Remaining Stories to Tell

I've awaken early this morning, realizing I still have much to tell about my Haiti experience despite the fact that I've returned to the States. I guess I've been putting off telling the story of my last full day in Haiti due to the fact that a.) I have no pictures to help illustrate what happened which will cause me to write much more in order to describe the experience and b.) it was such a strange day, it's taken me a bit of time to gather my thoughts and process what actually happened. I honestly warn anyone who reads it - it's not for the faint of heart and it is rather graphic (in a bloody, "Fight Club" slash "Saving Private Ryan" way). So with that being said, here are the events of last Thursday.

Last Full Day in Haiti - Quick Update

We are drinking and celebrating our time in Haiti tonight and I'm not really in the mood to post much due to the craziness that was today. I'm catching the flight home tomorrow morning (which will take me all day) but on Saturday look for a few posts about today and a general overview of the trip. Quick teaser - I definately started drinking rum this morning at 9:30am. Its been a weird day.

One Year Anniversary of The Earthquake

The day was full of Catholic Mass - about 5 hours total and 7 hours in the last 24 hours. But the occasion called for it; today is the one year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. It's been a rather emotionally and physically draining day for everyone involved. But I'll post some pictures and try to give an idea of what occurred.

We started the morning heading into downtown Port-au-Prince for the first time. This gave us a chance to see the collapsed Palace, former home of the President of Haiti.


We took this trip in the back of a flatbed truck again. The magnitude of the wreckage didn't strike me at the time but when I looked through the pictures, I was shocked at how destructive the quake was.



The main ceremony today was in front of the Notre-Dame Cathedral that mostly collapsed last January. About 80,000 or so people showed up for the mass, which was presided over by Cardinal Robert Sarah, many who sat on the wreckage of the collapsed Cathedral.

Wyclef Jean, once-hopeful Haitian president candidate and musician, walks amongst his people.

The one thing that did stick out was the insane amount of media that was present. It was hard sometimes to see the true emotions of the mourning Haitians with all the reporters.

Rachel and I climbed up the towers of the Cathedral - about 4 stories - to look down on the crowd. The remains are truly amazing. Solid chunks of bricks are hanging by a few bands of re bar and when the wind blows, pieces of the stained glass fall from the above windows.

The huge crowds below us with Port-au-Prince in the background. The water and the view is so amazing despite the utter filth that is the city.

A Haitian surveys the wreckage. Many people I talked to had not actually been to the rubble since the earthquake. They were as amazed as we were.

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In honor of the victims of the quake, especially Molly Hightower, my good friends at Happy Hour Honeys put together an amazing happy hour review today. Please check it out, make some of the featured drinks, and raise your glass in memory of Molly and all those who lost their lives a year ago in Haiti.

A Candlelight Burial

Today was more working with some kids at the Kay St. Germaine school and clinic that we are staying at but after work we hopped on the back of a flatbed, joined a caravan of other NPH vehicles and headed out to the middle of nowhere, about an hour outside of Port-au-Prince.

On the back of the flatbed, about 2o of us holding on for dear life. This was the least comfortable I'd been since arrival. Uncomfortable in the sense that we were a bunch of whites riding down crowded 'city' centers and everyone was pointing and staring. Plus, the new American volunteers were doing everything in their power to not fit in.

After an hour, we turned off onto a side road. There, we found Father Rick and the rest of the group. Father Rick started mass.

Joining us were three nuns from Mother Teresa's parish. Here, they knelt before the two bodies.

The site was something out of a movie. The mass in the foreground; the burning grass and garbage in the background. Know one knew why the fires started but it is believed that locals set the hills on fire in honor of the Earthquake anniversary.

The fiery hills behind our trucks.

Father Rick, Nurse Conan, and Italian doctor Cesaer take the bodies deeper into the fields to bury them. Joining us was a four piece band that played music during mass and the burial.

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After the vigil, we returned to basecamp where the mood was much more lively. The Italians made (honestly) the best pasta I've ever had. Over dinner and a few beers, I talked to a retired American doctor/professor who had worked in Guatemala many times who gave me ample advice for my trip next month. Along with talking to him, I briefly chatted with Cesaer and told him he was the 'most badass Italian I've ever met.' To that he thanked me and told me "Is ok... I'm flattered but it not mean much because most of time I don't even like Italians. Or Americans. Except you volunteers. I can hardly tolerate Germans sometimes." Like I said - a complete badass.

International Murder a Mosquito Day

I've decided that January 11th, 2010 is International Murder a Mosquito Day.

In memory of my elbows, I ask that you go out of your way to make a mosquito's life miserable today. There are a few ways of doing this:

1. Sit outside tonight and murder any mosquito that decides to cross paths with you. I realize this may be difficult for some western Washington readers as it is cold and snowy (see options 2 and 3).
2. Buy a can of bug repellent and spray randomly. It's not the healthiest for the environment but it's more of a ceremonial sign of your dislike for the flying pests.
3. Visit Nothing But Nets and buy a $10 net that will put the little monsters in their place - off of the skin of humans (it'll also save a child from malaria. A bonus).
4. Build a frog habitat in your back yard. Frog's will eat the mosquitoes. Problem solved.

I'm working on this as a yearly holiday. Let me know if you decided to support the memory of my elbows by doing any of the above.

My Extreme, Attention Grabbing Intro

I thought I had gotten cholera. There. I got your attention. But seriously, this weekend up on the mountain of Kenscoff was a weird weekend, full of intense dreams and terrible bowel movements. At one point Saturday night, I was half laying on my bed and thinking of all the things I had yet to do with my life. I was sure cholera was going to end me. However, it turns out everyone else in our volunteer party was/is feeling the same way. And I don't have cholera. But I might lose 5 pounds purely from a poor digestive system. Oh Haiti...

Anyway, there hasn't been a bunch of new information to report. The days are becoming very similar and while I have been completely enjoying myself, there aren't too many interesting tidbits to share. Nor has there been too many new photos that are worth waiting 5 minutes to post (each picture takes about 4-5min to upload to to the blazing speed of Haitian internet). However, I picked a few random pictures that I thought might be enjoyable.

That is a box of chicken meat on a sidewalk. I call this a "Haitian Defrost."

A tattered flag on the antenna. Nearly every car or motorcycle has Haitian flags or stickers. They are very proud of where they come from.

It's hard to see but this biker saw that I was taking pictures and thought he'd show off his handless biking talents. Safety is a top priority here.

Produce section.

The main problem lately is that there are limited times that we are outside of an NPH facility and not in a truck. This has made picture taking difficult at times. Plus, half the time I'm in the truck with 7 other people and trying not to get carsick. However, in the next few days will provide some more interesting events happening that should provide for some more pictures. Tuesday night is a candlelight vigil with Father Rick at the mass graves of earthquake victims and then basically all of Wednesday will be different ceremonies and masses for the one year anniversary of the earthquake. Both days are in different parts of town that we have yet to see.

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I also hope by the end of the week, to write about NPH a bit more indepth, giving some information for those of you who are interested. Plus, that post will come with some more cute baby pictures. And who doesn't like cute babies?

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So the trip I was supposed to take last Friday Cite Soleil got cancelled/postponed due to the fact that I was to meet my friend Demanch (the water truck driver) and after waiting some 30 minutes, he never showed up to drive me. I'm sure he forgot or just was late. Haiti has many quirks about it and one of the biggest is time. When a Haitian says that he's going to be somewhere at a certain time, they're nearly always late. When they say they're leaving in 30 minutes, they are leaving in 5. 9:30pm is what has been referred to as "Haitian Midnight." Time is a very loose measurement down here, which has been both annoying for me as I'm a very scheduled/organized human being and good because it forces me to be a little more flexible.

Back Up the Mountain

Yesterday was another day of working with the OT and PT patients at the clinic. The evening was a belated Christmas/New Years celebration on the roof of the hospital across the street. Wine and cheese and meeting people.

I plan on writing more this afternoon but on the off chance that I don't get around to it, I thought I'd mention that we (Rachel, Fiona, Gina, and I) are heading back up to the NPH orphanage in the mountains this week. The plus of this: more pictures! The down side: no internet for a few days, so no blogging for a little bit.

Today is looking like a trip back out to Cite Soleil with the watering truck and the hope is that I get back by 1pm for a little blogging before we leave. I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Playing Catch in Haiti

Waking up this morning, I already knew that there wouldn't be much happening today. The kids at the school/hospital we're staying at are on break, cholera is slowing down, and we had no planned excursions to the slums of Port-au-Prince. Yet, like every other day here, today turned into something new and unexpected.

In the morning, I helped another volunteer, Fiona, work with some special needs kids who have learning disabilities. She's an occupational therapist from Ireland and is exceptional with kids. Despite the fact that I have zero training with OT, I was able to help her with one kid named Jefferson. Jefferson has been coming here and receiving help since last year, when Molly worked at the clinic. He is incredibly smart but he has a few leg issues (along the lines of polio or something) which hinders his ability to move around a whole lot. However, one thing Jefferson LOVES doing is playing catch with velcro tennis balls and the velcro pads. I entertained him and worked on his core strength for over an hour today. He is a really cute kid who I hope if I come down here again in a few years, is walking and able to move better than he does right now.

After lunch, I walked over and met with a potential University of Portland student, who may be receiving a scholarship that honors Molly Hightower (I'm sure Rachel's blog has/will explain more). The Haitian prospective student seems smart and should fit right in at UP.

The afternoon was spent with some of my favorite people here in Haiti: the abandoned babies at the hospital. As I've mentioned earlier, these kids were left for dead outside St. Damien's, many because they have birth defects, mental issues, or the parents just can't afford to take care of the kids anymore. Yet many of these kids are adorable. Rachel has fallen for one 10ish month old girl in particular, Sabienka. Despite the fact that she used some questionable handling tactics (Sabienka's balancing skills are not quite as strong as Rachel might have thought they were...), Rachel and Sabienka have gained a strong liking for each other the last few days and I think both will be sad when we leave (early Christmas present for Rachel, Mrs. and Mr. Prusynski? I'm sure a new Haitian baby is just what she needs).

Fiona, Rachel, and I decided that we'd go check out the cholera camps tonight to see if they needed any assistance. Upon arrival, we couldn't find hardly anyone in any of the 15+ tents. We finally stumbled across all the workers and a few patients - surrounding a TV, watching Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao play soccer. Quite an amazing site. Yes, this is a bunch of employees not working, but the fact that they have this much time on their hands is a very good sign that cholera is slowing down and nearly under control in this area. Let's hope it stays this way.

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Due to the fact that most of the facilities that I was working in today didn't allow cameras, there are now pictures to be had. Sad, I know. However, tomorrow should be a little more exciting. I will either take pictures of the OT stuff if I help there or the abandoned babies. There is also a rumor of an evening of cheese and wine on the hospital roof with the Italian doctors that are here treating the cholera. Goal: Meet and take a picture with the legendary Italian "Cesaer," who is basically the most badass looking doctor I've ever seen. He got stitches a few days ago and smokes like a chimney. We'll see how it goes.

Pictures...

Haiti internet is epically tempermental! I'll work on them tonight. Sorry everyone!

Watering Cite Soleil

As promised, photos from today's excursion. I will say this: the struggle that Haitian people go through everyday is truly amazing. Just spending one day delivering water to families who don't have access to it any other way makes me appreciate the ability to walk from my couch to the kitchen, turn on the tap, and have essentially an endless supply of clean, drinkable water. Yet, despite their constant battle for this basic human right, Haitians manage to find joy in everyday. They are generally happy and friendly people. During my time, I have yet to feel unwelcome or unwanted. At the water truck today, we saw people in a situation that for any American would have been embarrassing to the point of anger or annoyance with a photographer's presence. But not here. Every Haitian today either approached me, wanting to be photographed or gladly allowed me to document their predicament. Today was an amazing, eye-opening experience that I only hope I am able to show through some of my photographs.

Here is Cite Soleil. This is litterally a river completely covered with garbage. There is water underneath that trash.

One of the many little kids that wanted to photographed. After this picture she walked off with a full 5 gallon bucket on top of her head. Intense strength.


The line formed quickly when they saw our truck pull up.

Slums.

Our rastafarian tour guide.

My token "feel the pain of this young boy" picture. You're welcome National Geographic.

Our bucket line down the street of Cite Soleil.

One of the many "Hey you!" kids.

Above what seems like a whole country of tent cities.

When there are no jobs, sometimes the best thing to do is nap under a tree.

Filling up the water trucks after delivering to the slums.

Kicking It In Cite Soleil

So tonight will be a multi-posting blog. Two presents for you all to enjoy! First, what happened in words.


The morning started with us heading over to mass at 7am. This is my 3rd mass so far on my trip and only the 6th mass of my life. I'm becoming more and more Catholic by the day (not really, no worries). The church is on the NPH campus, which is evident by the daily funerals for the cholera victims that take place during mass. Today is no exception.


After mass, Rachel hunts down a friend of a friend and we get set up for a day working on the water truck. NPH delivers water to the most needy areas around Port-au-Prince and, unlike other trucks, doesn't charge for the water. Our guide for the day is Dimanch, who is honestly one of the largest human beings I've ever seen in person. Muscles for days.


Dimanch and two of his friends stick us in the cab of the Mack semi and we head off to Cite Soleil. Cite Soleil was once considered the most dangerous slum in the entire world until 2007 when the United Nations moved in, forced the gangs out, and got the dangerous situation under control. After a crowded four person cab ride to the slums, we set up the truck in the middle of a shack area. Kids and women come running as if they knew we were coming, screaming and holding plastic buckets. A chorus of "hey you!" is shouted at Rachel and I, since we are the only white people in miles.

We take pictures and make many little friends as their mothers fill literally thousands of plastic buckets with water. We do this twice during the day which takes us over six hours and by 4pm Rachel has gotten tired and I'm sun burnt to a crisp.

The day has gone by quickly and all I want to do now is rest. However, we need to make a quick food run to the market (Quick trivia: What kind of store has armed guards with shotguns standing along the entrance gate? Haitian grocery stores). I am dying for some pizza and while that's not going to happen, Rachel and I grab some canned pasta sauce and noodles for dinner. The only reason I share this story is because we are joined for dinner by the most diverse group of people I've ever hung out with: an Argentinian, two Irish women, a Haitian, a Canadian nun, a French surgeon, a Dutch project manager, and us two Americans. If nothing else, this trip has shown me that the world comes together to do good things in times of need. We are drinking and talking and I'm about ready to sleep. During the last week, every night I feel like I never know what is store for the next day when I go to sleep. But I'm sure tomorrow will provide another plethora of entertaining events.

And Down the Mountain We Went...

This morning... oh this morning hurt. Last night started out wonderfully - a picnic with some of the other volunteers overlooking the valley, beer bought from what I think was a bar/ barber shop/ abandoned quake wreckage, and a good conversation about ghosts and voodoo. But this turned into Rachel and I drinking WAY too much gin and juice with our new friend Eddie. Hence the painful morning. We did manage to get up at 5:30am and hiked up to the top of the mountian (all uphill and about 2.5 miles) which gave us a pretty surreal view. After heading down to the orphanage, we took a nap and then caught a truck back to Port-au-Prince. I got a video of the bumpy truck ride but as I've come to find out, computers and internet in third world countries are a bit on the technological slow side. So no videos or pics tonight.

Upon arrival to Port-au-Prince, we strolled over to the abandoned babies room at the hospital to have some tea with the little girls. My favorite, Jonackson, was sleepy so it gave me time to hangout with the other kids that were left there. I definately improved my baby skills by rocking an upset infant to sleep (yes ladies. I cook too. And I'm single).

On the walk back to our main residence, we happened across Johnnie, Molly Hightower's Haitian man-friend. He is super nice and took us around part of the rest of NPH that we hadn't gotten to visit yet. He introduced us to some of his friends who are going to take us out to city in the morning. Should be an adventure.

Overall, I know I'm happy to be back to the city. A bit too much relaxation up on the mountain had started to lead to some boredom and too much gin.

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Sidenote: yes, I'm still taking my malaria pills. No, I'm not feeling too sick anymore. Yes, I'm still having crazy dreams. I attribute that to the voodoo down here. Yes, I miss pizza.

Bonus Remindatory Link

A reminder to check out Rachel's blog today. She uploaded a lot more pictures of our time up here on the mountain.

Doug's First Orphanage and Other Stories...

Greetings from the NPH orphanage in Kenscoff Haiti and Happy New Year! The interent (and electricity for that matter) has been sparce and hard to keep working. But the last 3 days have been amazingly relaxing and entertaining. After leaving Port-au-Prince, we traveled for nearly two hours up the mountain to the orphanage. The goat (see previous post) made the bumpy trip with us as well, in a less than living state. This did not please Rachel. I told her it was nothing more than sharing a truck ride with a meat market. We stopped halfway up the mountain at a market so we could stock up on New Years Eve snacks and drinks. While we forgot to take pictures of our purchase, a box of wine, 5 500ml bottles of rum, 2 beers, and some snacks cost us all of 15 american dollars. Woot cheapness! Above is the view from where we are staying. It overlooks the valley and is quite breathtaking. Its kind of like a mini resort on the campus of the orphange.

On the first day here, Rachel found her godson Kervenson (or as I like to call him 'Kermit' or 'Svenson'). He is really shy but every once in awhile he flashes a smile.

Rachel also hunted down Jeff, her parents godson. Kermit and Jeff (above left to right) really seemed to enjoy the gifts and warmed up to Rachel and I quickly. I wandered off and took in a soccer game. Soccer games are a regular happening and these kids are fantastic (you hear that Sounders FC? Come scout in Haiti...).

Above is the sloped dirt field that they use with the tarp goals that work really well. There are two other concrete fields that the kids use, for a total of three fields on the campus.

Joseph (above) is tiny but schooled me in a little keep away (video to come later). I called him 'Messi' but I think he thinks I'm calling him 'Thank You' everytime I see him.

Yesterday we went on a hike with Jeff and Kervenson up the mountain outside the gates. Both grew tired and weary with Rachel's enthusiasm (as did I) and we headed back down for some Cokes at the local ''bar.''

We have spent the majority of our time hiking, playing with the kids, and talking to the volunteers. I have grown attached to one kid who I hope to maybe sponser as a godparent if he doesn't already have one. We shall see. I know that the most difficult work is still ahead of us but so far I personally have found the last five days rewarding and eye-opening. I will leave you with a picture of the average Haitian - hardworking, resourceful, and friendly. Hope everyone is having an amazing New Year!