A Week in Review

by Carol Hokana

Haiti Day 8, Saturday:  

We leave our lodgings on the hospital's 2nd floor in about 3 hrs. to return to the US. I am really looking forward to being home with my family and escaping the heat and humidity. Yes, I *am* saying I seek the cold Boston weather. But I will miss the people I have worked with this past week. My three roommates have become my sisters...even to the extent that I wore Mary's shirt and sandals to the school one day! 

I also will miss the beautiful singing I have heard: in a patient's room here in the hospital (Hopital Ste Croix), the cook singing after supper, one of the interpreters singing from the back of a pickup truck as we left yesterday's mobile clinic. There is joy here. And beauty, in the people and in the landscape. I will miss it.

Haiti day 7.Friday:
Today the medical clinic was in Leogane, in a village on the shore. This community was healthier than yesterday's. The biggest difference? The usual occupation is fishing, not farming during a drought. This community eats protein (fish) 4-5 times per week. We served about 300 patients. I worked as a triage nurse all day. My lunch break at 1:30 was spent on the beach. It.was beautiful. Saw the local cock-fighting ring and a couple of guys weaving fishnets from reeds. I hope to post photos.

Tonight we pack up. We leave tomorrow with many memorable moments, mostly good but a few disturbing ones of patients requiring immediate hospitalization, including a deja vu dehydrated baby. They remain in our hearts and minds and prayers. I smile broadly when I think of all the many, many adorable children I have held hands with, been kissed by and caressed by, taught, played with, and loved. There really is something special about Haiti.

Haiti day 6, Thursday:
21 team members, (including 5 Haitian medical & dental colleagues)14 translators, & 3 drivers headed for the hills...er...mountains...in 3 vehicles to Trouin (pronounced more like "twan"), about an hour's drive over very bumpy roads. We'd been to this village last year though at a different site. My FaceBook home page photo is of this mountainous road.

Per usual there were already people waiting for us, eager and/or desperate to have their medical issues addressed. For a brief time, while the others worked out the logistics like where the triage nurses, doctors, and the pharmacy would be set up in the church, I took my camera and, with my translator, spoke to the children. One little squirt refused to smile and his frown was so darn cute!

For my morning duties I was assigned to conduct well-being surveys of some of the people. Some of the questions asked were: Are you better or worse off now than a year ago? Do you have enough food to feed your family? Do you live in a tent/shelter or home? In a week how often do you eat protein (e.g., chicken, beef, eggs, fish, beans)? It was clear from their responses that this community is hurting, just as in the other villages this week. Nearly everyone reported being worse off now and not having enough food for their family. Only one person said that she had protein in her diet. Everyone spoke of the ongoing drought drastically affecting their lives. This is a farming community and without rain they had no crops to plant, had no income, had no home grown food and no or little money to buy food. Hearing the same responses time after time was heartbreaking. When asked "Is your faith important to you?" they all said, "Of course," many of them brightening up as they said it.

Now for the news that I want to shout to the world: WE FOUND ALEXANDRE!! He is a 6 old boy we met on our mobile clinic last year, with an infectious smile and sweet, sweet personality, suffering from cross eyes. [strabismus]. He was not at school then because of his eyesight and his family is very poor. We left the site last year feeling very sad for him. Teammate Nancye then tracked him down to see if a doctor could assess his problem and we hope perform surgery to correct his eye problem. She located an eye doctor in NY who often goes to Haiti who was willing to examine him. Nancy got in contact with the Episcopal priest in charge of St Mark's, the church in Trouin where our 2014 clinic was held. (This year's clinic site was at a different church.) But she had no surname or address by which to identify Alexandre, just a first name and a picture.

Yesterday at lunchtime Nancye, my translator Victor, and I walked to St Mark's--where we last saw Alexandre--and asked people if they knew a boy named Alexandre with crossed eyes. No, they did not though one person suggested we go to the school office and ask there, which we did. They listened to our story but did not seem to know him. They told a student to go find Alexandre. Three minutes later, a little boy appeared in the doorway. Alexandre! I squealed his name and he smiled, revealing a gap where his front top teeth will soon have adult teeth. So cute! We asked him to take us to his mama, so he did.

Mama greeted us cautiously. Nancye explained who she was and what she hoped to do for Alex. She needed to get Mama's permission to proceed. Mama said that she wanted his eyes fixed. Yay! We encouraged her to go back to the mobile clinic with us--about a 10-minute walk--so she ran into the house to get her two other children, Claudia (about 3) and baby Georgina, 3 months old. I called dibs on the baby and Nancye held Alex's hand. Claudia held her mama's and we walked back to the clinic where we had all four of them examined by a doctor. Turns out the baby had a respiratory infection though one would never guess by her demeanor; she was sweet as could be. She was prescribed an antibiotic and they all were given vitamins, toothpaste and brushes...well, not the baby, of course. Nancy and I could not stop smiling. And I could not part with the baby, but of course I did. As they were leaving, I hugged Mama and told her she was a good mother. Nancye said that Mama beamed when she heard that. So Mama will bring Alex to the Hopital St. Croix on Monday morning when a local ophthalmologist will be there to examine him. Alex may be able to be treated right here in Leogane--or the NY doc may treat him in Port-au-Prince--but the wheels are in motion to give this wonderful, sweet boy a much more promising future: the chance to see and go to school. HALLELUIAH!

Haiti day 5, Wednesday:
We completed our educational part of the mission today. Teaching English to kindergartners was, well, frankly exhausting. Expanding on my adage from yesterday that "teens are teens everywhere," I might also say "kindergartners are kindergartners everywhere," with loads of energy and very short attention spans. An hour with them nearly left us all feeling totally spent. smile emoticon The first-graders were a dream as were the fourth graders. I am one who likes to further math education and so we used English to not only count but to add and subtract. In other words, an English immersion math class. It worked out great. But I have to confess that it is not easy to be taken to a classroom, find out how old the kids are, how much English they have had, and then create a lesson plan for an hour's class--on the spot--with only the Dr Seuss flash cards that a team member brought. No classroom had any materials AT ALL in them. We had to ask for chalk and an eraser for the chalkboard. We would get 1 small, partial piece of chalk. Resources are in short supply, apparently. I shouldn't be surprised: this is a school that cannot meet payroll.

Anyway, the primary school headmaster met with us prior to our departure and said they would've liked us to spend the whole week at the school rather than just 3 days. They definitely want us back next year. When I told him how much fun I had in the primary school working with the students, he said that the kids really liked it, too, which is why they wanted us for the entire week.

Tonight we had a representative from the Children's Nutritional Program (CNP) of Haiti (whose region office is near the hospital here in Leogane) visit and tell the entire team what we can do on the mobile med clinics when we see malnourished children. It seems they have a well thought out process that has successfully turned lives around. They are doing excellent work teaching mothers how to shop for and cook nutritional food from whatever food is available locally. They also focus on educating mothers on breastfeeding and family planning.

Tomorrow we are going up into the mountains. The Episcopal priest from that village met with us educational mission team members this afternoon. He reported that many people in the parish do not get enough to eat, that the clinic that is there is staffed 7 days per week, but that they usually have no medical or testing resources. HIV is an issue, so I asked him if there have been any widespread educational programs on how to stop the spread of HIV. He said that if they come to the local clinic, the doctor will tell the patient but that's it. The condom donation that I spoke of prior to my departure will be sorely needed here. In fact patients at all of the clinics this week have asked for condoms.

The donated reading eyeglasses, again, have been life changing. Toothbrushes and paste have been given to every patient, as have multi-vitamins. Still, the local Haitian dentist we hire has been kept very busy, pulling rotten teeth.

Today's med team saw roughly 250 patients and they were very tired when they returned after 6:00 p.m, having left here at 8:00 this morning. Long busy days doing good work.

Haiti day 4, Tuesday:
Today, two other team members and I, along with my FAVORITE TRANSLATOR from last year, Victor, walked to the school at 8:00. We spent the whole morning in the primary school teaching them numbers, colors, pronunciation. We three were thrilled with their enthusiastic participation and their quick intelligence. There were four classes of the cutest kids. One was a kindergarten class who were so confident in knowing their colors...in French. They clearly were puzzled at first as to why "rouge" is now red. It was really, really fun.

And, then, this afternoon we went into a "terminale" class (seniors) who, of course, know more than the three of us. Teens are teens everywhere. However there WAS a magical moment when one girl with the prettiest voice sang in English "All the breath of me" or something like that. And again when we had them singing John Legend's "All of Me," of which I recorded just a minute. I will try to upload but my skill is awful.

We're going on a tour of the Leogane Hospital in a little bit. We are staying on the second floor and on the third floor they have a dental clinic, a medical research facility of some kind, and a couple of other things that I'll learn about on the tour.

Temps here have been high, probably around 90 or so, and humid. Unlike last year I haven't been bothered with mosquitoes, knock on wood. On the ride from the airport on Saturday I thought that there was less trash and more new construction in Port-au-Prince (PaP). Leogane, about 20 miles west of PaP, also has some new construction. A park built by the Japanese, looked ready to open last year but apparently was just opened last Thursday... by the President of Haiti!

Day 4's med trip saw a record 230 patients. They came back exhausted. This was at the site where last year I had the really sick baby. I've thought about that sweet little girl many, many times this past year. Nurse Michelle Gillig was keeping an eye out for her but did not see her. I hope she is still alive and doing well.

Haiti day 3,Monday:
It is safe to say that I still have not adjusted to Haiti time. I don't mean a time change--they are the same as where I live. I'm talking about a time attitude. Verrrrry laid back. I feel like my short stay here is just that--short--so I need to be productive every single minute. Ha! Carol, meet Haiti, where things happen when they happen.

I'm guessing you can sense my frustration seeping out just a wee little bit. I keep telling my eager self to breathe and BE PATIENT, for crying out loud. But I don't seem to be listening to myself all of the time. For over a year I have been hoping I can help the school, Ecole St Croix (Holy Cross School) in some way.
We were to make the two-minute walk there this a.m. at 9:00. It wasn't until 10:10 am we finally did. I was still listening to myself at this point, so I was patient and calm (okay maybe just outwardly). Then the welcoming portion comes and that understandably takes 10-15 minutes (because translators are involved and all that). Then it is determined that one of us will go to the primary school to teach English, three of us will do the same for the secondary school (me!) and one will meet with administrators to assess needs and wishes. But then we end up in the director’s office instead of a class. WTH? I find that I am beginning to ignore my inner voice and I squirm visibly in my chair and finally state that I am eager to be with the students. Doesn't happen until after lunch, in fact I do not set foot in a classroom until after 1:00 p.m. But once I do, man-o-man was it fun! They enjoyed it too cuz they pleaded with us to come back tomorrow. I believe they really think their newly learned song "Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes" is a top 40 hit! wink emoticon These were 14-years-olds who know a good song when they hear it and act it out. I laugh just thinking about it.

So at the end of the school day i had found that my patience came back, thanks to the kids. Because it really is all about them.

Haiti day 2, Sunday:
This AM the kitchen staff forgot about daylight savings, so breakfast was a bit late, but so tasty that it was well worth waiting for -- especially the mango juice.  When clearing my breakfast plate my nosy self had to see what the cooks were working on. Pumpkin soup! I motioned--since I don't speak Creole--that I bake the seeds and eat them. She said, in English, "Show me." So I did! We washed the seeds, drained them, salted them, and baked them (a little too long actually). They tried them and seemed to like them, although they could've been just being polite. This was quite a cooking feat as our only common language was signing. When done, she gave me the highest compliment: she asked me to taste the beef she stewed for the soup. I did and guessed there was parsley and bell peppers in it and vinegar. She nodded enthusiastically and said "You cook." Yup, I do. But she does it better.

Haiti day 1, Saturday: Touched down in Port-au-Prince (PaP) on time,1:30 pm. Some team members had difficulty getting meds thru Customs but I had no trouble. Left the airport about 2 hrs later, heading for Croix du Bouquet, an artist colony featuring metal work. Long, crazy drive to Leogane, our base for the week. Arrived at 6:30 pm, ate a delicious chicken supper, went over some rules and logistics, and now most people are in bed, utterly exhausted from the 6 am flight out of Boston and dealing with the sudden drastic temp change: 90 and humid. Oh, and we lose an hour of sleep tonight due to daylight savings time. Yay!

Church begins at 7 am tomorrow but so does breakfast so I will show up late for church (PRIORITIES, people!) and still likely be there for two hrs. I will try to update again tomorrow. I am thrilled to be back!!

Haiti, Day -1, Friday eve: My two fifty-pound bags (filled with meds, tooth brushes, tooth paste, glasses, and more) and my one carry on (with my personal items plus a portable AED--defibrillator donated by Zoll Medical that I wanted to hand carry) are packed and parked near our front door in anticipation tomorrow's 4 AM pick up with Caroline Carrie Holt Larson and Michelle Gillig. Tomorrow being largely a travel day, I don't imagine I'll have much to report, if all goes well.

One thing that I want to highlight is the love and support I have been given by my friends and family members and people I don't even know. I really feel that there is a whole network of people behind me, helping me go on this trip. A huge thank you to my husband, Nick Bonifanti, who will be manning the fort while I'm away, and to my two dear daughters who fear they will starve during my absence. I am not worried; Nick will make sure that they eat well. I will miss them.