Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Monday, April 19, 2010 at 4:40pm
Bon Fete! Bon Anniversarie! Happy Birthday!
First of all, thanks so much to everyone for all of the wonderful Birthday wishes!! It’s been a very interesting birthday and a very interesting week in Haiti. We started the weekend and the Birthday festivities off with a big party at one of the HI houses. There were three other people celebrating birthdays this weekend and one of them leaving this week – so we had quite a celebration! There was lots of food, drinks and DANCING!! It was so much fun!! I think I was in the first group of people to leave, which was at 2 am!! See, I’m not too old to stay out late (occasionally).
Category Archives: Haiti
Haiti Update #6
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday at 6:37pm
Alo! (Hi!) – I think I might run out of different greetings soon, but I’ll keep trying to give you a variety! =)
It’s strange how time is going so quickly and yet from Sunday to Sunday when I write my updates seems like an eternity. I guess because the weeks are so full it seems like it must have surely been more than a week that’s gone by.
I started off the week by amusing the local staff as I greeted everyone with a “Joyeus Paques” (Happy Easter) on Monday morning. My accent must have been pretty bad – it took five or six tries before most of them figured out what I was saying, but it was worth the effort as I was usually rewarded with a pretty big smile!
Haiti Update #5
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!!
Haiti Update #4
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 7:20pm
Bonswa!!! (which is Creole, last week I used the French!)
Wow! This week has gone by so fast! And this Wednesday will mark 4 weeks for me here in Haiti! Wow! I am definitely feeling settled in here, which is nice. While I miss home, I am happy to be staying two more months. I’m just starting to get a little bit of the language and I’m really enjoying getting to know our Haitian staff and my patients. I can tell I am starting to be “long term” here though, because my friends are starting to leave. There have already been a couple in the past week, but beginning next week the group that I came with will all start to leave without me – Sad!! Most people are only staying 4-6 weeks, so it is hard to see them come and go. But there is always a new group and everyone is great!
Haiti Update #3
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 6:00pm
Bonsoir! (Good Afternoon!)
This has been a very bittersweet week for me in Haiti, which so many amazing things and also some big challenges. First, I found out on Tuesday that my grandmother passed away on Monday, her visitation was Wednesday and the funeral mass on Thursday, so there was really no possibility of me to go. It was really hard for me to be here in Haiti, so far away from everyone, but I did get to talk with my family several times – they even called me on my Haiti phone when the skype wasn’t working out, which I am sure they will regret when they see their phone bill – but I definitely appreciated it. Everyone here was great too and I got lots of hugs from my housemates! My grandma loved angels, and even though I am sad that she is not with us here, I know that now she is resting with the angels and I am comforted by the thought =) If you think of it – your prayers for my grandma and for my family will be much appreciated!
Haiti Update #2
Jen Watters Haiti Blog
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 1:40pm
Bon Jour !!!!
First I want to give a disclaimer that I am typing this on a French computer and while I’m getting more used to the different keyboard, I haven’t mastered it yet, so please forgive my typos !!
Wow ! What an amazing week ! I’m not sure if I should write more frequently or just save everything up for Sunday. I’m afraid these « little » updates will turn into novels very quickly ! I guess you can always read them little by little, so I’ll just write and not worry about it ! =)
This week I was stationed at the same antenna as last week (CDTI) ; which was great for getting to know the local staff ; the patients ; and also the Americans at the hospital next door. We’ve really had some nice collaboration where they’re referring pts to us and I’m taking pts up there, which is a nice change from me just running up there 3 or 4 times a day ! We had our busiest week at the clinic yet ; one day we had 54 pts who had come by 12 :30 ! (we are set up to see about 45 a day) so that was little crazy ! We also had the clowns without borders come and do shows at all our hospitals and clinics this week which was SO awesome ! Unfortunately I missed the show at my clinic because that was the day we had so many pts, but I saw some pictures from the other clinics and they were great ! I could definitely hear everyone laughing so, it sounded like they had a great time !
Haiti Update #1
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.