Last night the generator ran constantly so the fans ran too and, at least on our side of the house, NO roosters. Michael had to be ecstatic! Despite the continual running of the fans, I still awoke drenched in sweat…must have been extra humid last night.
This morning our sweet cooks, Adelene and Gesliene made one of my favorite breakfasts…spaghetti!! Sorry Rusty, but it just keeps getting better every time. Unfortunately, our team suffered a little temporary attrition this morning but luckily we are a medical team and we have meds for that…a dose of Zofran, Cipro and rest seems to have resolved the issue and we hope to be at full strength again in the morning.
Today we traveled about 20 minutes to the village of La Hatte – it was our first time here. It turns out one of our translators, the older Felix, is from this village and runs a large school funded by the Rotary organization. The school is quite impressive and they cleared a large room for our clinic. What a treat – room for 5 clinical teams, tables for all the meds, chairs for all the providers and a makeshift area for the patients to wait. The area was well lit and had great breezes all morning. The clinic ran like clockwork!
Turns out we were able to serve over 150 patients in just over 2 hours…and Kitty was on her game – slicing and dicing to her heart’s content. I was surprised to see Chadly, my dance competitor from the beach, in clinic today…he is quite a character! My other surprise was that I managed to see about 40 patients today, 37 of which were between the ages of 4 and 18…yeah pediatrics two days in a row…that never happens to me! I know Sarah Gilbert was thrilled to see my share of the more “mature” clientele.
Within an hour of finishing clinic we were all back home having lunch and relaxing a bit. It didn’t take long though to gather a group and walk back to yesterday’s beach. What a beautiful, breezy, sunny day. The water was refreshing and the search for all manner of conch shells was quite successful!
We returned home to find our under-the- weather friend making a rapid recovery…whew! Before a shower and dinner, there was time for relaxation on the balcony, chatting and enjoying the cool breeze off the ocean. The humidity and temp has definitely dropped today and tonight promises to be a cooler night with good sleeping weather…hopefully.
Before dinner, some of the group got a bit of practice time in at Dominos before our Haitian friends come to rule the tables. It was difficult to concentrate though with the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. Dinner was even more delicious – pork and legume with bean sauce over rice. The ladies in the kitchen are working some serious magic for us this week. Mesi Anpil Gesliene and Adeline for feeding us so well!
After dinner the team had an opportunity to support the local economy – shopping for local artwork, jewelry and crafts. I think the vendors did very well tonight and I think those at St Joseph’s on Saturday night may be somewhat disappointed as a result.
I guess the shaky ladder and fatigue from the week has kept us from a visit to the roof tonight. Our translators must be feeling a bit tired as well, because they didn’t show for Dominos, but before lights out, some of the gang enjoyed another game of cards, which quickly got animated. Most of the team turned in to get a good night’s rest before our last clinic. We hope to return to Bwa Bouton if the roads allow. I have faith in our driver, Gilandre, aka “Mario”.
We know our time here is coming to a close again, but with the end of each trip there is less apprehension as we are certain of many returns to come! We have made many solid connections and our friendships grow stronger every day…so we MUST return.
That’s all for now.
Love to All,
The Team