Cholera

Cholera.

Maybe the only thing I've thought about in the last 24 hours. That and death.

I don't know what life will look like in St. Marc but I imagine it will be horrendous. I imagine some of the streets will be lined with people too sick to make it to the hospital or others on the verge of death. I've read accounts of people dead on the side of the road and others begging for clean water. I can't imagine that's true but I also can't imagine it not to be true.

When I think of Cholera, all I can think of is the movie The Painted Veil. Which.... I'm not sure how accurate that is. I don't really think any movie will prepare me for what's to come though. So here goes nothing.

Right now I can count on one hand how many dead bodies I've seen in my life. After these three days, I'm pretty sure I won't even be able to count.

Here's some quick facts as of 10 am on Oct 25.

253 dead.

3,015 cases reported.

New patients are coming in almost every 10 minutes to a clinic in St Marc.

Just learned that (and it's kinda obvious) those with a weakened immune system are more prone as are those who are malnourished. By the way, that describes almost every Haitian I've ever met.

They say there's enough supplies in the country to treat people but there's not enough medical personal. That's why I have to go. Three days of crazy intense. So pray. I'll be home soon enough and hopefully without Cholera in my system.

You can go here to read a bunch of different articles on what's going on with the Cholera in Haiti. I probably wont be able to update until I get back home.

http://www.pih.org/news/entry/cholera-in-haiti-in-the-media/

video post...don't know if it'll work.

also...that's a lie, I bought my plane ticket home. I'll be back in LA on the 9th! See you kids sooooooon!

week one over....

So I'm here. Week one is over.

Day one I spent walking the streets greeting my Haitian family. Children calling out "Christina! Christina!" was so familiar it almost felt like I never left. Wilkens' smile was huge as I drove past him and he realized I was back. He grabbed some of the other boys and brought them to the gate to tackle me with hugs later on that day.

Day two I stopped by the hospital to see if I could maybe work there during some weekdays. They have a clinic running Monday to Friday that I wouldn't really be good for because I would need a translator and an ER that sounded like it could work out. I walked in to a 20' x 20' room that had eight stretchers, one desk and a shelving unit holding the only 6 medications in the whole room. On top of that, there were 2 nursing students, 2 nurses and one doctor all taking care of one patient. So bizarre. I didn't help much, just kinda watched I guess. I came in the next day to maybe help out a little more than the day before. I ended up seeing some of my old patients and helped out with some dressing changes and injections.

I still don't feel like I have a place here right now but I'm going to start looking around Leogane for some other opportunities to help out in a medical establishment. I'll also hopefully be able to go on a couple of Mobile Clinics on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm very very excited about that so hopefully it works out.

Week two has been super fun.

Hospital Monday.

Mobile clinic in the mountains on Tuesday.

Framing for a new school on Wednesday and Thursday.

I'm trying new things right now and since we just started building a school in a nearby neighborhood, I figured I'd jump on board and learn some stuff. So far I've been a part of the foundation pour and the framing of the walls. I've been hammering nails like an animal. It's glorious. It's also been nice to be useful here in Haiti. The first week was a bit rough so this is a nice change of pace. I feel like I'm making something beautiful in a community (and with a community) that wants and needs it. Here in Leogane, the schools become a sort of community center. For example, we built a school a while ago and went to go check it out after it was all done and there was a couple getting married in it. Kinda weird right? Getting married in a pink and green school? Who does that? Haiti does that.

Anyways. Life is good here and I'm still trying to find my place but I've been learning how to embrace that journey lately. Learning to love finding my place in this country and this world.

Life in a Day

When I was here in Leogane last time, the media guy decided to try and film what a day would look like in Haiti. I was one of the two people he chose to film out of the 80+ people here on base at that time. The purpose was two fold: to assemble a short film for the volunteers to get a taste of what Haiti is like and also to enter us to possibly be in a documentary called Life in a Day.

Enjoy. It's a whole lot of Christina so maybe pace yourself.

peace

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