Arrived in Jacmel

The past few days have been emotional. We were able to get in three days at Soeur Flora's orphanage but the winds from the North made getting to work challenging. We had to take a small boat to cross the sea each day with a tarp fully covering the boat in order to not get drenched. The last day, I was holding down the tarp with all my might and leaning into the tarp and the wind and force from the 4 foot waves were pushing me forward with such force that my neck stilll hurts 2 days later. We all had a good laugh about it and I think got a few photos for the photo album. We went up to the Citadel with the kids at the end of our stay and it was so much fun to see them sliding down this massive hill on palm tree leaves. We couldn't figure out why they were all fighting to get leaves before reaching the top and we all giggled when we saw them hop on and slide down. I promise to post amazing photos that the kids took on Facebook when I get home. It was a perfect ending to our time with the kids, to see them all laughing like kids and just having fun amongst a breathtaking background............ truely a moment in my life I will never forget. As always, I have a hard time saying goodbye and the tears come easily when the kids start to cry and know we are leaving. Somehow they always seem to know the day we leave even though we don't announce it. Many of the children were acting out and punching each other to get attention from the blancs, and we all knew that they knew it would be our last day together for another year.

After a very long day driving on Sunday through the mountains, we arrived in Jacmel. Jacmel is a beautiful part of Haiti but where I get mosquito bites the size of welts. We spent today at Pazapa, and I assisted an American Orthopedic Surgeon from Virginia to triage 39 patients that might be considered for surgery when he returns in Feb. We worked out a system that worked and managed to see everyone and set up rehab consults before 1pm. After that, we did 2 home visits which was great becuase it was one child that we had seen last year. Unfortunately, the family was not interested in ways to support her needs. The other family however, cared so well for their severely disabled 21 year old daughter. She was newly bathed and dressed in a beautiful sundress anticipating our arrival and we were able to praise the family for their hard work and set up a plan to arrange for her to receive an appropriate wheelchair in the coming months from a returning team.

We ended today swimming in the ocean and watching the sun set with  a cold Prestige. Life is good in Haiti. This trip has taken a bit of a toll on me. I have found that I'm far more tired but loving being back. Despite the fatigue and minor stomach ailments, Haiti has once again got a hold of my heart.