Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 7:27pm
Joyeuses Pâques ! Happy Easter !
What a full and blessed week. I don’t think that I will be able to write everything down, but I’m going to try and hopefully it won’t be TOO long! =)
First of all, I want to share with everyone the very good news that my tetraplegic patient was accepted into Miami University’s hospital here in Haiti on Tuesday and we were able to transfer him over there on Thursday with the help of IOM (another NGO that organizes medical transport). It was so amazing, I just called on Tuesday morning and spoke with the coordinator and he said, “Sure, when can you send him over?” I was shocked. And everything came together so smoothly. The administration of the current hospital, the doctors, his family and the transport – it all worked out perfectly. Bon Dieu Bon!! God is so good! So thank you for all your prayers!! I wish that everyone could have seen the smile on his face and on the faces of his wife and daughters, for the first time in a long time they had some hope. I cannot even begin to express how happy it made my heart!!

There were several other exciting and interesting things that happened this week. First on Monday, we were told that they found worms in one of the houses – the kind that live in your tummy and are highly transmissible between people – yick!! So we all had to take a special medicine to kill them all at once. Everyone was making fun of me – they thought maybe that’s why I was eating so much. I tried to tell them, no – I always eat like this, but they didn’t believe me!
This week the antenna’s been a little busier, which has been nice. I also got to do some wound care, which I really do enjoy . . . and kind of remember from school! =) We also found another spinal cord injury patient in the hospital, she’s a para with a sacral wound too!!! She hasn’t gotten out of bed either since the earthquake and is so weak! She’s petrified of sitting on the edge of bed and is totally dependent of her family even to roll . . . so we’re going to work on that Monday and Tuesday! We just happened to get some equipment donated to us while we are waiting for our shipment to come in, and the donation included . . . wheelchairs!!! So I got one for her with removable armrests! We haven’t had any wheelchairs the whole time I’ve been here and we get some the same week that I find a para – again Bon Dye Bon!! His timing really is perfect!!
This weekend was our little Easter break and it was perfectly timed (ha! I had already written that before I wrote that last paragraph and it’s so true!). Definitely a much needed respite. On Thursday we had two new arrivals at the house whom I have really enjoyed getting to know so far. Ann from Switzerland, who speaks English very well and Jillien from Scotland, whose accent I love! And they will both be here until after I leave! Yeah!!
On Friday, for our first day off, we went to un cascade (a waterfall). It was a long drive, 2-2 ½ hours, but the drive was one of the best parts. It was so great to get out of the city and see some of the countryside. It was a little sad to see all the brown hills with very few trees left (Haiti has been about 97% deforested). It looked almost desert like, specially compared to the lush green forest of other Caribbean islands. The villages and little farms were very quaint and colourful and although there is still a lot of poverty in the countryside too, the simplicity of life was neat to see. The waterfall was beautiful and I’ll put in some pictures – if the computer cooperates. The boys took a nice swim, but it was quite crowded and the girls didn’t want to attract any attention so we just waded – it was still quite nice! We even had time to stop for lunch at a restaurant in a little town on the way, which was fun. I ordered fish and I really got a fish – the whole thing: head, tail, bones and even flippers – mmmmmm. Once I picked all the skin off and bones out it was actually pretty tasty =)
Saturday, we went to the beach – it was my first time to go since I’ve been in Haiti. Some people go every Sunday, but I usually miss the car by the time I get home from church, so Saturday was the perfect opportunity! It was beautiful and only an hour and a half away – so close! I forgot that we were in the Caribbean and how blue the water was! We had the most perfect weather, nice and sunny and warm but with a beautiful breeze. One of the guys brought a ball and we had a very fun, if not a little rough, game of keep away – it was good exercise though! I’ll try and put some beach pictures up too! I even got a little sun, which was nice. I was surprised though since I applied my SPF 50 sunscreen at LEAST three times!!! And I’m still one of the palest people here! =)
Today was a wonderful Easter. There were nine of us who all went to church together in the morning, and several of my friends who hadn’t come before, but just wanted to experience it. I was very happy to have them come along – especially for Easter. We went back to St. John Bosco (the same church as last week). There were so many people, the church was packed! It was wonderful!! We got there 15 minutes early and still barely found seats. The music was so upbeat and joyful, there were even several young girls who danced during the songs. I think everyone really enjoyed the service and it was so wonderful to celebrate the day with friends.
When we returned home from church, we found that one of our housemates was cooking a big meal for all of us. Several friends came over from the other house and we had a nice meal all together – just like family! The boys even put together dessert for everyone: little bits of mango, chocolate and some left over rum raisin cake from Saturday’s dinner. Quite resourceful and delicious!! We spent the rest of the afternoon just visiting and resting, then several of us headed over to the pool at House 3 for a nice, refreshing dip! We ended up playing some water polo and again I definitely got my exercise in! Now just finishing up my weekly email and I plan to turn in early tonight!!
I will spend one more week with the community team, which works out perfectly. I’ll get to go back to Del Mas for two days and finish up some things there, plus get my para up and going – hopefully. Then I’ll get to go back to CDTI for the rest of the week, which will be so great to visit the staff there. The perfect way to wrap up the week. Then, off to the hospital next week, which I think will be a nice change for me and a good start to my second month here.
I just wanted to share a little something that was from the meditation in my prayer book for today. I thought it was beautiful and it’s something that inspired me for my work here and hopefully for all of us:
“Let us pray to the Lord that the fragile flame of the candle he has lit in us, the delicate light of his word and his love amid the confusions of this age; will not be extinguished in us, but will become ever stronger and brighter, so that we, with him, can be people of the day, bright stars lighting up our time.” ~ Pope Benedict IV
Easter Blessings and lots of love!!!!
Great big hugs,
Jen =)
p.s. The internet is being ridiculously slow so I’m not even going to try the photos this week! Sorry! I’ll try again later in the week and see if I can upload an album with all the ones from the last couple weeks – we’ll see . . . my friends have had trouble too, but I can always try =)