Summary

So, I was delinquent in posting during my last 4-5 days in Haiti, but I think sometimes it's easy to spend too much time writing and not enough time living, and believe me there was a lot of living being done this week...

So the 9 scariest words I heard this week were "So how would you feel about running the ER?" I'd planned on coming to just do manual labor, clearing rubble, not try to delve headfirst into a career I left 5 years ago, but the need was there... My first day in the hospital center here in Leogane was an interesting foray into field medicine. Worldwide Village, in cooperation with the University of Notre Dame, has set up a provisional hospital and surgical center in the tiny village of Leogane, the epicenter of Haiti's earthquakes. The hospital was unlike anything I'd seen before, 6 interconnected and fully enclosed tent structures, complete with air conditioning! Well, when it worked, or we didn't run out of fuel for the generators, that is. Still, on my first day, as I approached the structure, I saw a line of people, young and old, waiting to be evaluated at the clinic. This was going to be a challenge.

The first challenge we faced in the ER was our lack of organization. American hospitals are nothing if not efficient and orderly. At first glance, this situation was neither, but we had some amazing volunteers with HODR and a crew of three wonderful Haitian translators that helped us bring order to chaos. We saw patients as screened by our translators, and began to establish who needed surgery and what interventions could be performed outside our very limited sterile room.

"Medicine by committee" is the best way to describe what occurred. Our two staff physicians, a urologist and a plastic surgeon, we joined by an ER physician midweek, which eased our patient load somewhat, but I, along with a handful of nurses, often saw, treated, and discharged patients without a doctor ever seeing them. We quickly came to realize that all of our patients are dehydrated, which made IV access tricky. At one point, after attempting IV access 6 times on an 18 month old boy with 40& coverage partial thickness burns, we realized we had to give the child fluids, or he would die. Normally, this would mean giving IV fluids through what's called an IO (interoceous) line, which goes directly into the marrow of a large bone, like the femur, the bone in the upper leg. One problem. We don't have any of the special needles needed to perform an IO. Soooo... "I've heard that in infants, if you absolutely have to, you could possibly use a short 14 gauge needle to possibly start an IO, and it should hold." Everyone looking at the child turned and looked at me. One of the doctor's said, "Well, sounds good to me, have you done it?" "Um, no... I mean, it's been a while since I've done any of this, I'm just throwing out ideas." "Well, sounds good to me, let's try it!" Thankfully, the procedure worked. These doctors really were incredible in the ways they were able to think outside the box and adapt to limited equipment and surroundings to save lives. I'm proud to say that during the entire week we worked, we only lost one patient, of hundreds we were able to treat.

I was consistently amazed at the strength and resilience of the Haitian people. I've never worked on patients that were so calm, cooperative, and thankful. These people have seen so much loss and dealt with so much pain, it's almost like they've become immune to suffering. I watched as our plastic surgeon informed a 17 year old girl that she'd need to lose her leg, which was rapidly deteriorating with gangrene, to save her life. She calmly replied, "Take my leg, I want to live." I can't imagine that happening here. No 17 year old girl in America would take that news so calmly. Heck, I wouldn't take it that well! What a portrait of strength.

As we left Haiti on our last day I was ready to go, but with a new attitude about the experience. This nation, so ravaged by destruction and heartache, and facing the hurricane season, was smiling. Everywhere we looked, people were smiling, children were playing, people were working. Much like an ant hill that's been kicked, people were rebuilding, despite the odds. We in America have no idea what tragedy and loss really are. And, it seemed, neither did these people. The sad reality dawned on me that this community was probably not much worse off than before the earthquake. The word "loss" implies you have something to lose. With nothing before or after, well, why grieve? This tiny village, so full of life, but so devoid of resources, was further proof that, while we're all created equal, some are more equal than others.

So, in summary, this trip was a bittersweet reminder to be thankful for each breath of freedom and opportunity I've been given. Like I said to someone before we left, it could just as easily have been me rebuilding my life that'd been torn to shreds. The freedom, money, and education we've been given are gifts we need to cherish and share with all of God's children. I am, indeed, my brother's keeper and I've never before seen the need so vividly.

Day 3 (oops forgot to post this one!)

Normally Sundays are the day of rest for people in Leogane so HODR tries to respect that and not go out into the community to do work. We didn’t know this until late Saturday night, so this morning we decided to ask if we could do some work around the camp since we just got here and would only be here a week. They gave us the job of clearing off the rubble on top of our building, which was weighing down the roof and could eventually cause a lot of problems. This is also the after hours hangout spot for the young guys (yes we are old and boring and go to bed at 9 so we haven’t experience this)so they wanted the area clear for safety reasons.

Ryan and Rik had the job of shoveling the huge pile of rubble while I had the job of sweeping everything into big piles and clearing all the broken glass that had been created from the locals throwing empty bottles on the roof. These seem like pretty easy tasks except for the fact that we were on a roof with no covering all day in about 98-degree weather and the rubble was never ending.

When it came time for lunch we went to the corner and got egg sandwiches made by the locals and a cold bottle of coke. The sandwiches consisted of egg, some type of meat product, lettuce, and ketchup on a hoagie roll. Surprisingly it was an amazing meal!

After lunch we got back to work on the rubble pile. We were so exhausted but we made it though and we got the huge pile of rubble cleared by about 3:30.

I decided after the hard day I would go experience my first bucket shower. It is exactly as it sounds too. You fill up a bucket with water from the faucet and then take a pale and the bucket into a stall covered with a tarp. Before the trip I was dreading the cold water but oh my gosh it was an amazing shower… except for the fact that afterwards I realized I didn’t get the soap completely out of my hair and I was already sweating again from the hot weather. But that’s ok at least I didn’t smell and I wasn’t covered in dust!

For dinner we took a 10-minute walk up the street to a burger joint. We had “chicken burgers”, fries and ice cream. The chicken was more of a weird chicken nugget on a bun, but the strawberry ice cream made us forget about that. After a long day in the sun we could have cared less as long as we had something cold to eat!

The best part of that experience was the walk to and from dinner. I took amazing video footage of the town, which I hope to get up here soon. It was surreal to see houses basically crumbled to the ground. There were so many houses one after another that were collapsed and nothing had been done. I just wondered how many people have still not been found yet because obviously there is no way to get through all that rubble any time soon. I also wonder the stories of these people, what they have gone through, and whom they all have lost because of the earthquake. This experience took me aback and made me really see how great of a life I have. I might not be the richest person in the world and I might not be able to do everything I want to do but I have a roof over my head, food on the table every night, and my family around to talk to whenever I want. I hope I can keep these memories close to heart every day. No matter how tough of a day I have, no matter what I go through, nothing will compare to what these people have gone through. I thank God so much for this experience and for helping me see that I live an amazing life.

-Kat

Day 8- We are home!!

We are on our way back home. As I sit on the plane, trying not to scratch the 40 bug bites I got on this trip, I can’t help to think back about the week that I just had…

I will never forget the things I have experienced this week. I hope I never take for granted- air conditioning, good food, in door plumbing, electricity, a soft bed, a roof over my head, silence as I sleep, my education, and last but not least, Rik’s driving.

Before the trip I was so anxious/nervous about going. I was scared to break out of my box and go to another country where I didn’t speak the language and I didn’t know what I would witness. Now I would not trade this week for anything- not even a week on the beach! I hope I can go back again to help the people of Haiti because they have a long road to recovery. They need the help of others to give them some sort of direction. They are willing to do the work but they don’t know where to begin. I hope that they can find a good leader who will guide them in the right direction, but until then I hope more people like myself will go try to make a difference.

Until the next adventure... (check back for pictures/video soon.. too tired to post tonight)

-Kat

Day 7

This morning we woke up at 2 am to rain! We quickly jumped out and covered our tent and our stuff so we wouldn’t get soaked. We contemplated staying awake and packing up since we would be getting up in 3 short hours anyways. We decided against that and went back to sleep for a little while longer. At five we got up and much to our surprise the roosters, cows, dogs, and people of Leogane were already up. When do they sleep!?

By 6am we were out the door and on the way to the bus station. Our driver this morning was insane! He knew we needed to get to the bus station on time and he meant business. I think he used his horn the whole hour and a half we were in the car. He drove on the wrong side of the road, swerving in between cars, etc. We made it safely to the bus station though!

As we got on the bus we all let out a big sigh. We were sitting on a bus heading home and it had air conditioning! This was the first time in a week that I wasn’t sweating.

When we got to the boarder of Haiti and the Dominican, everyone was asked to get off the bus, grab our bags, and go have them checked by boarder control. As we got in line, dreading opening our bags for fear they would never close back and for the fact that our clothes smelled awful, an officer came over to us and waved the three of us, the only white Americans in sight, back onto the bus. We laughed at this but realized they knew we probably wouldn’t find anything in Haiti that we would need to sneak back to the US.

When we finally made it to Santo Domingo our first stop after checking into the hotel was to a pizza place right up the street. It was amazing! After that we headed back to the hotel and had many two more amazing experiences- a warm shower with water pressure that would get rid of the grime of this week and a soft bed with AC blowing over us. I knew I would sleep well…

-Kat

Day 6

Today I went to another site to teacher about disaster preparedness. The site today was a big tent that had been made into a makeshift church. Next door was a camp, which is a bunch of tents or makeshift houses for the people who’s houses have been destroyed from the earthquake. When we arrived the children of the camp all camp over to greet us. It was so much fun to play with them before we had to teach.

In between sessions we got to play with the children more. We decided to give them the children’s earthquake booklets since we knew we would have extra. We thought this would be a good way to get word out to the people of that camp. To our surprise we had much more in store though.

When our afternoon session was supposed to begin, there were no teachers! So we looked around, saw about 30 children sitting in the church pews and said, “Here’s our opportunity”. We spent about an hour teaching the children what to do if an earthquake or a fire occurs. We did drills with them to make sure they understood not only what to do but how to do it. During this time parents came over and watched as well. So not only did we reach teachers and students but we spread the word to the parents as well.

For the last hour we did have a few teachers show up so we held our last preparedness session and included the children of the camp in the lesson. We had the teachers act out scenarios with them and perform drills so they could really see what to do.

Overall this was an amazing experience. I feel that our group touched the lives of many people and hopefully many more as these teachers and children spread the word around their communities. As I said in a previous post, I may not be cut out to shovel rubble all day but I know I can spread the word about how to be prepared for another disaster.

-Kat

Day 5

So the boys are slackers and don’t take the time to tell there stories but I want to get mine down before I forget anything….

Today I went to talk with a group of Leogane teachers about disaster preparedness. We didn’t really know what to expect so we had an agenda and a few notes to help us. We road a tap-tap, aka a taxi, to the site. A tap-tap is a beat up truck that has bars around the bed so you don’t fall out and so a lot more people and be crammed inside “safely”. Imagine riding with at least 10 people in the back of a pick up on a very bumpy dirt road going really fast and that is what we did!

When we got to the site their were 45 teachers waiting for us to present. The first thing we did after introducing ourselves was give the teachers a chance to share their stories about January 12^th. I think the most shocking thing to me was the fact that they were not emotional about the experience. They told the stories of where they were, what happened to them, their families, and their neighborhoods. They praised God a lot for him giving them this experience, letting them survive, and giving them the opportunity to share their experiences with others. I was very shocked by this, and it made me wonder, what we as Americans would do in this type of situation. I would hope that I would thank God for keeping me alive, but I feel I would be more upset with seeing people die and my house and the houses around me destroyed. It was amazing to hear them talk about people coming together to help each other and being upset because they couldn’t help everyone. Is this the way we would be or would we be selfish and only worry about ourselves? If I take one thing from this trip, I hope it is that I can be more giving to others and not just think about myself but what I can do to help the people around me.

We spoke with the teachers for almost three hours about what to do to prepare for earthquakes, a hurricanes, and fires. We also gave them ways to practice with their students and families and the steps to follow if one of these occurs. I knew they would ask us about things that actually have occurred since the January earthquake but I wasn’t prepared for the other questions- what is a hurricane/earthquake, where does the water come from during a flood or hurricane, why did my house fall and my neighbors did not, etc. It made us realize we needed to assess what we were talking about and really get down the facts first before we could even go into what to do if an earthquake or hurricane does occur.

After lunch we spoke to about 30 more teachers. This time we gave more facts about earthquakes and hurricanes so the questions we received this time were more scenario based. Haitians love their families, love their friends, and love their country so it was hard for them to handle the fact that we were telling them not to go back into the building no matter what or who was in there.

I have really gained much respect for the people of Haiti. They may not have the life that the Americans do but for the most part they live a happy life. As we were leaving the site today, a guy about my age stopped and said hello to me. He asked me whom I was here with and if we had work for him. I explained that we don’t get paid to do work, we just volunteer to do it. To my surprise he responded, “I don’t want money. I want to help my people.” That put a big smile on my face, because it is people like this young man that will help Haiti heal. You wouldn’t think there were many people like that around, but as we traveled around Leogane all week we would see the Haitians knocking down rubble and trying to clean up the community. It was amazing to see children who were probably 6 or 7 taking wheelbarrows full of concrete down the street or carrying buckets full on their heads to a dumping site. I hope more Americans can see this way of life and understand that it is not about how much money we have or how big our houses are. It’s about who we have around us, supporting us. I hope that I can learn from this trip to really appreciate my family, my friends, and any one else I meet. You never know when something like this could happen to us, will we be there for each other?

-Kat

Day 4

Today we all decided to go our separate ways. Rik went to the medical hospital up the street to help in the ER. Kat stayed with a group at camp to help create a professional development for the local teachers on disaster preparedness. Ryan went to a rubble sight to use his big muscles. We will each share our experiences separately since we obviously all had very different days.

Kat’s Experience-
Yesterday a group of about ten teachers from NY came to HODR, so as a result the HODR group decided since there were so many teachers here they could start a project that they had done in a previous country as a result of an earthquake. They asked us (7 people in the group) to create a lesson that we would be implemented with teachers from the Leogane community. We were given a pamphlet on basic disaster safety and two Haitians who spoke both English and Creole to help us think of ideas and ways to share the information effectively with the Haitian teachers. There was another guy in the group who’s family is Haitian but works as a teacher and grew up in NY so he was a great asset to the group because of his teaching experience and his ability to speak Creole as well.
The first thing we did was get to know the two people from Haiti. Berlyne actually lives in Leogane and experience the quake first hand so we got to hear her amazing story. She was at her mother in laws house at the time of the quake. When the shaking started she tried to get out of the house but the house was shaking so bad that she was pushed backwards into a wall. She said she prayed loudly as the ceiling began to collapse, “Please God! Please God!” The house did collapse but the family members were all able to get out safely. Her cousins on the other hand, who live down the street, were not so lucky. The three boys were playing together outside when the earthquake started. They panicked and ran inside to get out of harms way. The house collapsed and unfortunately their legs got stuck under a pile of rubble and they couldn’t escape. They screamed for help “I’m alive! Help!” but no one could get to them.
I wasn’t aware of this until we started working on the lesson but the people of Haiti aren’t even aware of what an earthquake is. They call it “goo doo good doo” because that is was the sound is when the shaking occurs. Berlyne’s story really made me see why I am here. I might not be able to clear rubble like Ryan but I can make a difference in the community. I can help these teachers spread the word about earthquake safety and how to affectively handle the situation if it happens again.
I will spare everyone of the details of the lesson but as nerdy as it sounds I think this is why I am in grad school for instructional technology. Sitting down with fellow teachers, coming up with a lesson in which I know very little about- earthquakes, Creole, and Haitian schools was the most rewarding experience I have had so far.
Tomorrow we will go take our lesson and hold a professional development for approximately 90 teachers. To prepare for the lesson we decided we wanted to know a little bit of Creole so we could show that we do care about the community and maybe have some connection with the teachers.
Here’s what I learned- Bonjou- Hello
Kouman ou rele? – What is your name? (Ko-ma ou we-le)
Mwen rele _____. – My name is _________ (M-wen we-le)
Kouman ou ye? – How are you? (Ko-ma ou ye)
Mwen kontran ronkontre w. –I am happy to meet you. (M-wen ko-ma ron-con-tre oo)
Meci anpil- Thank you (Me-cee an-peel)
Mwen konton an Ayiti.- I am happy to be in Haiti. (M-wen kon-ton an-ay-eeti)
Mwen soti ____________.- I am from________. (M-wen so-ti)
Sa feim mal. – That makes me sad. (Sa fem mal)

-Kat