healing Hands organization was all about and what types of services we could offer, so that when they came across people who would benefit from our assistance they would know how and to whom to refer. I hope this generates a relationship between their community and our organization for future endeavors to help Cite Soleil rebuild. I had been expecting our visit to be much different, as I had been on scouting trips before where we would enter an orphanage that needed our services, and we would do quick and dirty assessments to make a plan for the next team coming in…that would have been a nice experience, but I think what we did today will also be helpful. It was less hands on than I was expecting however. Before saying goodbye to our UN convoy we stopped for a group photo. The UN team with us was mainly Nigerian with one from Mali, and what was very funny throughout the morning was that the UN was actually taking more pictures than we were! Every time we turned around they were snapping pictures of both their surroundings AND us! I didn’t know we were that interesting. I, of course, had to have a picture wearing the helmet before they left…mission accomplished. Back at the guesthouse we grabbed a quick snack and then Dorothy and I went up to the clinic to help out…but we couldn’t find anyone working. The therapy room was full of people but I didn’t recognize any as being therapist. So I stopped one young guy who looked to be showing another man exercises and asked him if he was a therapist…he said yes…so I began talking to him about the plan for the afternoon and asking if they needed any help today and he kept saying I don’t know…then after some back and forth he finally says I don’t work here, I am just assisting a friend. I finally found Shirley and we helped her with an exercise program with a young girl who we were told had scoliosis, but Dorothy checked her back and thinks they must give this diagnosis to whoever has back pain. I also talked to her about proper body mechanics because she complained of pain during mopping and sweeping. When we finished here Colleen had come up to the clinic for our scheduled therapist meeting to discuss a 2 year curriculum schedule. The meeting went fairly well and we were able to clarify our role and what we could not do for them, ie. give them certified training that would help them find jobs elsewhere, they need to go to University for that. We were able to find out their thoughts on our educational workshops and what they wanted to learn more about, I was happy to have some OT ideas come up...and Johnny, the manager of the clinic, wants us to implement an evaluation process to provide more incentive to the therapists attending the session. Up to this point the organization was handing out participation surveys to whoever showed up, Johnny wants an evaluation a month later, then certificates if they pass. With our list of topics in hands we have a lot to accomplish over the next 2 years.
When we finished the meeting we sped off to the artisans cooperative to get some shopping in, I really dont feel like I have gotten much on this trip...I definitely wont be having an art sale when I return home...as I am still scrambling to find souveniers for my family! We got to the co-op about 30mins before closing but they stayed open longer for us. We met a team there that was from Ontario and were drilling wells in schools. I got a metal carved mirror, a rock carving of a drummer, a candle holder, 2 woven grass mats for the kitchen, wooden bowls for family, stained glass ornaments, earrings, a post-card and a metal key holder. Traffic was really bad on the way back to the guesthouse so we didnt manage to fit in any other stores before dark. I am sad to have missed Kay Atizan and Mennou this year. We had supper and then started to pack up our purchase for our departure tomorrow :( I tried my best to engineer a supportive box for my tete zeb so it wouldnt be crushed on the plane. Later on Cyril showed up for a last visit and then decided he was taking the Jacmel girls out for rhum sours for our last night. We went to a nice restaurant and had a lot of fun. When we came back we joined the group on the penthouse roof where Colleen and Jeff had been staying and we all talked about our best and worst moments. I said my worst moment had been saying goodbye to Enrico, and that's when they reminded me that Karen fell off a cliff last week! I guess she seemed in such good spirits tonight it is hard to say it was the worst moment because of her amazing recovery! But indeed, it was a horrible Haiti moment.

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.

November 14, 2009

This morning, as usual, I awoke before the alarm. I felt a little sick to my stomach when I woke up, almost like if I had been drinking the night before but I only had 1.5 prestiges all night. Funnily enough, Nath said the same thing, like she felt hungover but wasnt drinking. The feeling didnt last long, but I didnt have an appetite for the wierd egg mixture at breakfast this morning so I just had some fruit. We were all split into 3 vans and I had said I was wanting to go with the group that was going to the art sale in Petionville, but then found out the rest were going to an orphanage. I should have trusted my gut instinct to go to the orphanage because I wanted to see kids...but I didnt. The sale wasnt very good. Nath and Karen said I would go nuts, but I really didnt care for most of the things at all and I had to pay to get in. Anything I did want was too expensive, so I ended up getting a vay vay change purse with fish on it and a tabacco leaf vase. I later found out the orphanage trip was really great and the kids sang for them and everything. I keep making the wrong choices, like I would have preffered to miss Presse Cafe then spend the $7 cover.
Either way the choices were made and it is too late now. Not to keep on a complaining streak or anything, but then our rented vehicle that we took to Indigo was sooo uncomfortable, I felt like I was sitting with flexed hips...my back was getting really sore. The ride was supposed to take 2.5 hours but we managed it in maybe 1.5 so that was a nice surprise. I was happy to get out of my seat that's for sure. It was some nice scenerey on the drive, but I was also head bobbing falling asleep :) All our bags were sitting at the front desk when we arrived and we just had to fill out a paper and pick up our keys. I am rooming with Debi. This year we are way up on the third floor. The beach was great, I loved swimming today and just floating there and soaking up some rays. I went over to check out the paintings that had been in the same spot last year, with no intentions of buying anything so I didnt even take my money. But then of course they start bartering and I end up buying 2 oil boat knife paintings for $80 which was more than I wanted to spend...anyway I tell the guy I dont have my money can he set them aside...he says no just take them up to your room and tell your friends to come look at my stuff...I go back up to the room so I can get out my money...start counting it...I didnt have near as much as I thought! So I had to go borrow $30 from Caryn, it's frustrating because I saw more things that I want to buy here but I dont like having to owe people money when we get back. I tried to barter for a stone carving of the slave blowing the conch, but he wont go to $5 which I could more afford...I am going to try him again tomorrow, see how badly he wants to sell it and try for $10. I am not sure if I would be able to find it elsewhere. I also saw a guy braiding banana leaf and wasnt sure if Chris would like the hats he was making, but it looked ok on the guy. But then I noticed he had made a really cool watch strap and he was happy that I noticed it and liked it but he didnt have any for sale. I thought about seeing if he could make me one for tomorrow but I dont know how I would get it on a watch face (he had sewn it onto a plastic one) and then there is the whole issue of borrowing money to do it anyway. So far I just havent been drinking to save money :) Good for the diet I am telling myself. We sat around on the beach, being pestered by the vendors until security made them leave, and stayed on the beach well after dark until heading to our rooms to shower at about 6:30. We headed back down for supper, when we are all together in the bar area we take up quite a bit of space! After supper we went back down to the bar and sat around the tables. They were playing jazzy slow elevator style music so we kept yelling out suggestions but noone was really interested in doing much dancing, as much as they tried to get us all up. Finally The Black Eyed Peas, I've got a feeling started playing and Colleen yells out I've got a feeling everyone is going to be on the dance floor- so we all jumped up and danced like crazy. The staff then realized what type of music to play and put their white girl on DJ duty and we had a fun night of dancing! At one point they tried to switch back to the jazzy stuff and we all left the dance floor and Caryn said Sourette must have requested it because the DJ pointed to us all leaving the floor and did a I told you so face and then shrugged to Sourette. It was a lot of fun. Debi and I went to bed at 1am and a lot of the others were still up. We werent drinking so werent quite as ambitious to run around tackling each other in the sand playing handball.
A very relaxing fun day.

November 13, 2009

It was a hot night last night and I had to take my earplugs out because they were uncomfortable so I was up really early. After breakfast of fruit and oatmeal we left for the Prestige Brewery tour with Pascal the owner who is spanish raised in switzerland, moved to Haiti for his ex-wife and ended up staying. The Prestige factory also makes king colas, toro energy drinks, viva milk drinks and they are the leading producers of international Guiness, I will have to tell Chris about that. They are receiving an award soon for their Guiness production. The tour was really long and hot and loud, some parts were interesting but it was way too long. We looked through a warehouse at stacks of drinks and piles of malt, which burned down a while ago because of lightening. Then we drove to the second area and had coffee and patays which ARE really good! We got to try 13% prestige and then 2 regular prestige's, so beer for breakfast! The owner gave us all hats and t-shirts so Chris just got a souvenier. I found out something very exciting though on the tour, Prestige RECYCLES! They pay people to collect their bottles and they re-use them, and if they cant re-use them they ship them to china etc. I gave the tour guide a pat on the back after he answered that question, which I had to ask of course. I found it hard on the system during the tour, to go from hot to cold so frequently as we entered air conditioned rooms, went back outside, entered hot factory rooms went into air-conditioning etc etc...

We were pretty late heading up to Wings, because we thought the tour might be an hour or so but it was 12:30 by the time we got out. The drive up to wings is always nice, and it felt good to be leaving some of the heat behind for the cooler mountain air. We pretty much had a plan for what needed to be done at wings because a group had already been up there twice and told us what was left for the therapists to do. They thought we should take 3 of the boys and do a chair swap: Sam, Clifton and BJ and then we had to finish adjusting Fabiola's chair. We found the 3 boys and tried to figure out what switch they had envisioned by moving the boys from chair to chair- in the end we left them all in their original chairs and just made adjustments to make them fit better. We worked with Ronnie and Soni from St. Joseph's was also in and out. While we were still working upstairs red Karen and Susan went shopping at the bishops or whatever that I always want to go to, so we didnt get to go. It was fairly disappointing. We helped the Wings staff with a shipment of donated gifts, it looks like they will be busy unpacking and sorting for a long time! On our way out we remembered to get a tracing of one little guy's feet so we could find him a pair of supportive shoes to replace his sandals that just flip upside down when he tried to walk with his walker. He was having a great ol' time with his keyboard so we had a mini jam session! As we were leaving I passed him on the floor and he was holdign himself and gave me that look like he really had to go tot he bathroom, I was about to get him some help when the look on his face changed to too late and the puddle started to pool out under him. I think, aside from the obvious pain and suffering, that this is something that gets to me to the most. It's a dignity thing really...that so many of these kids cant get to a washroom on their own and they cant communicate their needs all the time. There are too many kids and not enough support to have the kids on a washroom schedule so they end up soiling themselves, ruining their seating systems and wrecking havoc on their skin...and you can tell it bothers a lot of them. How uncomfortable must it be to spend so much of your day dirty like that. It's unfathomable, and it's something people wouldnt stand for in Canada. Even having diapers that actually fit the kids would make a world of a difference. Stepping down off the soap box now...
We drove 2 of the Wings workers down he mountain to Petionville to save them from waiting for a tap-tap and the guy sitting next to me, Choupy, turns to me and says "yeah, I have been working at wings for awhile, I used to live at St.Josephs, I am a drummer, and now I am an OT." My eyes got pretty wide, me too! He says he took a 2 week seminar in Boston and whatever other training he got in Haiti, I wish it were that easy. On the way down we also stopped at a grocery store and I picked up some haitian ketchup and spicy peanut butter. We got back to the guest house by dark and had supper: lambi, bbq'ed chicken, rice, a mais djean djean thingy etc. Tonight there was the option of going to see the St. Jo's dance, but since I had seen it twice and it was pretty much the same each time I decided to sit it out. When that group got back we went to Presse Cafe to listen to a jazz band. There werent any seats left so we had to stand around the bar with a few people sitting. I didnt mind the music, but I hate being stared at, and I especially hate being leered at by gross old men so that made it un-fun. I really am not in to Haitian dancing-it's way too intimate...you should only dance that way if youre in a relationship or youre 19. But here, they all change partners all the time, it is slightly disturbing to see a girl who looks really young rubbing up against an old man who is putting his hand up her shirt. Whenever anyone in our group got up to dance you can see them pulling away and trying to keep that distance :) I didnt dance. We got back to the guest house really late, and we were the group that left early because it was too crowded and we kept getting bumped and pushed, we left a few behind.

November 13, 2009

Again, wearing wet pants :) But, it's better than knowing there is dried urine and sweat on them!
When we got up this morning Jasmin was looking for us because I had said I wanted to take pictures of the coconut hunt. Caryn and I went with Jasmin and Castro to the small palm grove and we took 2 coconuts back to the hotel, even though we didn’t really want them- we pretty much just wanted an excuse to give them a bit of money. After breakfast- the porridge stuff (I had every morning) we set sail for the orphanage for a half day of work and plans to hike to Anse Dufour before heading back to Cayes. We began reviewing the programs, and just making sure the therapists didn’t have any questions and I took time to take a lot of pictures of the kids. Debi spent the morning in with baby Serge because he didn’t have a good night- not taking in fluids and not expelling them. He died this morning and it was really sad…poor sister Flora really pours her heart into these kids so it is hard to see her hurt so much. Debi was pretty upset because she had spent so much time trying to help him, and this is her first trip and her first patient. I comforted her outside and then Wadson took her down to the village clinic to see the facilities and give her a chance to get away from things.
The Beacon Medical group is making great progress, the kitchen right in the front yard is coming along, they are building a playground which already has a few structures and a ramp, with plans for a large slide that all the kids will be able to use. They are going to finish the housing unit for the kids with special needs and we said it would be great if they could tile the floor so the kids could crawl around on it and be more independent and it would be an easier clean up...they said it would be done tomorrow! So we are excited about that! They are also upgrading the washrooms, moving the main office, organizing the pharmacy and paying all the bills such as teacher's salaries. They are going to be a great help. They told us to keep them healthy, and they would keep them running. A good partnership :)

When it came time to leave the orphanage today I was saying goodbye to all the kids, and when I got to Enrico he looked up at me with the same big pouty lip and grabbed out for me and pulled me into a hug with tears streaming down his face and he hugged me and sobbed for a long time. It absolutely broke my heart...I didnt think I was going to be able to leave. It was beyond sad to have him that upset, I think he really enjoyed the playtime and extra love he was getting. I think because he is not very verbal and has athetoid CP that he often gets overlooked as not being able to understand. I kept trying to tell him that he is my special little friend, and that he will be in my heart and that I will come back and see him. Then I snuck him a spider man ball because he so loves balls! It was a rough moment.

What was more frustrating was how long we had to wait down at the dock, I think we were there for an hour and a half, plus we had to wait at the school a bit while Wadson searched for his camera. So all that time while we sat out in the sun, burning and melting, we could have been up playing with the kids. Because of the long wait, we had to cut our hike to Anse Dufour and didnt have a chance to tell Adense that I wouldnt be there. Jasmin was at the resort so we were able to tell him, and say goodbye. We pretty much docked and then ran up to our rooms, changed out of the dirty clothes, grabbed our stuff and then run back to the boat...but of course we had to sit there and wait for Wadson. Hurry up and wait has become our Ile a Vache motto. The sail over to Cayes was much faster than on our way over to the island, and our driver was there waiting on the dock. We decided we would grab some munchies and cold drinks for the 4 hr drive so a guy on the boat told us a safe place to eat, and Wadson found me papitas (plantain chips) and then we had to wait at the retsaurant. Wadson had gone in to get a menu, but after we all chose what we wanted he had to come back out and tell us that they were only serving from one side- the chinese food side...so we no longer wanted anything, but he had already ordered his meal. Chinese food is a risky commodity where ever you go, but Haitian chinese food elicited a whole new level of fear. While in the van we shopped out the window because a guy kept running to his house and bringing out art! I got metal musicians.

On the ride home I typed up our report, so it is really nice to have that out of the way! Plus it ate up a good chunk of the drive. To pass the rest of the time we played 21 questions and I'm going to a party and I am bringing- with different rules for what you were allowed to bring. We got back ot the guest house at maybe 8? And they had supper waitng for us on the table: accra, piklis, goat, and I think macaroni and cheese and rice.

We had a little team meeting to discuss where we would be the next day and what we had already done. I am going to Wings of Hope after the Prestige Brewery Tour. I stayed up pretty late trying and trying to get the internet to send my message to Chris. Sultan is now sleeping in our room because Sourette has taken her room because she had knee surgery and didnt want to deal with the stairs at her house so the organization moved Sultan into a dank basement garage full of tools and we just found out where she had been staying. Sourette was only supposed to be in her room for a couple months but has been here longer. We now have a pretty full house with 26 team members.

November 11, 2009

Lest we Forget.
I woke up this morning feeling fine, if not extremely itchy! Caryn was bitten by something that caused quite the reaction on her face through the night and she is swollen, I am thankful to have avoided that on both trips! I had to wear wet pants today because things didn’t quite dry. Luckily, in this heat, it doesn’t stay wet for long once you are walking around. Jasmin came with us in the boat this morning because he has a very long walk to school, and it would’ve taken him much longer with his foot cut. It is funny because he has sort of become our little brother with us all looking out for him. We also gave him some new sandals but could not find a matching pair, so he had come up to see if the other shoe was at the orphanage…it wasn’t…it’s in PaP. When we got up to the orphanage today we found Team Ireland working away and met Tony the PT in the office going over the files. We gave him the lowdown and he pretty much followed us around all day because we knew the ropes and the kids. We would ask the therapist who they wanted us to see next, go over the file and then go through their whole program and do whatever needed to be done. It was a good system and we accomplished everything we wanted to, so that tomorrow could just be tidying up loose ends and reviewing the programs. We had Enrico up in the stander and Stevenson wanted another AFO for his R ankle, so I figured that we could easily make a mold if I could find some casting material. I searched through the pharmacy and was able to come up with the casting wrap stuff that is activated by water, gauze to protect the skin, tongue depressors for me to cut along and some scissors. We moved Enrico into the bath tub room incase it made a mess, took pictures and stood him etc. Then most of the people left the room to get something and I started wrapping the gauze around his ankle with his foot resting on my knee…when I got down to doing the figure 8 around the ankle he moved a little awkwardly so I looked up at his face- to see the biggest pout ever! He had his lip thrust out and a look of fear in his eyes. I was trying to find out what was wrong and explaining what we were doing but he starts to cry, tears are streaming down his face and then he is sobbing. So, I am definitely not going to put the little guy through torture, especially if I am not even sure if P+O will be able to use the mold. So I gave him a big hug and told him we wouldn’t do it, and he calmed down. I guess he had a traumatizing experience to get the first one done! I love that little guy! We also did some work with Jean and Daniel just to see how they are doing developmentally, unfortunately I left my chart in PaP. We made up programs for Junior, Robert, Gondelson, Peterson, Watson, Enrico, Tada and the babies.
On our way back to the hotel we had the boat take a little detour to Island of the Lovers or something like that, which is basically a sand bar in the middle of the ocean. We swam there and found really cool starfish and then went back to the hotel for supper of beef and rice and vegetables with chocolate cake for dessert.
The Ireland team had invited us over to their hotel but nobody wanted to walk that far in the dark, so Caryn, Debi and I watched Slumdog Millionaire in our room- I really liked it! Even though it kept skipping because the dvd was extremely scratched up.

November 10, 2009

I was up early this morning with some gastro issues, not sure what would’ve caused it, perhaps the sugar cane we bought off the street…Caryn gave me some electrolytes and it must’ve worked because I felt fine during the day. Jasmin, one of the kids that walked with us yesterday and helped me practice Kreyol was there this morning. Last night on their walk back to their homes he stepped on a shell or rock and sliced open his heel pretty badly, so we cleaned and bandanged him up. For breakfast I had the Haitian oatmeal and bananas and toast. I made a pb and papaya preserve sandwich to take to the orphanage. We didn’t have too much trouble getting our stuff up the hill, but we didn’t have as much help because it wasn’t a market day and the kids were all in school. When we got to Soeur Flora’s I was so excited to see all kiddos, I saw Enrico first! He gave me a big hug! I looked around the room, but I couldn’t find Christien to get my fist pump, so I asked Stevenson where was Christien…oh, il est mort. Just like that, we had only been in the orphanage for 2 minutes and I was ready to sit down and cry. I guess he had a seizure in June and passed away, I visited his grave in the backyard and saw that they spelled it Crisien. Because we had so much to get done for the day I had to push that sadness way to the back, I am sure when my mind has time to think about it I will be upset. Caryn and I did some tag teaming and we started with Robert and Gondelson since we had the wheelchair there for someone. We went over the stretching routines with the therapist’s and tried them both out in the chair…we decided Robert was the best candidate because we couldn’t get Gondelson to flex at the hips when it was time to sit. We had to adjust the cushion and I added a foam pommel to prevent leg scissoring, hopefully it was enough. We removed the laterals because he was too short and they would not adjust, but we had a butterfly chest strap that will work perfectly. I showed the therapists how to make any adjustments. The car seats we had left for the 2 guys were nowhere to be found, from what I gathered from the caretakers they pointed down the hill and I said far and they nodded. So who knows. I guess they had outgrown them and they were back in the strollers we had originally found them in.
Debi brought in a baby that they say was born 2 weeks ago, and Debi estimates that the baby was 30-32 weeks. I have never seen a baby this small, ever. When I first saw him I had thought that Jean had been close to that small, but when I got back to the resort I looked at the pictures and he mustve been about 4 times his size. Jean by the way is doing amazing! He is sitting on his own, looking around and smiling! He is adorable, yet still has his asymmetrical head, little guy. The new premie’s name is Serge and his mother died during the cesarean. Soeur Flora keeps him in the back room that is used for worship, all by himself for quiet…and she feeds him periodically throughout the night…she said she falls asleep while she is sitting there…it was funny listening to her tell the stories. In what I could get of the French she was saying her very first child when she started the orphanage was a boy named Antoine who was premature and he is now 27 or so! She was very proud.
Beatrice is almost walking, she can pull herself up from sitting very well when she grabs onto your finger, and from there can walk…I also watched her furniture walk (holding onto wheelchairs!)
Daniel is also doing great, he is sitting on his own and so loves attention! We did notice that the soft spot on the top of his head has not closed over, likely we didn’t really note that last time because he had so much hair! I am more in love with Daniel after spending time with him on this visit, great kid. I told Soeur Flora I would take him home.
Enrico and I had some fun with a tickling game, and I gave him the light up ball that mom found at the museum…as predicted he loved it! We made a little video for Karen saying Bonswa Karen! He has such a cute laugh! We asked where his speech board was when we arrived and he was able to point to where they kept it. Red Karen says the new board she made was nowhere to be found. Red Karen took his speech board and trialed it with Watson…I never found out how that went, but she had me calm him down because he thought she was giving it away.
There was another young girl, Djeulency, that was sharing a kidcart with Beatrice, the kidcart was missing all the back padding, and the padding for the L lateral, the head rest was much too low and there were no foot supports so she dangled. I picked up the seat cushion and it was absolutely soaked in urine…it was disgusting. I adjusted the head rest but I need to figure out something to do for the back. Caryn is hoping that she wouldn’t need the kidcart and could just walk. I decided to clean the chair, and gave the cushion cover to someone to have it washed and took everything else out onto the front step with a bucket of water. The cushion had maggots all over it and there were cockroaches in the chair, and when I lifted up the cushion for the first time after we moved the little girl…there was the biggest spider I had ever seen sitting right there on the seat!! AHHH gag.
We went over to visit Travis and his mural, but all he was able to get done today was paint the background white because so many kids were hanging off him in the school. They are going to do a theme of S' unir pour Servir.
We did a lot of work today, hard to pinpoint everything, helped Naida walk on the bars and with her walker. Helped Tada at the bars and hand held. Fixed the chair that had been sent over for James because someone had added a wooden pummel that was ineffective and just a danger to his skin. The foot rests are gone and he is cutting his ankle on something that needs to be further investigated. Debi cleaned his wound.
We got back to the resort at about 5:30 and when we were just getting to our rooms Jasmin was saying he had the coconuts for us. So we gathered up $1 each and Travis was going to run down to the edge of the resort to grab them, but then Wadson yelled for him because they were going to meet the voodoo priest. So, we thought Jasmin had coconuts waiting at the edge so I said I would run down and get them while the rest went to the pool. When we got to the edge though they kept going…so I kept walking, and we gathered a bit of a crowd. There was me and a bunch of the local Haitians walking into the village and I get this feeling like, should I be doing this?, but then feel guilty for worrying about it…that’s the conflict in your brain a lot of the time. Anyway, it was fine, we walked a bit into the village until we got to a palm tree grove and one of the guys starts scooting up the tree! So I yell to Jasmin that he didn’t tell me I was going to need my camera! He said they would do it again tomorrow for pictures :)
Back in the room I washed all the clothes I had worn at the orphanage and hung them out to dry, but it was getting dark so I missed the sun power. I met the girls just as they were leaving the pool so Caryn turned back so I could take a quick dip and clean off slightly. Then we both showered quickly and went to supper, fried chicken, veggies, French fries and citron icecream. We then skedaddled down to the village because we could hear that the voodoo ceremony had started without us! We again, as usual, gathered a crowd as we walked through the village and then all of a sudden this kid was walking near us and he asked Debi if she was going to the beach…I was like who is that! And it was Adense!!! I doubt he remembered me but he stuck close to me all night, and said he would meet us at the beach on Thursday. The voodoo ceremony was something else…what I was most impressed with was the elderly women dancing! Oh boy, did they dance! The crowd oohed and awed everytime the voodoo priest did anything and most of his act seemed more like a drunken show for the crowd…but I really enjoyed being in the midst of it all and watching the crowd more than the priest. Near the end the priest cleansed our group of all evil spirits. Glad to have that done with. I hate carrying around baggage like that! The priest did spit fire a few times, but obviously the gods did not want me to get a picture of it because my camera went dead, but then worked again later! I hope I got some good shots! Over all a jam packed, fun day!

November 9, 2009

I had to pack my stuff up again this morning because I had to take some of it out in order to function for a night at PaP, and in the process forgot my alarm clock on my bed. We had thought that Cyril was picking us up this morning at 7am so Caryn and I were all ready to go with breakfast eaten by that time. We figured that since he had been late picking the group up on Friday, then perhaps he was also running behind today. But then I heard the cell phone ringing and it was him to say that he had sent a text the night before that we were to go to the airport with the team van and his driver would pick us up there. So we loaded up the van that Joel was driving to the airport and tried to get Haitians to rush! At the airport we found our Tour Haiti driver, Jean Jacques Solage, and loaded the bags onto his van and waited for the 8 new members to our team. We also put more minutes on our phone, because that Jolyane kept eating up all the minutes calling her man back home! ;) The team members arrived and we separated the bags and split the group for who was going to Ile a Vache and who was going to the guest house. For Ile a Vache we have myself and Caryn, plus red Karen, Debi the nurse, Travis the painter and Wadson the psychotherapist and Haitian- who by the way is extremely extroverted. I was the unlucky one in the van who didn’t have an opening window, I don’t know why they even had one like that. We had sugar cane, that Wadson bought in PaP, so my first time for that…I don’t overly care for it, I only had a wee bit. The drive seemed longer today with the different group, and with the extrovert :P It started pouring rain I think around grand goave but had stopped by the time we reached Les Cayes…which is also the point where all the girls were about to burst their bladders. It was funny to see how different the wharf situation went this year because the boat was there and waiting for us, and we had all our people ready to go so we weren’t on the wharf more than 5 minutes this time, instead of hours like last time. I had asked the driver to stop along our 4 hour drive to buy plantain chips (papitas), but he isn’t as good as Cyril at finding our snacks I guess, because he didn’t stop once.
The boat ride to Port Morgan was longer than last time because we took a different boat that drove very slowly, so not as fun. I would say about half way across to the island the people sitting at the front of the boat started pointing over to the side, so I thought they saw something cool like a porpoise…but all I saw was a faint rainbow…and then all of a sudden the Haitians are running into the cabin and the captain is telling us to get in…a few moments later it starts a torrential down-pour! Maybe Haitians smell rain? It rained for quite awhile so we had to postpone our trip to sister Flora’s because our boat had no cover. We left the bags there and were told we would have lunch up in the dining area right away. After some Haitian time we had Haitian sandwiches which were just as gross as last year. Then as the rain continued to beat down we figured the bags might not be that protected under the tarp…turns out they were sitting in quite a bit of water…I hope nothing is ruined.
After our lunch we went in the pool which was pretty green and had a little ozoney smell, hard to explain…so we went down to the beach to swim instead. I was a little creeped out at the beach because I think I remember Brendan saying last year there were those spiky urchins…and it was dusk when we were there so hard to see. We made some preliminary plans for our next 3 days: tomorrow voodoo ceremony, Wednesday island beach, Thursday beach hike to anse dufour. Of course, all this for our evening plans because all day will be spent at sister Flora’s. After our swim and a quick change of clothes, our group, minus red Karen, hiked down into the village. We had Wadson and then 2 locals as our guides and protection. It was pitch black down there and we just had small flashlight to light our feet so it was pretty interesting. It was odd to run into a group of people because it was so dark you had to wonder what they do in the evenings and how they get around so well. I made sure to stick close to our local tour guides because if we were seen with them we would be more accepted…it also helped that it was so dark you couldn’t absolutely tell we were white…except we spoke English along the way. I did practice a little little kreyol with one of the guides. I am trying to find Adense from last year. Anyway, we were hiking into the village so we could find a voodoo priest and arrange for the ceremony tomorrow, and we accomplished just that. ALong the way as I was walking along next to Debi, Wadson thought it would be fun to sneak ahead and hide behind a plam tree...as we passed he came running out with this growling scream and tried to grab us! I think I just about landed in Debi's arms!
Back at the resort it was time for supper: salad, rice with the djean djean mushroom sauce, and boiled plantains which are gross, some other white vegetable that was really just plain and a beef legume thing that I just picked at and the beef was really chewy…so, so far the food is not comparing well to Jacmel. :) When we finished supper everyone was feeling pretty worn out, well except Wadson of course, so we planned for bed. I tried to get on the internet but Wadson had beat me to it, and while I was waiting the owner, Didier came in and said he was closing up…so I haven’t been on in a couple days.

November 8, 2009

We had another early morning and were on the road for Bassein Bleu by 8am. I had French toast for breakfast and fruit. Cyril was unable to arrange for horse transportation due to the short notice so we were back aboard the rache pwel and headed up the mountain. At the section where they were constructing the cement runways (no workers there today because it is Sunday) we walked up but the truck was able to drive over it so we got to drive all the way to the start of the hiking trail this time. Too bad we werent able to do that yesterday! Our driver Toto blames the road wash-out for Karen's accident. We stopped at the spot where Karen fell, and ToTo got out and was pointing at the ground saying she fell exactly here! We took pictures and tried to measure it, my tape was too short but it was longer than 2 of them so we guess 13-14 feet. When we got up to the tourist bureau, yeah I said it, there was a small building up the mountain for tourists! At this area there was a group of guys who just wait for people to come looking to hike up to bassein bleu and they act as our tour guide and we pay them at the end. The hike was pretty decent, some good hills but nothing we couldn’t handle. There are 3 basseins, and we were headed for the third one. From what I remember the first one was bassein yes, then bassein providence and then bassein bleu where the water fall is the largest. Right before you get to the last pool you have to rope climb down and then cross the stream. One of our guides wanted to be our photographer, it was funny. He was super impressed that my camera could go in the water! As we crossed the stream he would keep saying no slipping ok, no slipping. They all had a bit of English. The water was amazing, clear blue and just cool enough to be refreshing (although they referred to it as ice cold, it most certainly was not) The guide Joseph, who is known as the stunt man, brought us over to the waterfall and had us climb up under the water fall and then scale up through the rushing water and dive into the water. It was quite the rush! I didn’t even hesitate for long to jump as I would usually, since there was such an audience :P When I hit the water though and was rushing to the water I felt that my bathing suit had shifted, luckily I noticed and was able to re-adjust before coming to the surface. I must have gone pretty deep because it felt like it took a long time to come up, I was kicking and kicking. I really loved bassein bleu, definitely a place Chris would have wanted to be. As we started our hike back we felt probably our best of the trip because we were all cooled off, but it didn’t take too long for that refreshed feeling to fade and the sticky sweat feeling to replace it. Along our hike we saw avocado trees, coffee trees, coco trees and of course palm and mango. We stopped at the craft shop in the area where we parked and we tried the coco bean, well they told us just to suck on the white slimy stuff, and we had a fresh mandarin orange off a tree and then a lady had cooked us a breadfruit, right in the coals and made a spicy water to dip it in; it was really good! At the craft shop I bought a mask painted on a carrabasse and a drum made out of goats skin and I believe a carrabasse. It was really dim lit in the shop so I didn’t examine the drum as closely as I should’ve, even though I thought enough to ask about what the skin was…long story short when we got down the mountain and really looked at it we saw that there were tiny ants crawling around the skin. Driving down the mountain we had some rum punch and we were picking up people like a real tap-tap, a father and son were taking their grain to the mill. And another guy was headed to the market in town. Whenever little kids would run along side the truck to ask for money, Cyril would turn right around and ask them to give him money! It was funny. When we got back to the Cyvadier I took the drum down to the beach and found Karen and Nath sprawled out on their beach chairs surrounded by a mini market. I took the drum for a swim to drown the ants, but they were resilient little buggers and the skin started to get soggy so I just went up to the people selling things and asked for a knife to cut off the skin, because otherwise I would never get it past customs. The woman started cutting it and she was saying she would’ve kept it, and she even drummed a good beat with her hand and the knife…but then she saw the ants and understood, it was funny because she seemed insulted that someone would even make that drum and sell it! She kept tsk’ing and showing the other merchants, she said they didn’t dry it enough and put it on too fresh so it attracted bugs. I still need to get out a knife and make sure I get each piece off around the rim incase it starts to smell. Nath said she could send me leather to replace it.
We had a lunch before leaving the hotel, Jolyane and I split a salad with fish, carrots, egg, beets, eggplant etc. We tried again to find coffee, but the cooperative was closed because it was Sunday. We got back to the guesthouse at about 5 maybe and had supper before the rest of the team arrived. It was fried chicken, white rice with a sauce and very very hot tabouli, then fruit salad for dessert.
The team members arrived just as I was getting out of the shower, we now have 8 new people. We had to have a mini team meeting to organize people, which was odd, to have new people show up and then start telling people what to do. I am missing both a trip to Notre Maison and Mephiboshet that they are doing tomorrow. I got a chance to explain the kids to the people going though, I hope I get to see them. We were all trying to get on the internet, but no such luck. It would let you get so far as to type in your password, but then would just stop functioning. Fairly frustrating since it had been working well enough before we left for Jacmel.
Karen emailed Colleen to let them know about the accident, they seemed calm about the situation.
I went to bed a little early to prepare for an early rise and a day full of travel.

November 7, 2009

We got up today with plans of full day of Jacmel adventure and fun. After I showered and saw that breakfast was not ready yet, I grabbed my camera and went down to check out the hotel beach. There were 2 little boys there with paintings, so I took some pictures. For breakfast I had crepes, a little too sweet this morning for my mood I think. We headed off to Basin Bleu at around 8 ready for a full day out in the sun. A rache pwel turned out to be a tap tap sort of transport, seats in the back of a truck. We drove that through town and it was a neat experience to be going down the street but more in the open, we even drove across a river! Up the mountain we got to a spot where the road had washed out and they were building cement tracks for two tires to make it more stable…so we could not drive any farther. We got out for a 3km hike to begin our actual hike. Karen was saying she must have lost a lung somewhere along the way and was finding it a challenge. We had not been walking for very long, less than a km when Cyril asked if we wanted to take a picture on the edge with the valley behind us. Of course we did. So he leads us up this embankment and we all held hands, me between Jolyane and Karen, Karen took a step backwards maybe because she was off balance and slipped down over the cliff. I still had a hold of her hand so I fell over too and I really really thought that she was going to stop on the next small ledge but her momentum pulled her right out of my hand and she fell to the road below about 14 feet! It was one of the worst moments of my life, to feel her slip between my fingers and then watch her bounce off the rocks and crash onto the ground below. She says that the look on my face will haunt her. Cyril and Nath went running down and Jolyane and I were standing there looking down at her in complete shock! We got down to the bottom and she actually stood up and was walking around in circles, like when someone is trying to “walk it off” it was probably the shock that allowed her to move so well. She was in a lot of pain and you could tell it was taking a lot out of her to maintain composure…I was feeling somewhat the same way. I wanted to cry. I felt responsible, like I should have been able to hold on.
The plan had been that Cyril and Nath would go with Karen back to the truck and the driver would take Nath and Karen to the hospital. Cyril called Christophe and he recommended the best MD he knew who was going to meet them down there. Then Cyril was going to lead Jolyane and I on the rest of the hike. We stood under a tree out of the sun and were to wait for him to come back. It was taking them a long time get back up this small hill we had just descended because the pain of her injuries was starting to set in. We got very lucky and a group of young guys came along and they had a mule, so they picked her up and got her on the mule to get her to the truck faster. At this point Nath motioned for Jolyane and I to come up to them, at first Cyril had not been too worried about her injuries because she had seemed so calm, alert and with manageable pain…but as she got further up the hill she began to experience excruciating pain and was nearly passing out. So we all went with her to the hospital because it became more serious. On the back of the truck on our way down I was beginning to lose my battle with the tears and a few sneaked out under cover of my sunglasses. The place we went to was a private clinic and we had a bit of a wait for the doctor…he checked her over and did not believe she had any fractures, but recommended x-rays to make sure. Karen remained in fairly good spirits throughout all this, although curse words were emitted because she was so upset that her trip was getting ruined, that and the pain and all the other complications that would come from being injured in another country. While we were standing there waiting Karen looks at me and says “are you ok?” I guess the look on my face was evident of my guilt and concern and she gave me that look and I just started to cry, I couldn’t help it, and I was apologizing for not being able to have held on. So big hugs all around and then we pulled ourselves together again. We went to the hospital and had a long wait there. It was a very hot and worrisome day . I took some pictures to show mom the radiology dept. She may like the Aberdeen more after she sees them, they even had to fix the generator so the machine would work. I was quite impressed though with how quickly we had her films after they were taken. We looked at the xrays and our untrained eyes did not see any fractures. We went back to the clinic and Cyril took the films in to show Dr. Nelson and we all stayed in the van, expecting to head off for some lunch. He came back out and said you have to come in with me Karen because he thinks you have a fractured pelvis. So in she goes because the MD had called his friend an orthopod to do a full exam because he was not confident in his xray reading. He gave her a very full exam and confirmed that there were no fractures, just very bad contusions. So arm, ribs, pelvis, and hip were still intact which was really good news. He recommended she stay non weight-bearing on the L leg for 24 hrs and see how that went. He had concerns that she may develop a hemothorax or whatever but we are to keep an eye on her breathing. The whole time she kept getting us to give her cognitive questions because she had hit her head and wanted to make sure she was ok.
We were now starving because it was about 2:30pm, so Cyril’s assistant took Jolyane and I to Hotel Florita to get some appetizers before lunch, and they would join us after Karen finished at the clinic. The hotel was a very nice place, and by that I only mean great architecture, not fancy…it was quite old. We took a tour of the hotel and had some rice that is flavoured with a mushroom called something like djean-djean that grows on dying mango trees, it was really good and had some lentils in it as well. Then the group arrived and our meal was served. I had fish, but it looked so gross when they put it in front of me, and when you are very hungry your stomach is sore to begin with, plus that gut feeling I had all day with the worry. I ate a few of the plantains but they felt too heavy in my stomach and I ate about half of the fish, but did not enjoy it. It was not as good as the red snapper, it was much more fishy tasting, but again, not nearly as bad tasting as it had looked. The lady brought out more of the rice so I had more of that and was satisfied. After our meal we walked over to the art school, but everything there was really expensive, and mostly voodoo style. I did like one painting, the colours were great and it had those coral fans painted onto it (the real fan with paint dripped over) but it was $2000 US.
We continued shopping at a few smaller places and we would park right in front of the door so Karen could see in, and then hold stuff up for her at the door. We even modeled Karnaval masks for her! I bought a tete zeb (a papier mache zebra bust), a small wooden fish and a stone carving of a man kneeling that was made out of an orangey stone. I think overall I spent $32 US. We stopped at a place that Cyril thought had homegrown coffee, but they did not have any. We got back to the hotel at about 6:30 and I was able to pick up an internet signal and I wrote home about the accident, letting them know that we were all ok, incase the team sent out a message. Then we went swimming in the ocean while Nath helped Karen shower to get ready for the evening. While we floated in the ocean Cyril said we could do the Basin Bleu hike again tomorrow and this time he will try to arrange that we go up the mountain on horseback, that is exciting! Nath is not going to come because she has been there before and would rather lay in the sun with Karen, and keep her company. I feel bad, because Karen had really been looking forward to Basin Bleu.
Now that Karen is injured, she cannot go to Ile a Vache, because there are too many stairs and we have to walk up a big hill to get to the orphanage. It was supposed to be her and I that left for there tomorrow at noon, so now I cannot go alone because no one there speaks English, and it is likely not wise for me to go off there all by myself. So we will all go back to PaP tomorrow and maybe I can go to Ile a Vache just a day later. It would have been fun for Karen and I to be on the island with just us, and to visit Soeur Flora without the rest of the group, but-what can you do. I figure I can suck up my disappointments because I did not fall off a cliff…consider my blessings counted. Another unfortunate aspect of today was we paid $375 US for this weekend and ended up spending our one full day at the hospital. Karen feels horrible because she thinks she ruined our trip, I am sure Cyril feels awful because he suggested the picture, I feel awful because I was not able to hold onto her etc…so our mood was up and down today, but we tried hard to keep the mood light and make jokes.
For supper I had grilled fish, I believe it was red snapper again, very good. I had papaya sorbet for dessert but I did not like the papaya flavor. Tonight’s conversation centred mostly around people’s accident stories, I didn’t really think of any to tell.

November 6, 2009

This morning was a busy one as we packed our bags for the week to follow and got ready to leave with Tour Haiti for Jacmel. After breakfast of fruit and toast Jolyane and I headed up to the clinic at 7 because we were told they would open the store room for us. We needed to gather up a few items for ile a vache and in our hectic clinic schedule did not think of it until last night. When we got to the clinic there was no one around. As we were about to leave we heard a noise so went back in, asked around but no one had a key. So we went back to the guest house and I helped Karen arrange our hockey bags for what was needed at ile a vache. Cyril arrived and we loaded the van, Jolyane and I decided to head back up to the clinic to see if they had arrived. No luck, but Jack was there and says he is feeling better after his motor accident, he laughed when he either recognized me or because I used kreyol "Koumon ou ye?" Again, as we were leaving, the storehouse clerk arrived so we scrounged around up there…it is really hurting, we had a hard time to find even simple things like a quad cane. We did not get much checked off our list so that is disappointing. I wish I had been better prepared on what we would need.
We set off for Jacmel and had a beautiful ride over the Chaine de la Selle mountains. Cyril announced when we were going up the steepest section and it was in this area that we had to pull over to allow a gas truck to squeeze past a tap tap that was stopped on a big turn and all the people were on the side of the road. We didn’t think much of it, but then as we passed the taptap we see that it is literally on top of a small car that it crashed into on the turn, and it appears that it was at fault because it was on the wrong side of the road. There was a girl crying and bleeding but it did not appear that anyone was killed. We did not stop because it was decided we would not be much help and we were running behind for pazapa.
At pazapa Marika led Jolyane and I to a room full of small children and said they were all new to her and needed programs designed for the year. Marika figured we would do one or 2 of the kids in the room. Jolyane did not feel comfortable doing a peds assessment, so we teamed up, she took notes and translated and I asked all the questions and made the treatment plan. We made it through 4 kids and when Karen came to get us saying it was time to go. Jolyane and I could not believe it because it really did not feel like we had been there that long! Time really flew. I literally had sweat dropping off me though, it was that hot in there. That and a few of my tests involved physical activity :P
We saw a young boy, who had autism quality symptoms, but fairly good eye contact. We also recommended he see Nath, about his ankles and Karen for his swallowing difficulties so a true team approach on our first kid. Karen thinks he likely had microcephaly. He was a sensory seeker for sure, vestibular, tactile and perhaps a little auditory but the mouth noises could have been an oral tactile thing. He calmed with activity and compression. I recommended a sensory diet and trying a weighted vest and taught them how to make one.
Then we saw a young girl, who absolutely broke my heart! She was found at 2mos. Lying in a field covered in ants. She had welts and lumps and bumps all over her face, her ears were swollen, her gums deformed, her nose sunken in, a malshaped chest and inflamed and contracted joints…she even had an ulnar claw. She is now 2, so quite some time since the ants…we were told it had been worse than this. She had difficulty breathing and her heart was absolutely racing! She calmed in my arms and I recommended she be seen by a MD for pain and distress. I also recommended gentle gentle slow ranging, and to dress her very cautiously and demonstrated.
Then we saw another young girl, she is 15 mos and likely has mild CP. Very bright alert cute girl who will sometimes drag her R foot and will not use her R hand though it is strong enough for her to hold my finger and pull herself up to standing with it! She has not began to speak many words as of yet, so I recommended they begin model prompts and singing things like tete appaule; also games that encourage bilateral hand use or more forced choice to use the R hand.
Lastly we saw a young boy, he was 13mos and very hypotonic, especially the neck muscles. The pazapa lady thought he was blind, but his mother assured us he could see…and after some attempts he did indeed track me all the way past midline but it was a struggle to have him really focus on you and you had to move slowly. He only tracked with his eyes, no head movement. We sat him up in a bumbo just to see what happened, we had to support his neck of course, but he seemed to look at more things. We are going to try and get a wheelchair together for him for proper seating for when the next team goes.
After pazapa we checked into our hotel, Cyvadier, and it turned out Jolyane and I got our own rooms. We had a welcome drink of rhum punch and then drove along the coast for supper on the beach. We took a quick swim before taking our seats right on the edge of the beach. I had red snapper and it was really good! I was hesitant at first because it was the whole fish, big teeth and all. But I braved up and dug in…I really enjoyed the seasoning and spices and how they BBQed it…and I did a good job of de-boning it! It was a little pique! After supper we went back in the water, and made a little friend of a Haitian dog. We were wary when it came running over to us, but it was just like any puppy…it wanted to play! I think it was so cute! It even guarded our bags while we swam. And would walk with us down the beach. I bought a lantern on the beach made out of a fruit casing that apparently does not taste good, they only use it for jars or bowls, Carabasse. I think it will be pretty, I remember seeing them in Petionville at a café. We had a tailgate party and had some rhum punch and then went back to the hotel where we changed and sat on the patio having drinks and appetizers (accra with piklis) and then supper (amazing fried chicken and frites and salad) and then talking late into the night about many things, like Haitian politics, kidnappings, tours, relationships. The hotel owner Christophe, who is german Haitian (haitian mother) joined us for drinks and provided 2 rounds of shots (a type of moonshine that is lethal). Cyril says he has a surprise for us for tomorrow, we are taking a rache pwel to the waterfall…we tried guessing but he will not tell us what that is!

Kay Kapab part deux

We had a great time out last night. We went first to the Country Club for a drink and did some dancing in our chairs to some throw-back music to the 70's and 80's including Disco Inferno and Bad Girls. We then went to the Latin Corner which did not have a lot of people there, and was quite kitch. There were a lot of black lights so we all glowed. Noel was a great teacher of the Kompa! It is definitely a different style of dancing than in Canada. Jolyane and I, who are considered the young crew, tired more quickly of the evening than the older crew Nath and Karen, I believe they would have stayed out all night!
I slept in a little later and got up at 7 to make up for the later bed time and then got ready for another day up at Kay Kapab. Fresh fruit again for breakfast, and spicy peanut butter for the bananas. There were also pancakes and ham, but I stuck with the bananas, pineapple and watermelon. I think I am only a coffee drinker in Haiti, may have something to do with the added chocolate.
When Jolyane and I arrived at the clinic it was quite empty, but then the therapists arrived with big smiles- more used to us on day 2. We talked a bit about the plan for the day and what their thoughts were etc. They were excited to learn more about OT which is a good sign. I worked with the male therapist and Jolyane worked with the female and we split up to tackle the days clients as teams. I found a translator who said he was at the clinic in case there was work, but that I would have to check with the clinic manager because that is how he would get paid. We could not find Johnny so he stayed and translated anyways. I cannot even tell you what a difference it makes to have a translator! I think I need to take an intense French course so that I can get more done at the clinic ;) I was able to have some bonding time with the tech and get some background about where he is from and how he travels to the clinic (taptap and sometimes motorcycle from Carrefour). Our first client was a 2 year old boy, B, who the tech thought when he started therapy had CP, but then as he progressed believed it to be more of just hemiparesis. Potentially a head injury, hard to say. His mom says he had the weakness for as long as she could remember. He was there with his older brother O, who is 6. B was such a cutie, he laughed all through his ROM and was quite shy at first but by the end was singing for us. I found out that at home he enjoys playing with the ball, so we got out a soccer ball and I showed mom some fun games to play to help promote bilateral hand use, balance and strength. B had a great time, and I think a great session. Aterwards we looked at the charting and note taking. They find it difficult to do a lot of their charting because they do not have a photocopier for their forms, and usually the printer upstairs is not working. We think they would also find a great difference with an organizing system for all their papers, so all they had to do was go to the wall and grab the items they need for the session. Something to look into for the future.
While we prepared for the next client, Johnny arrived and I told him that I was benefiting from the translator. And it was at this point that we were informed that it was not in the budget to pay him, because he was told the team would have 3 francophones and would therefore manage. We tried to explain that we were much more efficient if we could split up, but undertsandably he did not want to change the plan without the team leaders say...I apologized to the translator, but he said he would stay and help me anyway as a volunteer- a very nice man. Later in the day he mentioned that he sold jewelry and I remembered him having it set out last time as well, so I said we would look at it during the break. I told Jolyane and we decided we would buy some jewelry and then he would get paid for the day :)
Next we had a woman, R-M, who was post CVA with a subluxed R shoulder and flaccid wrist, some tone in the digits. Her program was more PT based, but I showed the daughter how to best fit the sling for optimum comfort and I added some padding to the shoulder strap. We also discussed the use of a splint, but that will be for the P+O clinic. She wore an AFO and practiced weight transfers and mobility. While she worked on the stairs with the tech, the translator and I talked to the daughter about what assistance her mom required at home and we found out that she was not able to complete toileting independently because their set up was a hole in the ground and for mom a bucket. We were able to find a commode for her to take home. When we came around the corner with it, their faces lit up and they laughed because it was a simple idea and a great fix. R-M looked very happy to have that increased independence, and I imagine some dignity returned.
When we finished up there it was close to 1 and they were going on break so we went down to the guest house. The translator displayed his jewelry, I believe it was all made from coconut shells. I bought earrings, Jolyane a necklace and earrings set and Nath a hair clip. Probably a good day for him.
When we went back up to the clinic the place was empty and the techs were having siesta. We talked to them a bit about the forms and they would like us to add some more ADL sections. We asked them if they wanted to do any other teaching or if they had questions, but they were too tired. So we went for a swim instead. Jolyane and I played with our underwater cameras and have deduced that we do not look that good under water :P
For supper we had lambi (conch) and vegetables with a custard like dessert.
We then sat around in the living room and did some housekeeping in regards to what needs to be done for the weekend and next week in terms of what equipment we need to bring, who we need to contact and what we need to find. Nath and Karen took a nap and Jolyane is studying for her Yoga instructor course.
Not sure the plans for tonight.
Leave for Jacmel tomorrow am, have already let the staff here know we will be early for breakfast and will not need a big spread! Also gave them some of my laundry so that I have some clean pants for the week. Karen and I have talked about just wearing our scrubs at Ile a Vache regardless of how dirty they get day to day. Does stink keep bugs away? I doubt it. an A-bomb wouldnt keep the bugs away! I dont know how they find me but at some point between this morning and this afternoon they got my legs right through my pants and I now have some beautiful red spots scattered over the brilliant white.

The Market

Just an update on our little venture to the market. On our way to the market a bus passed us "Uh, is that a public bus?" as I read the PetionV on the front. The answer: Yes. What! Public busses in Haiti! Mais oui! The government spent 30mil on them and gave them to different groups. Cyril does not think they will last long because they are not well maintained and travel routes that are not "bus friendly" You would be hard pressed to find many bus friendly routes in my opinion.
A la market I got some pringles (so many flavours that we dont have in Canada) and dried mango and coconut. We were the centre of attention and even had people trying to be secretive of taking our picture in the aisles. Jolyane was super impressed with the ergonomic set up of the cashier station, they are all seated and have the cash in front of them with a lift up lid, the screen is also very user friendly. They would not allow her to take a photo however. Oh, and if anyone is curious, the exchange rate is 41.75 gourdes per american dollar; so 20 dollars equals 835 gourdes. My snacks were 190 some gourdes.
I had some haitian ketchup in my hands and considered PB, but I imagine we will have another market trip at some point so I wont have to carry this stuff around in my pack.

Kay Kapab

I woke fairly early this morning, and had to make myself stay in bed a little longer...that is rare. My earplugs must have worked wonders last night because the girls say the rain woke them through the night crashing down in buckets. I heard nothing. Through the night though I knocked one loose and could hear odd bird screeches, but no rooster.
We took a walk around the property before breakfast, down by the bidonville...it is always so lively there! Music was blaring and you could hear children playing, full of life.
For breakfast we had huge bananas with Haitian peanut butter, great Haitian coffee mixed with their amazing chocolate drink, papayas, watermelon and there was an omelette caserole dish that I did not eat.
Jolyane, Nath and I worked in the clinic today, and Karen worked with a student in the guesthouse who is a keen learner and is becoming a speech assistant. Nath was in the P+O shop, and Jolyane and I worked in the rehab section. We tried to work one on one with the rehab techs there, there were 2 working today. The female was receptive, the male less so :) The male was more interested in us taking clients on our own so he could get through the waiting room faster. So we compromised, because Jolyane is bilingual she observed the therapist, and I took clients on my own. I am getting better at sherades. The clients enjoyed my broken french and quizzical looks, they are all so sweet and patient with me, and all so appreciative of the work we do.
After lunch, Jolyane and I set up workshop on the patio and made a to-do list: so things we would like to work on for the clinic. We noticed that re-assesmment is lacking, and clients get stagnant with minimal progress, they maintain the same treatment program for even over a year! We want to improve that process. Because ultimately our goal here is to have the clinic self sustaining, so that our organization no longer needs to support them. The tech says that they would like to do more re-assessment but often they do not have the paper to record it. So what we did today was put together a re-assessment form that will guide them to ask certain questions and ensure they are being thourough and are understood by their clients in regards to at home exercises.
Tomorrow we will review that with them and walk them through it with some clients, which means we are not going to Wings of Hope- but I will hopefully go there next week.
After we finished our work and discussed tomorrows plans with the staff we jumped into the pool which was very refreshing!
Then for supper we had riz nationale, fried plantains, beef, white fish and pikliz.
Then we all re-showered and worked on updating our friends and family via the internet :)
We are now sitting in the guesthouse with Cyril from Tour Haiti, working out our weekend plans in Jacmel. We are going dancing tonight in Petionville at La esquina latina (the latin corner) which Cyril says is extremely kitch with mirrors on the ceiling and rooms to rent upstairs. Although he swears there are no postitutes :) He says that if you want to dance, and hear haitian music, then it is the place to go. We are trying to get him to tell us the smooth cool place to go for tomorrow. He says latina is very 80's and themey. Should be an event. He is thinking we could get live music tomorrow at the Montana- contemporary jam session, open mics on Thursday night. We are now having a discussion on the pros of paying in Gourdes because they charge you more when they see the american dollars. Also the best and worst places to change your money. Bars are not a good place, the street is even worse.
Oh, impromptu visit to the grocery store!
a bientot!