A day off in Haiti.

We arrived back in Haiti 3 weeks ago now, after a very lovely Christmas break back in UK and Denmark. It was really great catching up with friends and family and we got to see most of the people we had planned to see. We even got to meet our new niece/cousin, it was a privilege to be able to spend her first few days with her and her brother and sister. Every thing is more or less the same back in England and even Rebecca agrees that not much happens there either. Coming back to Haiti was coming home. “My house, my bed, my kitchen” and lots of familiar faces, quite a difference to arriving here 1 year ago.

Julian has had a reasonably quite time since we got back. Finishing up with the available materials on the hospital site and waiting for the pieces to fall into place for the construction of a Compassion school in the mountains 45min drive from here in Fontina. The school will be build from the same basic principles and design as the hospital and will keep Julian busy while we wait for the rest of the funds for the hospital. I think he is quite looking forward to it and I know he is looking forward to challenging the local workers to build the same again somewhere else.

Wednesday is market day in Palma, a town in the mountains about 1h drive from here. It is the big market on La Gonave and people come from all over the island to trade livestock, fresh produce and anything else one might want. We have talked about going since we first got here as it is suppose to be the best place for fresh vegetables and fruit. This week we had a team from South Carolina and Greg decided it was a good time to take a trip to the Palma market to buy live chickens for a local orphanage. The team loaded up on hired motorbikes with Greg on the quad bike, with a big plastic tub on the front and Julian and I decided to go two. Neither of us was needed on the compound for a few hours. I climbed on the back of Julian's motorbike and off we went to Palma.

The roads on La Gonave are awful. It must only be for political and personal safety reasons the “World’s worst roads” are not filmed here. The roads are merely dirt tracks and non of them smooth. The surface range between fine sand dust (looks and feels like talcum powder) to small rocks resembling marbles and big boulders with holes to match. It’s only about 7 miles to Palma but there is no way of driving quickly round here, every trip is a journey and an experience. Traveling 2 on a motorbike is a great way to spend time together as despite the noise of the engine you can have conversations without interruptions.

We made it to Palma with all 6 bikes and 7 people in good time and the market did not disappoint. There was a large livestock section with cattle, goats and pigs. It reminded me of the country fairs I used to go to as a child, even the auctioneer sounded authentic. The dried foods and clothes sections was definitely the least interesting part of the market. The fresh produce looked fresh and inviting and the meat section was incredible. Large tables under cover and with concrete floor was covered with freshly butchered cuts of meat of all kinds. The dogs were hanging round underneath the tables hoping for a bit to fall and fighting each other for even the smallest scrap of meat or bone. Julian and I had to step aside in order to not get caught up between 3 angry dogs. The flies were almost non existent in there, a sight we are not used to from the Anse a Galets market. On one of the tables we noticed a leg of beef. It was huge and really fresh, it was warm to the touch and the muscles were still twitching. It just looked so good. My initial reaction was, “what a roast that would make…fancy that for Sunday lunch?” After a little time of discussion and patience with our Creole we understood that the lady wanted Gds2000 for the whole leg, that’s $25US. Before we left home Julian had decided that we did not need to bring much money as I had told him there was nothing we really needed but suddenly we needed gds2000 cause I wanted that beef. We found the money we did have, about gds250, and went in search of the rest of the group to see if we could borrow the rest. No-one had goudes to lend us but one of the team members had $25 and decided to buy the meat if I would let him taste it. It turned out we had bought 5kg, 15lb’s of beef and it was really fresh. I apologise for forgetting my camera.

Greg had mentioned he wanted to buy about 5 hens for Katie and Bernard's orphanage but even he was swept along by the atmosphere and by the time we got back to the bikes there were 8 hens and a cockerel to fit into the tub. All secured we set off back down the mountain. On a bike in front of us was 2 men with a pig strapped to the back. First I though it was dead but as they set off the pig started squealing like only pigs can do. Poor thing was strapped across the back grate with 25% of its body hanging off either side of the bike. Only the middle section was supported and that on a metal rack with no cushioning. After a few hundred yards we caught up with the bike again. By now the pig had stopped squealing and was groaning every time the bike hit a pump or went down a hollow. It was absolutely awful to see and Julian had to overtake at the first opportunity. I dread to think what state that pig would have been in by the time it reached its destination, broken ribs, internal bruising etc.??????? For someone who loves meat but would like to thing that my steak was “happy in life and happy in death” it can be difficult to watch how the Haitians treat their animals.

Back at the compound, with sore arms from holding myself toward the back of the bike going down hill, we weight the massive leg of cow and arrange with Met Johnny, the guesthouse manager, that we should cook the beef and add it to the team and missionary supper the following evening. Julian BBQ’ed the beef, thanks to WISH for lending us the BBQ, and although it was overcooked for our European pallets it was very tasty with roast potatoes, fresh rolls and Coleman’s horseradish sauce. Yum.

My day off was not quite finished though as Wednesday afternoon the team went snorkelling on the “Breeze Sea”, the lobster boat we have not been able to use since we arrived. The girls got their first swimming trip from the boat and as they have been looking forward to, since Julian and I arrived back from Haiti Oct 2011, they got to jump in from the roof of the boat into deeper water. They had a great time and Rebecca enjoyed using her new flippers.

Wednesday this week was an unexpected and delightful day off in Haiti.

Long time no hear.

I have not written a blog for almost 2 months. I have few excuses and none very good but time has really flown past since we got back. I suppose I feel we I don’t have much to say, thought you would never hear me say that?, but as everyday takes over it becomes norm and who is interested in norm?

Actually I’m interested in the norm. I love hearing all the little things from home. Who has seen who and what are they up to in school and work. I even read the village newsletter and look at “prime location” most weeks just to reassure myself home is still there and I’m keeping up at least a little. I also am very pleased to get the school newsletter even though I have no children at the school anymore.

Since we got back, actually since May, the girls and I have been home schooling. I never wanted to be a teacher and especially not to my own children. Kate, last years teacher, left on May 10th and was planning to return in October. The new teacher, Andrea, was also expected for October and Michelle would be back by then. Julian and I decided that 5 months of school holiday was too much and so we carried on with the books the girls has been using last year. They only started them in January so there was plenty left to do. We had 6 weeks off during our trip home and started up again on our return in August. 9 weeks later we are still at it. Kate decided not to return to Haiti and Andrea has not yet got all her money together in order to come, she is now due end of November. Michelle, quite understandably, did not want to teach 5 kids at different levels so is teaching her own boys and preparing some of the work for Rebecca, Ella and Haley. Heidi and I have been making up the difference and although it has been tough if has gone better than I expected. The difficulty has been to do everything else we are suppose to do whilst trying very hard to give the children the education they deserve. I believe that my wait may soon be over as a lady, Nancy, from New York has offered to come teach the children till Andrea arrives. I believe she may be here as soon as beginning of November, I can’t wait. I just don’t feel the girls are getting a good enough education with me muddling through.

The reason we do not have a date yet for Nancy’s arrival is due to Sandy’s expected arrival on the US East coast. We had the pleasure of Sandy’s fringes this past week and if she turns to snow it will be a lot. Sandy went over Jamaica and Cuba over the past few days, as I know lots of you have been following in the news. We just had the rain in her tail but there was plenty of it. The rain stated Tuesday lunchtime and with only a few dry-ish patches, dumped water over us steadily for 3 days. Some said we have had as much as 25inches but I don’t know who measured it. Every thing felt damp even the salt is all caked in the cupboard. The washing I did on Tuesday morning did not dry till Friday afternoon and suddenly our compound was transformed to a mud bath. The girls had lots of fun on several occasions but the fun wore off when we had no water Thursday. We have a cistern outside our house holding hundreds of gallons of water so we were not left dry, it just did not come out of the tap or refill the toilet cistern automatically. The temperature changed dramatically over the 3 days. Suddenly we had lows of 20C (68F) and would find both long sleeves, Jeans and fleece blankets. Its strange being cold when we have spent the last 2 months re-acclimatising to the Haiti summer ( 33+C/ 90+F and high humidity). I’m not quite sure how it will be to come back to England for Christmas and Denmark for New Year. The medical/ construction team we had last week, from Northern Maine, almost did not make it home. They had to change their flights to the following day, leave the island without permission from the harbour master and expect to meet Sandy again when they come home with huge amounts of snow. I think they were very pleased when they got to the airport this morning. They were a great team, worked very hard and was a pleasure to spend time with.

The hospital construction is coming on well. We also had a visit from the architect and structural engineer in the last 2 weeks. It was great to be able to show them how well Julian and the guys are getting on and I think they were pleased to see it in the flesh, so to speak. We are low on funding for the hospital and hopefully Julian will be able to start building a school in the mountains for Compassion. This will help keep the men employed while fundraising continues for the hospital.

2 weeks have now passed since i started this post. So I had better finish it. Nancy has arrived and is hoping to start school tomorrow. The girls are excited as she sounds like a lot of fun. I will crawl back into the medical store room and make an attempt to tidy it before the hospital summit in 3 weeks. I have a medical/ surgical team here at the same time as well as people I just want to catch up with. good job we have a little quiet time afterwards.

My parents arrive in PAP on Thursday. The girls and i are going into meet them bringing them back here on Friday. They are currently in Cuba and sent me a very amusing txt this morning. Those of you who know my parents will know that I laughed out loud. My mum wrote; “ This morning we have surpasses ourselves. We have written on horse back, smoked cigars and drunk Mojitos…..” Not something I expecting to hear but so glad they are having a good time away. I know they were a little anxious going with out a guide but sounds like they are managing just fine. We are very much looking forward to seeing them and to show them where we live. We have many plans to see La Gonave and to show them the beauty of Haiti as well as everyday life for us and the locals. They will be the first visitors here for us. We have made some good friends in people who have come but these are our first “own” visitors since we arrived in January.

Rebecca planned a Halloween Party for the compound kids. She used the decorations and sweets brought in by a very kind team in September and set up the guesthouse dining room. She asked all the families to bring a pizza and she made orange pumpkin cupcakes. All the children and some of the adults dressed up and we had a lovely couple of hours. Both Rebecca and Ella made their costumes including boots from cardboard. They love dressing up.

Ella is tryingg to learn the guitar. She makes a good sound and hopefully Morfar will be able to teach her a little more when he comes.

Our chickens have finally started laying eggs. We have had 6 this week so if that continues we will be having eggs most mornings. One week a month we will collect the eggs and send them for incubation. The chicks will then be given to a community on the island in the “Village Health” programme.

I’ll let you all go. Thanks for reading and sorry it took me so long.

Marie x

Return to Haiti.

One week back after a lovely holiday in England and Denmark.

After 5 weeks in Europe with Dengue fever, hospitalisation, catching up with friends, spending valuable time with family and lots of lovely food as well as unexpected fabulous weather we arrived back on La Gonave last Saturday. The Journey from London takes 2/12 days including a stay over in Miami and on Haiti mainland. Matt was waiting for us in PAP airport and together we extended our holiday by 24h with a night at Kalico. The girls really liked playing in the pool especially when uncle Matt would play too. Julian and I enjoyed watching from a safe splashing distance as spending 24h a day for best part of a week together had made us a little tired. Boring old parents……!

The compound is eerily quiet with only Matt, The Edmonds and The Gould's here at the moment. This also means that the only children are Haley, Ella and Rebecca. Ella and Haley was soon back to playing intently and Rebecca enjoying some peace and quiet from her sister. Apparently it is both annoying and uncool to have to share beds and rooms for the whole holiday……!

The first week saw Rebecca's 11th birthday. She had been ice-skating with her best friend Ava and been out for pizza at home but I was aware that the day it self would still be difficult. Rebecca was not keen on coming back to Haiti and having to spend her birthday here was not positive. I think she had an OK birthday and was very pleased with all the “Happy Birthday” messages she received on Facebook. School also started back this week, that’s home school with teacher mum! We got started with all the subjects we did before the holidays. Teaching is not my forte and especially not my own children. I have to say well done to both Ella and Becca for embracing it and putting up with me. We very much look forward to our new teacher coming in hopefully October. Shortly before leaving Denmark we found out that Ms Kate, Ella’s beloved teacher was not coming back this year. Ella was very sad and will miss her terribly. This makes it even more exciting to meet Ms Andrea and her husband and we look forward to hearing they expected arrival date…..!

Julian went straight to work Monday morning and by the end of the first week the windows have been fitted in both wards and they had made good progress with the foundation trenches for the main building. Most of Thursday and Friday, though, was spent tiding up for what “promised” to be our first major storm, maybe even a hurricane. Julian and Ella was both excited like children. I was more cautious and didn’t know quite what to expect. For 3 days “Isaac” was all we talked about on the compound and we had a constant page open on the computer with the present position and expected path and severity. Friday was going to be the day and it looked like it was coming right over our heads. The funny thing, to us anyway, was that Friday was ever so quiet. We talked about the calm before the storm but being from Northern Europe we just are not used to weather like they have in other parts of the world. It started raining Friday evening, a quiet soaking rain which must have prepared the ground a bit for the drenching which was to come. We went to bed as normal and was woken at 4am by tremendous winds and hurryingly shut all the windows. By 5am all was CALM, no rain or wind, this must be the eye, just as the weather channel had predicted. Then the winds came and the rain and from 5.30ish am till 5pm the winds were howling through the compound with lots of rain in tow.

 

It was raining again when we got up Sunday morning but by 11am it started brightening up and at almost 4pm the sun was almost shining and everything was drying out a little. We have now had a full 48h with only 70degreeF/ 25degree C, the humidity is still very high but its very refreshing and we have been wearing long sleeves and feeling cold at night without the fan on! The storm, much as predicted, broke the water pipe from the mountains and so we currently are with our running water. We have drinking water bought in barrels and WISH have a large reserve of water from where we can get water for washing, toilet flushing etc. Julian has gone with Barry Gould from WISH up to the ravine to repair the water water pipe, if they succeed we should have water again late tomorrow as it takes many hours for the reservoir to fill back up.

While everyone else was getting ready for Isaac on Friday morning, I went to the hospital as usual to do my clinic. There were only few patients and as I had a few things to talk to Miss Vero about I went into the main hospital. Miss Rose, another of the senior nurses and one of the main delivery nurses was there and I casually asked if she would teach me to deliver babies???? She suggested we started straight away as there were a couple of women set to deliver that morning. She took me to the delivery room, gave me gloves and instructed in her improving English, much better that my Creole. By the end of the morning I had assisted in delivering a little boy and a little girl. Helped with freeing the head and cut the cord, as well as delivering the placenta and checking it. It was quite amazing. Just as we were writing up the last delivery, we got a call from the delivery room. A lady who had been labouring quietly all morning was now laying in a pool of blood. Something had ruptured. The baby seems fine but she was loosing a lot of blood. Every thing went a little crazy for a while but we soon had her in the operating theatre and I scrubbed in to help deliver another little boy. The mother is doing very well and all 3 children are doing well. Quite a way to start the weekend. I hope to do more and learn a whole lot. Thanks Miss Rose and the rest of the staff.

Our first 6 months in Haiti

This post was meant to have made it out as we left for home in July but as I was ill there was several things that did not get done as planned. Hope you enjoy the images from for first 6 months here in Haiti. For the most part we did.