Jenifer Watters Mission to Haiti Blog
May 9 at 8:10pm
Wow!! I’m now up to double digits!!!
I hope that this finds everyone well. For some reason I can’t find my Haiti update #9 and I don’t remember exactly what I wrote, so I apologize if I am redundant. I also just realized I never posted it here either, so when I find it I’ll put it up!
I am back in Port-au-Prince now after a wonderful week of vacation! I spent the week at Pwoje Espwa, which is an orphanage just outside of Les Cayes in the south part of Haiti. It was such a great week!! My friend Linda runs the guest house there, so I stayed on the property with them. It was perfect timing as they were in between groups and I was really the only extra person around. I got to sleep in a real bed, with a real pillow and since I was the only person in the room I pointed BOTH fans right at me at night – it was wonderfully ridiculous!

Linda and her husband Peter and everyone at Espwa were really great hosts. They are doing some really great work there, they have around 750 kids, several schools, a vocational training program, and a medical clinic – so it’s a very busy place. I helped out in the clinic a little bit – I had two patients during the week: a little boy who fell and hurt his wrist and an older woman with some shoulder issues. I also got to play with the kids and practice my Creole. I did a lot of sleeping and reading too. One of the guys who is volunteering there for a couple of months loaned me a book called “The Uses of Haiti” by Paul Farmer. I guess he is a pretty famous guy, especially regarding models for providing medical care in developing countries. It was really interesting and I learned a lot about the history of Haiti – it’s actually very sad, but helps to explain a lot of things. I got through about half the book, so I’ll to find it and finish it once I get home. One day a boy asked me why he didn’t see me working like the rest of the volunteers who come, I told him it was because I was on my “repose” aka rest break!
Les Cayes was much smaller than Port Au Prince and it was nice to see a quieter place – although at lunch time it can still get pretty hectic with all the bikes, motorcycles and cars! Linda and her husband have been going to that area for years so they know a lot of people. It was fun to see how they have become part of the community. The orphanage is outside of town and it’s very safe there, so I was even able to go running with Ryan! It was so great! I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed that! On Wednesday, Linda, Peter and I went to the beach at Port Salut. It was beautiful!! and since it was during the week it was really quiet! I was trying to help teach their driver Johnny to swim – I think he was kind of getting the hang of it =) We also stopped at one of their favorite restaurants for dinner, right across from the beach. We had lobster in cream sauce – Wow!! I think it’s the best meal that I’ve had since I’ve been here (and I’ve actually had some pretty good meals)!
On Thursday, when it was time to head back, there were a couple issues with gas and traffic so the driver didn’t make it out to Cayes until almost 4:30. We have a rule that we have to be back into the Port-au-Prince city limits by 5:00 – which obviously wasn’t going to happen so I got to spend the night in Petit Goave at our house there and was about half way. It also meant that I didn’t get into the city until almost 10 and so I ended up having the day off on Friday too! It was a little ridiculous, but after the rough roads I was pretty worn out by 10 and wasn’t going to complain too much.
Tomorrow I’m going back to Diquini with my other PT friend Sherri, so I’m looking forward to that. It will be nice to be back in a familar face and I am looking forward to checking in with some of the patients there. I did get several updates on Kettely and Ketya during the week and they both seem to be doing well. Kettely has had a couple more procedures to clean up her wound, so hopefully all is going well.
One more really great update before I go. I got to go and see the Leonards today!! L. Leonard is my patient who had the quadraplegia from the earthquake who was transferred to the Miami University Field Hospital by the Port-au-Prince airport. We had lost them for a couple of weeks and were unable to get a hold of them. It turns out that he was discharged two weeks ago!!!! And – they’re practically my neighbors!!! They have a great tent, although quite small for the entire family. It does have nice ventilation and they have a small bed with a mattress for him to lie on. Unfortunately he has a new wound which is pretty deep, but we’ll hopefully be able to go and visit and help with his wound care since he lives so close to our house. One super exciting thing! His wife is a seamstress and helped to support the family by sewing before the earthquake but her machine was destroyed along with the rest of their house and possessions – everything really was just completely smashed. There wasn’t anything left. So, it’s really hard for them to find work now and there are no sewing machines to be found in Port-au-Prince BUT Linda, Peter, and Father Mark helped me find one and even chipped in for it in Les Cayes. They have a tailoring workshop as part of their vocational training program so they had one of the tailors go into town and get a machine for me. We hauled it back to port-au-prince in the back of a pick up and I dropped it off today! We couldn’t get the car all the way up to their house – it was a steep hill!!! And it hasn’t been raining yet!! So the driver helped carry it up – she smiled SO big. I don’t think I will ever forget that! They still have so many things they need, but their faith in God is amazing. I just kept thinking about the book of Job in the bible – I’ve always wondered if all those terrible things really happened to one person could they keep their faith – and this family is an incredible example and inspiration. They just keep moving forward and never stop trusting in and even praising God. They are amazing!! Please keep them in your prayers!!