Friday, October 30, 2009 Day 6
Friday would soon prove to be one of the most (seemingly) unproductive days in Haiti. That is, other than Monday when we just sat in a car, turned on, blowing AC for 9 hours pointlessly. Anyways, once again eggs and avocados greeted us at the breakfast table after we all finished getting around.
During the daily meetings we have each night on our mattresses outside under the stars, we discussed that we need to make sure everyone we hired as staff knows how to do things after we leave. Part of this meant not being involved more than watching from the side how they did everything without our help. They all had the hang of it, as nothing was too difficult to do. We still, all together, manned the food drive part of filling bowls, however, the majority of the day was filled with playing cards on the table, waiting for the lucky few with bowls to bring them to the kitchen.
While sitting and watching, we noticed the face of a girl that was very familiar. This was her third day to come to the clinic, yet, never saw the doctor. Instead, she had caught on that we were giving away clothes, and took advantage. She also, like every good con artist, noticed we were all switching positions and would come to our store everytime someone else new was working who wouldn’t catch her. It was finally, when Harold was having trouble with her, that I remembered I had the same trouble of her taking 3-4 items each time from the store. Finally, Mr. Beauregard, after losing 12 or so items to this one girl, did something we never wanted to do, but kicked her out of the clinic. Will she be back after we leave? I would like to think she wouldn’t unless it is for the right reason, but what is to stop her since we are no longer there? Maybe she needs the clothes more than we really know, but who doesn’t in Haiti? Of course she does. But so does everyone else, and that is the point we are trying to make to her and every other person that came through. We are there as a mission for everyone, not to fill every need of every person by giving them everything.
As time for lunch was upon us, there was no sign of the cook. Later, we heard she had returned to Port au Prince to visit her daughters. As most of the trip was unorganized, this was too. They had not considered we no longer had any food, or anyone to prepare it. Therefore, there was no lunch provided for the day. This put everyone in a bad mood, as we were all hungry and hot with still no electricity to at least cool our faces for a bit from the hot sun. Finally, the cook returned from the city, with groceries and starting preparing ‘lunch’ which was served after 5 PM. Once again, the food cause something in my stomach to react, as the pikliz from the day before make my stomach uneasy to anything that entered. Therefore, once again, I had more ‘business’ to attend to after eating. At least the electricity was finally on, allowing me to drag a fan from the bedroom into the bathroom to keep me from losing even more weight from seating like crazy. Those bathrooms tend be react like a sauna or a hotbox or anything to that family of things. I call it my ‘weight loss’ room, as I seem to lose a lot every time I enter.
Evening came after a boring day of playing cards, but after eating, we all decided we didn’t want to go out anywhere. Even though we had done nothing all day, the stress of the entire week was finally setting in on us all, and we just wanted to relax. Alicia, Harold, and myself all played games for the remainder of the evening until we couldn’t keep our eyes open much longer. Little did we know, it was only 7:30, but our bodies were not on a regular time schedule. Instead of going by certain times, this is how we functioned for the week. Wake up when the sun rises. Eat when your body says you are hungry. Sleep when the sun goes down. So, when the sun would set at 7, our bodies started winding down naturally.
As we were getting ready to run off to bed, our nurse walked out of her bedroom with her bags in her hand. She was leaving and would not be back before we left. While being with someone for a week, even though you do not speak the same language, you do grow a little closer to them. We all said goodbye, and got in a line to see her off. However, in cultures other than America, they greet and leave with a kiss on the cheek. Now, for mister touchy-feely me, you would think this may be very easy to do. Well, to fill you in, it was one of the most awkward moments of my life. In Miami, I do not do it, just reach out my hand and give the good ole handshake. However, I felt really pressured since everyone else was doing it. Politely, I shook her hand and lowered my face right near hers and made the kissing ‘smooch’ even though I did not touch lips to anything. Bending down, as low as if I was tying my shoe, made it even more awkward. Had she been 6 feet tall, I may have enjoyed it a bit, but no chance of that. I quickly made my move and got on with my life.
We all met upstairs quickly before shutting out the lights for a quick meeting to talk about the work week, and how we were leaving the clinic, now that it was finished being open since we were there. In the three open days of the clinic that we were present, we saw a total of 175 patients. A HUGE success in our books. After talking what other improvements we could try to show the people in the morning, we all drifted to sleep quickly. While everyone was outside, I once again chose to sleep inside, not just tonight, but the rest of the trip as the mosquitoes tended to prefer to stay outside. A perfect collaboration between man and insect!
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