It's been a busy few days. On Thursday we were honored with the privilege of going out and doing home visits to see children and their families that due to their disability or transportation are not able to attend Pazapa school. We visited two families and I came close to breaking down a few times when I realized where I was. People who don't know us, graciously invite us into their home with as much trust as you would give to your closest friends. We ask tons of questions, most often requiring Karen to interpret, and for a short while invade their home. I can't explain what it is like to be lead down a dusty pot-filled dirt road to a small shack and invited with kisses on the cheek because you're there to help a little girl laying on a bed with CP. We found out about this little girl through an orphanage run by Americans called Hands and Feet. Their maintenance manager is leaving the country and by Haitian standards "adopted" her but is not allowed to legally leave the country with her. Her name was Nathalie, and she hammed it up! Full of smiles despite us putting her in and out of her wheelchair several times to try to get it to fit her better and then me holding this timy little underweight body in my arms doing chest clapping to loosen the mucus from her lungs. She was cared by a lady who took her in after she had been abandoned on the steps of a church.
At this point, it was mid-afternoon and I didn't think it was possible for me to sweat as much as I was. It was dripping off me but despite the heat we went to see Gaylain, another little girl with CP. Her wheelchair required modifications, so there wasn't really anything for me to do but her older sister played hide-and-go-seek and tossed a ball around with me for about 45 min! So much fun, a very happy little girl who loved having some attention with a stranger for a small moment in time. Again, her parents were so thankful Adrian and Laura were able to fix her chair and dad watched very intently to make sure he knew what was being changed in case he had to do it in the future. This has been the most profound experience I've had since being here and I find tears rolling down my face as I write. I don't know if it will be something that I will be able to talk about when returning home without becoming very emotional each time I think about how few people get to really see how most Haitians live everyday.
Later in the day, we did some shopping in downtown Jacmel. We met a man (I think his name was Tut Tut) who led us around to several stores. Well, they weren't really stores, they were small rooms that had no electricity and were dark and dusty but what we scored some beautiful art pieces. The artisans of Jacmel are most famous for their paper mache masks and we saw some amazing ones! Again, we got lucky and were able to walk the streets of Jacmel without getting swarmed or worried about our safety. Everyone was very respectful and freindly. Only Adrian got into a bit of trouble with a man on the street that tried to sell him old, mouldy Haitian cigars. I found some later in another store, which he bought and we tried one out later in the evening by the pool. Karen told us that there is a competition that must be had while in Jacmel. It is to see how many people can fit on a motorcycle at the same time. So far, Adrian is winning with 4 adults. So, of course, Laura asked the question that I will likely never hear again. "What is worth more, a baby or a pig"? Cyril who owns Tour Haiti and is Haitian, clarified that a pig is indeed worth more because it covers more surface area than a baby and is harder to hold. Just another reason why I'm loving it here...... the craziness of it all!
Friday was a quiet day for me. I got to do a bit of basic wound care with a few kids that had minor scratches and follow up on a wound that I had cleaned up on Wednesday. A young deaf boy had fallen off his bike and when he showed me his knee, the skin was almost gone to the bone and was covered with a dirty scrap of cloth and wrapped with some sort of tape that was peeling off. It was infected, covered with rocks and dirt and looked horrible. I got it cleaned up and when he came back on Friday to see me, I was happy to see pink skin at the base and was starting to heal. I realized that I came ill-prepared for this trip. Next time, I would bring a standard nursing assessment for all the children as there wer no nursing notes other than immunizations and diagnosis noted and I would do a quick head-to-toe on every child. The home visits would also be a great opportunity to do health teaching with the parents if I had brought basic information in Creole. Hygiene kits for the home would have also been great.
Sarah and Laura joined us on this leg of the trip and they have been wonderful to work with. They are so knowledgable and very innovative. As we were all working during home visits, I started to think that this is such a great idea, why don't things like this happen back home. To have an entire team come in at once and find resolutions to challenges makes sense. While Adrian and Laura were working on the chair, I was doing some chest physio and Karen and Sarah would do speech and OT assessments. There was no competition, we each had our specialty and left feeling like we made a difference in this little girl's quality of life.
I remember saying a few months ago, that I get to go to Haiti. More than ever I feel that sentiment today. It doesn't take too long before you get used to being dirty, hot, sweaty and wearing the same clothes many days in a row. You also reflect on how amazingly fortunate we are to live in a country that offers us safety, security, opportunities for personal development, basic healthcare and the right to live as free-thinking individuals.
I belive things happen for a reason and I think me spending some time by myself today to reflect on what I have seen here is good for me. I don't think I'm going to process everything that I have experienced until I get home and try to get back into ordinary life. Right now, in this moment, I feel relaxed, calm and knowing that I need to keep Haiti close to my heart when I go home.
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| A little boy watching us pack up at Pazapa |
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| An amazing team! |
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| My favorite photo! |
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