Days 9 & 10

Day 9

Let me tell you about how much I love Sundays in Haiti! We have another relaxing morning this morning. Coffee, facetime, and fellowship with each other. When Megan woke up I asked if she wanted to make eggs with me. We ended up making breakfast burritos with eggs, onion, garlic, peppers, and avocado. It was delicious! Perrine planned a day full of activity for us. After she finished her morning rounds with all of her other obligations we were ready to go! Marisade is another town approximately one hour from our house. Haitians don’t measure anything by distance but only time because they don’t understand distance measurements. The drive is a bumpy one and there are 11 people in the Land Rover. We cross over 5 rivers to get to the town. At every river people are washing clothes, motorcycles and bathing. In the same rivers they are fetching water to drink. It is definitely an experience to see all of the activities that are taking place in the same river. There were multiple purposes of our trip. Judenel, one of our drivers, is from Marisade and needed help with a fence that he was building to protect his crops he was trying to grow. All of the fences in Haiti are made from cactus so we had to dig holes and plant new cacti in the holes. It was quite the exciting spectacle in town and we had a crowd of 20-30 people come to watch us dig. The kids wanted to play and many of the men just told us we were doing it incorrectly. We just continued on doing our own thing. Prior to going to build the fence, we stopped at Judenel’s childhood home because his sister’s cat had babies. The MFH house used to have a pet cat and she recently passed away. Brandi, the in country director, has been dying to get a new cat and went to go pick out her new baby. The little kittens are about 5 weeks old right now so they are not yet ready to leave their mother. They are all so scrawny and fragile. I am sure they are not eating much because their mom is very little herself.

After picking out the cat we head to a public park to have a lunch picnic. We had a very interesting assortment of food. Most people went with a peanut butter and avocado sandwich or some variation of random snacks. Children from around town always seem to find wherever we go and a few came over to play with us. We typically have some sort of toy or game that we are able to play with them. In the public park there are loads of sheep, goats, horses and pigs. The pig near our picnic site had 6 little piglets and it was fun to see the babies. We stay at the park for about 2 hours before heading to build the fence. Today was a hot one!!! Building the fence was hot, hot business. We were all dying of thirst and sweating like crazy.

We got back in the car and began the drive back to Hinche. The drive seemed much shorter on the way home. When we arrived home Solomon, one of the cooks, had dinner ready for us. We had Haitian empanadas. They were very tasty!

Perrine, who has become the ringer leader, wanted us to all go dancing with her at the discotecca. So, we left the house around 9:30 and she drove the whole crew to the night club. We brought three of our security guards with us although we never felt unsafe. The public power was off in town and so the night club was running on a generator. Because there was limited power, there were literally no lights on. We had so much fun letting loose and dancing. The guards “taught” us how to dance compa. We didn’t stay out long as we knew Monday would be approaching quickly. I was glad we got some of the in-country staff to go out because they work so hard and have very little down time. Right as we left the night club the rain came pouring down. We barely made it home dry! It was a wonderful sound to be falling asleep to. Tomorrow I will be going to big mobile clinic and I am unsure of what my role will be. I am excited to see how it runs, and how women here are receiving prenatal care. Good Night!

Day 10

I slept so well last, but the alarm clock sounded much too early! I rolled out of bed and went into the kitchen. My everyday routine at this point. Grabbed my cup of coffee and downed my protein shake. When I was done I threw on my scrubs put all my equipment in my bag along with some snacks and filled up my water bottle. We left right on time at 8am to go to mobile clinic. MFH provides 23 separate mobile clinic sites. These sites are throughout the central plateau region of Haiti and provide prenatal and postpartum/newborn care to women and babies throughout the month. The women that come to the clinic walk up to 6 hours round trip to receive the care they would otherwise not receive without MFH. These women are amazing. In the Land Rover we fit all the medical supplies we needed for the day, including two folding tables to set up clinic, lots of medication, administrative paperwork and some other supplies. Three midwives, 2 midwife students, my translator, the driver, a security guard and myself all piled in the Land Rover and we were on our way. After all of the rain last night, the roads were very rough. It took approximately 2 hours to get to the clinic. I would describe the ride as a mixture between Mario Kart, the Indy 500, and maybe a little drunk driving. Ronel, our driver, is very experienced and knows the roads well. However, I was a little surprised when he pulled over, stopped the car, pulled the seat belt out from under the seat and put my seatbelt on me in the front seat. Apparently, I was the only one who needed a seatbelt and I was glad he was looking out for me. We had to stop to put the car in 4-wheel drive multiple times and we slid all around in the mud going down and up the hills.

Finally, we arrived at the clinic and there was a line of women waiting outside for us. We unloaded the Land Rover, set up the small clinic, and separated medications into individual baggies. The whole process was incredibly efficient. The women are seen on a first come first serve basis and know to set up a sign in sheet when the first arrive. Soon, more and more women begin to show up. In total, I think we saw somewhere between 60-70 moms and a few babies. I was shocked how many women came to this one mobile clinic alone. I was tasked with taking everyone vital signs. This is incredibly important in Haiti because hypertension runs rampant, and many women become pre-eclamptic. Since we have arrived in Haiti, there have been a handful of mothers who came to the hospital after seizing at home. It is a very real and very scary complication. They also do family planning at the mobile clinics and give birth control. Haiti is a catholic nation and so many women come in secret to receive depo-provera shots. We are happy to provide the women birth control measures. Mobile clinic is also very important for teaching. They do group teaching with a variety of topics and the women are able to ask questions. Everyone who comes is very engaged and it is wonderful to see them take an active role in their own healthcare. The women who came to their appointments and are at least 36 weeks, receive a mother baby kit. When they receive their kit they have to tell the midwife their birth plan and how they plan to get to the hospital in case of emergency. Remember when I said it took us 2 hours to reach mobile clinic? The majority of the women will deliver at home and only go to the hospital with a severe complication or emergency. It is a very, very long morning and probably the warmest day since we have been here. At 2:15 we see the last patient and repack all of the stuff we brought with us. We load back up into the Land Rover and head home. Everyone is exhausted, hot and smelly. Once I sat down, I realized how hungry I was and pull out a protein bar. Thank goodness, I packed snacks from home. The roads dried throughout the morning and early afternoon and the drive home is uneventful.

We drop off the midwives and students at their homes and finally arrive back to Hinche. It is 3:45 and Megan tells me that whenever I am ready we are on home visits.

I shoveled some food into my mouth, used the restroom and refilled my water bottle. We left for our first of five visits. Pleasure was our translator and driver for the evening. Our first mom we went to see had severe range blood pressure with a headache and blurry vision. She said she was given blood pressure medication but it was with her husband. She didn’t know what the name of the medication was or how much she was supposed to be taking. We called the midwife back at the house and she told us that we needed to refer the woman to the hospital tonight and we would come back tomorrow to check on her once she figured her medication out. She was very resistant to the idea of going to the hospital and it took lots of education, persuasion, and telling her mother what was going on in order for her to agree. I hope she actually goes and receives treatment. Our next two home visits were fabulous. They were both first time mothers and they were both rockstars. They were feeding their babies well, reached all of the milestones we wanted them to hit and were taking all of their medications as prescribed. We were unable to get a hold of the fourth mom and because there are not address in Hinche we didn’t know where to find her without being able to talk to her. We went ahead to our last visit, my personal favorite. I have now seen this mother four times because we are trying to get her blood pressure under control. I love seeing her, her new baby, and her sweet older daughter. We give her more medication because it is still elevated and she is so grateful that we came back! I played with the older daughter, Melencia, and she sat on my lap the whole time we were taking care of her mom. She is just the sweetest! As we leave their house she runs after me and is yelling to me that she loves me. I turn back to give her a hug and she gives me a big kiss. It is amazing how quickly you can form a bond with these people even though we do not speak the same language and communication is very difficult. But at the end of the day love is love. We head back to the house on the moto, in the pouring rain, but with very full hearts.

Dinner has already been served by the time we arrive back at the house so Megan and I grab some of the leftovers and eat together. Tomorrow is a National Holiday and so everyone is off school and work. We will all be going to work in the hospital tomorrow because the staff is scarce. I am hoping it is a good day at the hospital! I can’t believe our time here is coming quickly to an end and it will be very hard to leave. I have truly fallen in love with Haiti-The beautiful countryside, wonderful people, and the work that I have been able to do since I have been here. Off to sleep I go!