February 13, 2010-Back from Haiti

I have just returned from spending a week in Haiti. I kept a detailed journal for the first two days. Then the pace got to be so busy that I could only jot down bullet points or triggers to remind me of events or people so I can write about them later. I will need time to process what I have experienced, but the gist of it is that I have not felt this exhilarated; this energized; this needed in a long time. I worked in 'General Clinic'. Traumas, amputations, stitches, infections, dehydration, malnutrition, irritations with eyes, stomachs, and lungs that come as part and parcel of an environment that is absolutely and totally polluted in every way. It was actually more of a MASH unit. I took over the responsibility of making sure the clinic was as clean as possible and as well-supplied as possible every morning. Once this was done I shifted back and forth, doing whatever task needed to be done:

• Running for medical supplies
• Translating what the Haitians were saying about their medical problems (I speak some French)
• Changing bandages
• Caring for children that were injured or sick
• Caring for children whose parents were too injured or sick to care for their own
• Trying to to keep bio-hazards in some kind of control

Sun up to sun down. The pace was a blur, and I thrived in it. I was in a complete 'No B.S. ' zone for a week. I can honestly say I think I have seen the very best and the very worst in human behavior.

I am glad to be home. I had hoped that this experience would change me. It has, but not in the ways I or anyone else may have expected. Mainly, I have made contact with a part of myself that I thought was long dead. I thank God for this.

The Haitian people are amazing. Most seemed to just get up and try to keep going. The ones that hurt me the most were the ones that seemed to be so beat down that they didn't want to go on.