Bonjou tout moun anko - Hi from Haiti to everyone that is interested in continuing the ride or jumping on the bus while it¨´s smoking up the hill! I got to Pedernales, in the Dominican Republic on the border of Haiti, about one week ago. Although I had done my best to prepare by word of mouth that I was coming, and was told last February while making a brief visit back that I was most welcome, what appears is often not at all what is, especially veiled by the cultural smokescreen. I was received politely last Thursday, but told by the chief doctor of the clinic (LaMartine) that he would have to meet with his staff to see how they feel about me starting. He said he would get back to me the next week!!!!! Wow, enough fire to hard boil an egg in this gringa´s boiling blood!!! Wait in this dusty cowboy town for who knows how long for who knows what????? I took a few deep breaths and nodded in agreement, circled around the health center to meet everyone.
Things have changed considerably since I left mid-March of 2011. The non profit organization, Batey Relief Alliance (BRA), with which I was allied last time I was here, had not succeeded to take over operations of the then woebegone clinic. Although contracts had been signed between BRA and the Haitian Ministry of Health, hands shaken, press releases sent here and there; in the end there was some kind of power struggle and BRA was sent packing. Today things look considerably cleaner, better organized, more manpower, everyone dressed in startched white, including me, the only person sweating bullets in this uniform in 90 degree heat with a ceiling fan that only reaches 1 on the scale up to 5. I got the greenlight to work the next day, after meeting with the head nurse who knew me well and couldn't understand why I wasn't starting right away. So she got the wheels rolling andhere I am back in the knack, sewing up lacerations, seeing babies with high fevers, funny rashes, pregnant women, people possessed by spirits and writhing in paroxysms of pain like in an old fashioned grade B horror movie. However I am feeling content with a little more kreyol under my belt and understanding the routine much better than last time. By the way, although the cholera tent is still standing out in the backyard, there are no patients now and haven't been for some time.
I am staying in Haiti with my translator and his family- no light or running water, but it is kind of like camping in luxury. His wife does everything for me - she cooks cleans, washes my clothes, she even followed me into their rustic shower to help me bathe until I told her it was not really necessary.
I'm sorry if this blog is a little helter-skelter, I have to reenter the DR in order to have wifi and I am attempting this on a i-pad, so the curve is a little high. I am going to try to post some photos
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