Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Christmas in July

It may be in the 90s or more with high humidity that causes me to “glisten” profusely as I work (we girls don't sweat, right?), but it is Christmas of sorts here in Haiti for the Hanger Clinic. A container with much-needed supplies was released from customs today and is on its way to Deschapelles; all made possible by countless peoples' efforts, donations, and prayers! They may be big cardboard boxes but they contain precious materials with the power to change lives— boxes full of first steps after months of sitting or relying on crutches, boxes of renewed hope at the possibilities the future can hold, and boxes of new beginnings.

I always enjoy Christmas and as a child looked forward to what was in those colorful packages. But I can truly tell you that today was substantially better than any box under a tree.

Kim, Bradley, Ron, Esnel, Jude, Ian, Diane, Jay, Eric, the staff at SPS, and countless others – Santa's got nothing on you! Thank you for making this possible!!

Here's a photo of Ronnie, one of our staff, in front of just a portion of the boxes and contents that were released today:

Saturday, July 24, 2010

An inside look at Kay Hanger

There are six of us in Kay Hanger now – two girls and four guys. One American, one German who now works in Switzerland, and four Swiss. The quantity makes the shuffle for the showers in the evening quite an event to see. Like an orchestrated dance the guys float in and out of the bathroom, to their rooms in sequence. We girls are fortunate to only have to split between the two of us and it works well as long as the water isn’t being used in the kitchen which makes our shower not work. What can I say; being a girl has some perks – even in Haiti.

This may not make sense unless you know that we only have running water three times a day. From 6-6:40ish in the morning, sometime midday when we’re not at the house to take advantage of it, and 6-6:40ish in the evening. In the morning and evening we get a warning of sorts that the water is about to come on because just before the water, the electricity goes off for a minute or so while the guys in engineering switch generators. In the morning, the slowing of the fans is usually enough to wake me and if not, sounds of running water seem to. We leave the shower on so the excess water can be collected for use when we don’t have running water, which leads to one of the most unique, ingenious toilet flushing systems I’ve seen. Here’s what it looks like:



So, after doing your business (or before if you’re that prepared) you pump water with the blue plunger-like device through the tube that is attached to the inside of the toilet tank with plastic zip ties. After about ten to twelve good pumps, you get rewarded with the honor of flushing.

Tonight, like clockwork, the lights dimmed, fans slowed to a stop (reminding us how much of a blessing they are), then, the return of electric power and the familiar discussion of who would be first in the shower began in a mix of English and Swiss-German. The first two each went off to their respective cold showers. Another luxury not present here is hot water. It’s usually not too much of a loss since the weather is so hot but I must admit, there are mornings I have to psych myself up to jump in that shower.

P.S. Last Thursday #11, tonight was #12

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Haiti Hanger Clinic; a multi-national effort

We have become trilingual here in Haiti with my new crew which is a team from Switzerland. I can now say such useful words like screwdriver, ballpoint pen, and peanut butter in Swiss-German, Creole, and English. Yes, my language skills will definitely come in handy when I am stranded in a foreign land and my life depends on the ability to find a pen to draw a picture of a screwdriver covered in peanut butter. :)

Tonight, four of us played a card game with a Swiss deck that only has 36 cards. They are quite colorful. Here are some photos: I am so impressed with the team’s ability to practice using English to talk to our translators who translate what they say into Creole.

Getting Haitians back up and walking at the Hanger Clinic is a multi-national effort now. And, in a pinch, I can always ask for a screwdriver!

Rainstorms in Haiti

I both love and hate rainstorms here in Haiti.

Let me preface this by saying that I have always liked rainstorms when experienced from the comfort of my home. Our whole family would count the beats between a big lightening bolt and the thunderclap that followed. Then, we'd practice dividing by 6 to figure out how far away the lightening was. It always seemed like God's fireworks to me; the way a bolt streaks across a previously black sky is just awesome to watch.

Here in Haiti thunderstorms do not disappoint. They will come up fast and dump copious amounts of rain in a short span of time. I love how the air cools after a storm; a pleasant relief. I've been cold a few times here (which is far fewer than spaghetti and hot dog meals - Tuesday lunch was #10). Each time I've been cold involved rain or once having wet hair and then going into a rare air-conditioned room.

The downsides to rain are muddy, rutty streets and the addition of humidity in the air. After a big storm the night before, the next day can be extra hot and sticky. Our patients suffer the worst of it. It takes so much extra energy to walk with a prosthesis and they will sometimes be drenched with sweat after physical therapy. But, this doesn't dissuade them or dampen their spirits.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Remembering the tragedy that changed Haiti forever

Six months ago this Monday -- that is when the earth shook and lives in Haiti were forever changed. Loved ones were injured or killed; there were people sleeping in tents outside for fear of returning indoors with the aftershocks; and now countless new amputees are facing a new life with limb loss. Both the emotional and physical scars are a daily reminder to people here who lived through this immense tragedy.

The six month anniversary has brought some renewed media interest of prosthetic care here which is fantastic. Since the Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation is run on donations, any way of getting the word out about the lives we are changing by providing free prosthetic care is certainly beneficial. It's always fascinating to me to meet journalists who spend their lives going to various countries reporting and being in the midst of situations we generally see from the comfort of our living rooms. For me, it's very surreal to be of any interest to people like that. However, I'm very thankful they get to spend some time seeing the difference we are making.

Days are flowing one into another here for me. Another talented team of practitioners will soon say goodbye to Deschapelles and to the wonderful work they've been a part of. Soon, their names and short messages will be added to our wall of those who have come before. We have a turquoise blue wall in the lab where all the people on previous teams sign as they leave. Jay Tew’s block is at the top left corner; a cornerstone of the clinic here in both the physical location of his signature and legacy he leaves.

The current team has been fantastic and has such a great sense of humor. They have left the Hanger house a unique gift – a goat. So we now have a Hanger Haiti mascot named Van Goat. He's a cute little goat that gets to spend his days helping manage the grounds of the Klinik Hanger and his nights trimming the grounds around Kay Hanger; a fun little addition to life here.


Friday, July 2, 2010

Apple pie on the menu

I can’t believe it has been another week here! Somehow the days are blending together now. Deschapelles, Haiti is no longer a foreign land with strange new experiences, but rather, my home. The rocky streets lead me to where I work or past friends’ houses. The goats, pigs, turkeys, cats, dogs, horses, cows, and confused roosters are no longer an oddity-although I did clock the rooster crowing at 12:55am this morning. Ok, that rooster’s a bit odd :)
Even in a vastly different environment, similar social events occur. For example, many of the girls here get together periodically for a "girl’s night". So, last night we piled into a work pickup truck and went to a nearby town for dinner. It was just fun to giggle and hang out. These women are all involved in extremely important and rewarding projects here ranging from reforestation projects, nutrition, midwifery, and public works projects like rebuilding roads or cleaning out clogged canals so farmers get much needed water to crops. But, we are all still women in need of some time to just be girls.

A highlight of the evening was getting to stop by the one grocery store within a few hour radius of the hospital. I am so excited because I bought the fixings for an apple pie and I’m going to make it for our little 4th of July get together on Sunday.

My grandma taught me to make apple pie and many fun afternoons were spent with her rolling out the crust with the little design in the top part, slicing the apples really thin, and waiting patiently as the aroma of the cooking pie filled the kitchen. Those much-honed skills of pie creation will hopefully prove fruitful here in Haiti.

The clinic is running wonderfully and I have an excellent team here! We have one gentleman who runs a fabrication facility for Hanger so he is well versed in all technical areas and is teaching the Haitian technicians lots of useful tricks like neat ways of making their work more efficient and conserving materials by making fewer mistakes. One gentleman is amazing at modification and has been working with the technicians on modifying. The third practitioner is a computer wiz and has made my life so much simpler by teaching me some things that have made sending needed computer files back to the US much easier. We’re having a blast making a difference!

The rotations coming in and out in two-week periods kind of remind me of when I was a camp counselor. You have the pleasure of getting to live and work with some great people, get used to them, and then they leave and you get a new group. Each group has its own strengths and adds so much to the patients’ lives here. I occasionally get to hear from practitioners who came in the past and I don’t know of one that hasn’t been touched by what they’ve done here. The patients capture your heart and their smiles warm your soul.

I cannot put into words how cool it is that right now, this is what I get to do, and this amazing experience has become my day to day life!

PS: Breakfast today= #9