Haiti Journal Entry #3

Wed 04/07/10

The day started tragically as we were informed that someone had been killed on their way up the mountain that morning. It was a reminder to us all how dangerous it was on the mountain. It also reminded us you can never be too careful.

Despite the bad start to the day, things went pretty well at the clinic. People were more comfortable with their responsibilities and everything seemed to flow more smoothly. I had the pleasure of working with Bianca, a translator, today at the clinic. My dad has known her from previous trips and he was very excited that she was volunteering to help. Bianca is a 17 year old student from Haiti who can speak 5 languages fluently; Haitian Creole, French, Arabic, Spanish, and English. She is incredibly bright and has received interest from Ivy League schools already. She also doesn't take crap from anyone, including my dad. Not that my dad was rude to her, but she "gets" his playfulness and teasing attitude. She is able to take it all in stride and get her shots in as well. She has been doing the translating for awhile so she is very good at that as well. She explained that Haitians tend to "over exaggerate" and she is able to read between the lines. The people of Haiti have saying or slang just like we do here in America and her experience really helps in those situations. The language barrier is such a large obstacle for the staff so it helps when the translator is very good at what they do. It allows for the best possible care and helps the medical team to not miss anything.

My dad, Debbie, Caitlin (Dr's daughter), and myself decided to walk down the mountain today. I'm not sure if it was some subconscious thing we did because of the accident earlier that day or what, but I got my first taste of the mountain. The walk down the mountain isn't too bad. If you have uncomfortable shoes it will hurt your feet some since you are walking down at an angle for quite a few hundred yards. Once we got to the bottom of that mountain it was now time to head "up" the other side to our house. Caitlin, a junior high student who was making her 15th trip to Haiti, showed us a "shortcut". I put shortcut in quotations due to the fact it almost ended my life. Well, ok, not really but it was very challenging. I guess that's why it is a shortcut though, it's supposed to be tough, if it wasn't it would just be called "the way". Anywho, this shortcut was an old goat trail. You basically had to rock climb up the goat trail. I had to use all four limbs to travel up. Halfway up I was out of breath, my face was red, and I was sweating profusely. It was about this time I got passed by a young Haitian child with a bucket of water on there head going up the trail. (that didn't really happen at that exact moment, but it could've)
I did see Haitians walking up and down the goat trail with buckets on their head, not even breaking a sweat. I wondered how pathetic I looked to them as I struggled to make it up the trail. After finally making it up the trail, we walked the rest of the way back to the house. The rest of the journey was not any easier due to the fact it was all up hill as well!!

Let's just say I didn't mind the cold water "shower" I had tonight.