My First Week, in Two Minutes

My first week in Haiti has flown by and I’m guessing the subsequent weeks will continue to pick up speed. The learning curve for the first week was large. It included, figuring out how to use a generator, solar panels and an inverter for electricity, learning how to fill a cistern to shower, becoming accustom to tap-taps and motos, adapting to being a walking spectacle by being “blan” (white) and determining the right cocktail of sunscreen and bug spray. The last one is still eluding me and thus the Benadryl stick has become my best friend. This list was just the learning curve for basic living. The learning curve for my project was equally as steep. 

A group like this usually joins me on journey, entertained by the blan.

An easier adjustment

No matter the amount of reading and preparation you do for a project, nothing compares to work on the ground. This week gave me the chance to meet with the supervisor of the water program here, the water program’s quality control workers, the newest CHI employee Alliance (who used to work directly for Gadyen Dlo, the water program we subcontract with) and my translator John. We were able to have several productive conversations and this information, combined with the results of the program evaluation survey I’m conducting will help direct the future of the program.

On Friday, I was finally ready to begin the survey process. I got 10 done in the day, which I thought was pretty good when account for the heat and the walking. This next week will be dominated by surveys. I enjoy this process because I get welcomed into people’s homes and thus far they have felt comfortable sharing numerous concerns with me. The other highlight to the survey process is that I get to spend the day with my hilarious and angelic translator John. He loves to say that the first time he looked in the mirror, he screamed at how ugly he was and told his mom she must have a dirty belly to make him. He will say anything self-deprecating, as long as it gets a laugh. Good company to have when you are hiking in 95° weather. I say his is angelic because he has adopted three children though he has very little monetary wealth. His dream is to open an orphanage and if his love for the kids of Haiti could build it, it would be open tomorrow. This past March, a crew of journalists came with the CHI quarterly clinic. One of the articles they wrote was on John, it can be found here: http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/haiti-arcahaie-iowa-medical-birth-lifesaving-malnourished-medika-mamba.

Dana (another MPH student) and John, my translator, on our longest hike yet. We started on a road right by the ocean.