N’ap Boule in L’Acul
March 12, 2010 by Lila Meade
Bonjou from the beautiful hills of Haiti
First of all, WE ARE ALL SAFE, HEALTHY AND HAPPY (and sweaty and unshowered and exhausted)
A message from Pam to Deb: Pam made it up the mountain and was able to provide first aid to several students at the school in Chermaitre. She is now working very hard in the newly-opened, freshly stocked Clinic in L’Acul
On Wednesday, we began our epic journey from the coastal Cap into the thick and picturesque countryside of Haiti. We met Dr. Etienne, who joined our crew, and set out at 8am in two vehicles and had the 7-hour ride of a lifetime. We drove for half of the way on BUMPY roads (which had been affected by the hurricanes from 9 months ago), and then made our way through riverbeds with lots of craters, finally arriving at the foot of the Chermaitre hills. We have no idea how the cars survived without a flat tire, but our drivers were heroes.
We arrived later than expected at the base of the mountain and had to hike up to the school, which is located on top of a VERY large mountain, with our head lamps on. Luckily, we made it up in record time. For most of the group, this was our first time seeing the school we have all worked so hard to support. It is hard to express just how overwhelmed we felt to see the school and most importantly the children’s faces. We slept inside the school inside our mosquito tents after a hearty meal of beans, rice, and GOAT. yum.
We were woken up to the sounds of mass being conducted in a nearby church at….3 am. Not joking. And that was only the first round.
In the morning, it was very exciting to finally see the school in the daylight.From the school, there is a 360 degree view of breathtaking mountains and cloud forests (although heavily deforested). After a breakfast of spaghetti, we set to work on medical evaluation of all our little angels. The evaluation was comprised of height and weight measurements. A girth measurement was taken of childrene xpected to be suffering from malnourishment. We had prepared for each and every one of the 300 children. In the meantime, a second group played soccer, jump rope, cards, football, and a host of other activities with the children as they waited for their turn.
The afternoon was filled with song and dance in the nearby church building. After, we had a crucial meeting with the school director and teachers to discuss the progress of the school. By 7 pm we were all ready for bed.
For all of us, our experience in Chermaitre was thought provoking to say the least. Many of us were emotionally and physically overwhelmed. We can’t wait to return and turn our fresh thoughts and ideas into action.
At 7 am this morning, we walked down the mountain and loaded back into the vehicles we arrived in. We drove for 45 minutes and arrived to our present location, the clinic in L’Acul. We are spending the day helping Dr. Etienne provide consulation to the many patients who began lining up this morning at 6 am. When we arrived, we unloaded and stocked the clinic with all of the medical donations so generously provided by the Trinity Church members in Fishkill.
We will be doing the same tomorrow after which we will begin our journey back to Cap, spending a night in a “hotel” in Gros Morne on the way.
Speak to you soon!
P.S. To the friends and family of Mario, Livia, Anh, Claire, Samin, Claudia, Charlene, Lauren, Janeen, Pam, Caryn, Caitlyn, Fiona, Andrew, Lila and Kristen: We love and miss you all! We will be back home soon with lots of stories and pictures.
Hello everyone,
Claire here. I am posting this comment from the “internet cafe” a short walk down the road from the clinic in L’acul. I am being serenaded right now by an unusual chorus of the buzzing of an electricity generator and the baying of the goat tied up outside the building. It is hot and sweaty and wonderful! Today is our second day at the clinic and things are running even more smoothly than the day before. Dr Etienne is amazing and incredible gracious and patient with everyone and becoming quite a fixture to our group. We will miss him dearly when he leaves us in Cap Haitien. Samin and Caitlyn have been putting their EMT skills to incredible use, taking the vitals of all the the patients before they see the doctor, and making them feel taken care of. EVERYONE is doing their part and we make a pretty incredible team, I must say! The kids are all grabbing on to MArio, hanging off of his limbs like little monkeys on a tree and others crowd around many of the girls. We have taught them to play “Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky” and Kristen taught them “Simon Dit” (Simon says) It is so fun to be playing with them and to feel the joy they radiate from our presence. That joy alone is enough to make this trip worthwhile, and there is SO much beyond that.
Earlier today, Fiona, Mario, and I started singing “Jingle Bells” to the children. Their faces all lit up and then they waited patiently, and after we were through, they burst out into the creole version of the song! So it IS a small world after all. We really are all so connected and even though, at times, Haiti seems worlds away from anything we are familiar with, when you look just a little closer, you realize how much we all have in common.
I just hope that everyone reading this realizes how blessed we all feel to be here and how much we thank you all or all of the support you have given us.
With love from Haiti,
Claire and VHP
It was amazing to see the sixteen of us work together today, empowering each other to figure out how to do things we’ve rarely done before or never before!
Watching Samin and Caitlyn taking the blood pressure of more than 80 patients, seeing Livia, Claire and Janeen translate maladies from french/kreyol to english/then back to kreyol/ seeing Kristen playing “SIMONE SAYS” to a group of 20 young chldren, watching Lauren do patient intake with the Director’s son, watching Charlene weigh children and infants and engaging with them, despite language barriers was AMAZING. Pam is tireless in her efforts to help our doctor, Etienne dispense care and medicines to the patients. Caryn has, as always, vacillates between playing with the children and caring for our Vassar students and everyone she touches!
Fiona, Mario, Claudia and Anh have fallen in love with children, as we all have….the children attach to us and want to go everywhere with us…
We are so privileged to be here…..
Sounds like you guys are enjoying yourselves!!!
can’t wait to see some pictures.
hugs to all of you from Managua!!