Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 1:41pm
Hello! Bon jour! (which works in French and Creole)
I hope that this finds everyone doing well!! Today is Sunday, which is our day off every week. It was a very nice surprise since I wasn’t sure if we would work straight through the week or not. Today has already been a very nice day. I got up this morning and went to mass at the main cathedral in Port Au Prince with several of my housemates. Even though the cathedral was completely destroyed, the crucifix is still standing! And there are several other churches like that in the city – amazing! We had mass outside.

There were some chairs, other people brought their own chairs, but mostly we stood. Luckily I had my missal so I could follow along. The singing was beautiful. The readings today were so heart wrenching considering the circumstances, but the priest talked about in preparing his homily he read a newspaper article that after 9/11 in the US that people did not go out and buy water, or medicine or food, but the sales of bibles increased significantly. He emphasized the fact that it is not human medicine, but God’s medicine that will help us. He also told the story that right after the earthquake he found a man robbing the church. He asked the man why he was stealing from the church and the man replied that he was a prisoner who had been in the jail and that since God had set him free and spared his life he could do whatever he wanted. But the priest said that if God has given us a second chance, then we must use it for good and have a true change of heart – like the fig tree in the gospel. I would like to say that I understood all this, but of course I haven’t learned THAT quickly. One of my housemates is Canadian but has been coming to Haiti for 10 years now to work on an agriculture product in the north so she speaks Creole and interpreted the homily for me after mass! =) So now I have taken a nap and wanted to update everyone on how things are going!
So let me tell you a little more about our work here. There are three main health projects. A hospital (the term hospital being loosely used – usually it’s a large collection of tents – no one goes or stays inside buildings) project where the therapists go out into the hospitals and treat patients, assess them and try to identify patients who will need follow up care when they leave or who will be disabled and especially vulnerable now. My project is the community project. There are currently 8 antenna (clinics) where there is a nurse, several rehab techs, community workers and one ex-pat (usually a PT or OT) to supervise/help. The community workers go into the communities (tent cities) and try to find people who are injured, disabled or will need special assistance and might not otherwise have access to it. At the antenna, they have therapy and people come every day to be seen. We also have a small supply closet, but often there is not much to give out. The third project is the P&O project (prosthetics and orthotics), for which there is quite a need. They are in the process of setting up a more permanent workshop, but they also have a mobile workshop and go to the different antenna to fit patients and start training them. They even have mobile parallel bars! They were at my antenna yesterday and it was quite neat to see! Handicap International has been very thoughtful in their planning to make the projects sustainable and to increase the capacity to provide care by hiring and training local staff. Also, there is a lot of emphasis on identifying and tracking the patients and their needs so that there is some kind of continued care and they are not lost once they go back to their communities.
So far I have been on a little rollercoaster ride with the work. We have seen so many fractures and peripheral nerve injuries it’s crazy! I definitely did not study up for this and am wishing I had my anatomy notes!! It is like direct access gone crazy! I am even trying to read x-rays! I am definitely appreciating my PT education at Belmont, I only wish I hadn’t forgotten so much!! Some days I feel really good about the work I have done, especially working with some of the local staff. Other times, I feel completely overwhelmed, like I do not have the knowledge to help at all! Luckily, our antenna is on the grounds of the hospital so I keep shuttling people over there. Yesterday I met their administrator who is an American orthopaedic surgeon and she said she would read any of the x-rays I had! So that will be helpful!
So, maybe I’ll tell you a little bit about living here and then I’ll sign off as this is already turning into a novel and I feel like I’m just getting started. HI has 4 houses here for the ex-pat staff (ex-patriots or foreigners). I am staying in a beautiful one. I was very surprised when we pulled up the first night. There are about 30 of us staying here, but most people stay outside in tents – they are nervous about sleeping inside. I have a nice little spot on the landing at the top of the stairs. (My friend Danielle said that was good so I could run outside quickly! But I am not too worried). We haven’t had any more tremors since I have been here. The house is quite international with many countries represented: France, Canada, Switzerland, El Salvador, Austria, Germany, and, of course, the US. So it is interesting at night to hear all the languages. By far the most common language is French, but most people are very thoughtful about using English when I’m around. It’s funny though because sometimes they’ll forget and turn around and starting talking to me in French. I just smile, wait until they pause and then remind them “je ne parle pa francais” – I don’t speak French. =) One of the phrases I’ve gotten down. I’m also getting to practice my Spanish with the Salvadorians and I have an interpreter everyday who is trying to teach me French and Creole! My poor little brain will be very full! We have several Haitians who take care of us: a woman who cooks, another who does our laundry and a man who does all the dishes. The first night I set an alarm, but I didn’t need to as there are roosters all over who quite readily announce when it is time to wake up. The workers actually bring their rooster to the house everyday and it runs around on the patio while we eat breakfast! Quite funny actually! I guess they found him in the kitchen yesterday running around on the counters where the food was sitting out that the cook was preparing (don’t worry mom I haven’t gotten sick yet!) – one of the HI people saw it and now the rooster is banned from our house and they had to find someone to care for it during the day. Oops!
Wow! This is really long!! I’m going to try to attach a picture of the house so you can see. Everything really is going well and overall I’m very glad to be here. Please keep the prayers coming for me, for our Haitian staff and especially for all the Haitian people.
Big Hugs and lots of love!
Jen
p.s. for now there is still no mail but I will keep you updated! Thanks for all your kind offers!