Moving Right Along

Now that Cholera is over, things have been getting back to a "normal" pace. I had the pleasure of working with a medical team that came through the organization 4:10 bridge. to work with my friend Tara.
Tara and I at the deaf camp in Port-au-Prince

Tara has been working in the deaf community here in Port-au-Prince, and recently became a housemate at the MTI teamhouse with me. Their organization was doing a medical clinic for the first time complete with creole and sign language interpreters. I tagged along to help them get things flowing and give advice since I have done so many mobile clinics. They did an excellent job all by themselves and really didn't need much of my help. But I did have to jump in and help when the doctor was doing an incision and drainage on an abcess. Fun stuff!

Afterwards we got to play jumprope with the kids in the camp.

At Canaan, MTI and pastor David have almost completed building a depot at the clinic where we can store supplies instead of having to port them back and forth everyday. We continue to see patients monday through friday, with the occasional exciting case.

I'd like to tell you about my friend Yola*. Yola is a little old granny we met in January when we first began working in Canaan. Her daughter's husband died in the earthquake in 2010 and her daughter died shortly after, leaving her with 3 grandchildren to care for with no source of income. When we first met Yola, she brought her 9 month old grandchild in begging for help. As a medical clinic, we could not give out food to Yola, so we connected her with Pastor David and his church, who arranged for her to get regular help from the community. We see Yola on occasion and give her and her grandchildren checkups and multivitamins and blood pressure medication (for her). But having no income, she had a bigger problem: Yola was living in a neighbors house in Canaan and had no permanent residence. How could she keep her family or herself healthy if she had no shelter and no food? She was given a tent for a while, which eventually succumbed to the wind and rain and was no longer livable due to the large holes in it. Some very kind people connected with MTI donated money to help build Yola a home. Here she is with pastor David as her home is being built.

In other news, I was pleased to see the ground breaking and very beginning of the building of a school that pastor David is working on. It sits high up on the hill in Canaan and will be a place for the poor children who normally can't afford to go to school will get a chance to learn.

Canaan is a camp for displaced people. It is full of people who are in the middle. Many of them are looking for a better place to live. A better life to live. But I find as I go there every day that it is starting to feel like home to me. Right now, there is no other place I would rather be.

*name changed for privacy