A view of the beach we visited... I still feel guilty for taking a short "vacation." Since it was a national holiday in Haiti, Operation Blessing told us we should take a quick trip as the Hospitals would be empty...

Lightning Storm over the Haitian Ocean

I find thunder and lightning storms to be one of nature's most beautiful phenomena. We were luck to catch this light show over the ocean on Sunday evening.

Our Hospital Tent

Two little kids talking to us as we are leaving

Plop Plop

So we learned a little slang today! Plop Plop mean hurry up or move quickly. Creole has a sort of melody to it like French, except it's just different enough so I barely understand one word :). Today we worked at the newest clinic that is being built by the people of St. Damien's. It's name will be St. Mary's when complete. While the clinic is being built, patients are being seen in a sturdy medical tent which is pictured below.

Cite Soleil is fairly indescribable and I'm not sure I've fully absorbed the level of poverty and dire need we saw today. We drove through the area and as we headed towards the water, the housing materials went from tin cardboard. Closer to the water there are no houses, except for a few shacks where pigs are kept. Trash litters the entire area. There is no sewage system or running water. It is an incredibly humbling site especially knowing that some people spend their entire lives there.

After spending 30 minutes setting up our clinic, Dr. Bill began seeing patients. He examined people on as they sat in a plastic chair. If he needed to do a deeper examination, the patient was put on one of two mattresses we had in the tent. There were many skin ailments and stomach problems. We saw a few cases of TB and one case of was Cholera. (Don't worry Mom, we were all very careful and sanitary).

Sergio saw all of the trauma and wounds that came in. One woman came in with a wound from a knife fight and luckily it wasn't infected. Kristen, Will and I assisted him as he cleaned the wound.

All in all it was a very intense, but productive day. We will be heading back to the St. Mary's clinic tomorrow.

Day One - The airport and a tour!

Today was pretty relaxed. We arrived in Port au Prince and were met by Operation Blessing at the airport... The airport was pretty busy and unfortunately our baggage belt broke down, so we all had to step in and start unloading bags manually. We all means everyone who de-boarded the plane! It was total chaos, but after about 30 minutes we found all of our bags and went to leave. As we were leaving the terminal, there were many people offering to help and I have to tell you, if I hadn't been with a group, I'm sure I would have ended up paying a ton of money for a guy to carry my bag 200 feet... not because my bag was heavy, but because the porter are so persistent. :) About halfway to the car a small brawl broke out amongst porters, but just as quickly as it started it was over. They were back to being great friends despite punches being thrown! Will followed up with a quick statement about how passionate the Haitian people are! It certainly shows.

After a quick rest at the Operation Blessing house, which is amazing, we travelled to the various hospitals that we will be working at. Our first stop was St. Luke's which is the adult hospital, ICU and Cholera treatment center. We were shown around the different parts of the hospital and then as we left we washed our shoes and hands in bleach water. According to Will, only 8 months ago, most of the hospital was tents. Operation Blessing has been busy in the last 8 months, because St. Luke's now boasts a semi permanent structure. It is clear that so much effort and love has been put into creating a good place for Haitian people to get free healthcare. After St. Luke's we went to St. Damien's, the children's hospital. St. Damien's is a very well run large, children's hospital and we were met by exciting news from one of the providers. They had been trying to get one of the children a visa to get medical treatment in the US and the visa had come that day!

We took another quick tour and headed back to the house. On our way back we stopped at a local restaurant and had a much needed beer. We continued our trek home and ran into Wilson, who has been Dr. Bill's (Will's father) driver for much of his time here. Wilson drives a taxi. The crazy thing is that taxi's in Haiti are mostly motorcycles. The gas is pretty expensive and getting around on a bike is just easier. When I showed interest in the motorcycle, Wilson offered to give me a ride back to the Operation Blessing house (It was just a short distance). It was pretty fun and got me back to dinner that much quicker ;).

All in all, day one was great! I'm super excited to start working at the hospital tomorrow morning.