Made it home

We made it home safely on Sunday. Quite the contrast coming from the DR back to Haiti. It hit me more this way then going to the DR. Across one river, life is so different. That's all that divides the two countries. Words can't even begin to describe.

As we were waiting in the bus depot in Santiago (before we crossed the border), the waiting area was filled with Haitians. I suddenly began to feel like I was coming home, listening to the conversations in Creole (is it eavesdropping if you don't really understand it all...?), seeing the differences in clothes, styles, choice of food, luggage. As we boarded the bus people talked to one another. Yup, that's Haitians. So friendly. We had friends waiting for us at the bus depot in Cape and things suddenly seemed back to normal.

Of course we were greeted with no water at the house to bathe with (I hadn't washed my newly cut/styled hair since Friday). A walk over to the University to the missionaries house was our solution. Looking back it doesn't seem that bad. At the time, it sucks.

Being back at work is a little crazy, but that was so be expected. Things went well while I was gone so that's an encouragement. There's still much to do but it feels like we are making progress. We have 3 months of reporting to compare so we are finally gaining some perspective of the organization and situation. It drives me crazy that things are so expensive here. Medication costs about the equivalent that it would in North America. How could an organization even be self sustaining in a country like this when so many patients can't afford to see a doctor or to buy medications. So frustrating.

Beth made it here safely. She's been working on the database that I started working on in the summer. She will be teaching the archivists how to use the program and will help them implement the system. This is huge progress for the Clinic. Once we work out all the kinks it will be great!

Tiling is almost finished at the clinic. The nursing station and the VIP rooms still need to be done. Once everything gets cleaned up and washed it will be a beautiful facility. The septic hole has some cement in it now. I think that's important because of the rain...(I know nothing about this kind of stuff!). The depot is fairly organized and we are looking at building some more shelves in the near future.

Last night we went to Cap to have dinner with an old friend (Kathy Brawley), her mom, daughter and a few others that are with her. It was great to chat with them. I drove to Cap as Manno was exhausted. First time I've driven there again since I've been back. Good to remember that I am able to drive.

Plans for the week? Well, today I hope to get progress on fixing our internet. That's my big task. That and having a conversation with the pastor about starting the computer lab/program. Not sure exactly what the best move would be but hope that it all works out!

I also recently found out that I passed my statistics class that I was finishing while I was down here. What a relief! I'm so close to being finished with my degree and yet it seems so far and difficult while being down here. 5 classes is only 1 semester, and yet that's a lot of distance courses!

The clinic continues to do work down in Port au Prince. Building some houses or structures, giving out food packages, caring for needs. We are working on an upate for the donors so I will post that for those interested when it's finished.

Live in Haiti is crazy. Hot. Exciting. Unpredictable. Hilarious. Frustrating. It's about everything, everyday. I started running again, so hopefully that will help with all of the above! :)