Ok, after a little Velveeta Shells n Cheese Easy Mac I can tell you about our day. We got to Haiti this morning after a pretty interesting travel experience. Our plane was broken, of course, we sat on the runway for over an hour, very sad. The man next to me was a native Haitian and was making jokes about coming to America because he thought that meant things would work, it was pretty funny. He was telling me about how he saw snow for the first time, how weird.
The Port au Prince airport was pretty much a giant cluster. Making it out without being accosted by a little man trying to take my bags was as much as I can really say for myself. The hospital was about a ten minute ride from the airport. We did get to see some "tap taps" which are basically van/truck contraptions that cram approximately 20 more people then their capacity and then just slow down for people to jump off...just whenever they're done riding, pretty crazy.
The hospital is sort of a campus situation, several buildings all gated in. There hadn't been any volunteers for a few weeks so their weren't many patients, only about 8. I guess word got out because in they came. After a very brief orientation and tour we jumped right on in and began trying to figure out what the he** we were supposed to be doing. There are Haitian nurses who are super friendly and teaching me some creole words. The kids are all super cute, I understand just about zero words, but we figure it out.
The accomodations...interesting. Its 3 big dorm rooms basically, bunk beds. We did get the super awesome surprise of a little farm of baby leeches in our shower...so, needless to say, i'm still dirty. I'm going to need a serious pep talk for that one. Lunch today was pretty good, i'm not sure I can say what the meat in it was but I was super hungry and I ate it happily. The bus to the UN where there is a restaurant is currently out of commision so i'm super glad I brought an array of snacks.
All in all, things went really well. I'm super tired and looking forward to my bed. Can't wait to see what the week will bring.
Have a great weekend!
Wow, and your resolution for 2012 was to be braver? Holy crap, my dear....you have more bravery than several of us who are reading this blog all put together! I imagine it is a trip working through the communication barrier, but amazing what can be accomplished out of necessity. Although I am not your mother, I am going to take the liberty of telling you to stay off the tap taps. Continue to stay safe and do your amazing work! Oh...and beware the baby leeches! Ewwwww! Love you, my little Maniac!
ReplyDeleteHope the night brought you some sleep. Are you still dirty? Can't you just was those little buggies down the drain? I did wonder about the language barrier. Does your Spanish help at all? All is well here. Kneeling on beans for you...Love you, Mom
ReplyDeleteSo excited and proud of you Tracy! and very happy your sharing your trip with us through your blog. Stay safe lady...hope to catch up with you when you get back!
ReplyDelete-Maur