Regarding relief...Day 3.5

My recent entries may give the impression that all is gloom and depression here at the hospital on the border. While the greater situation is very sad, and challenging things happen every day, there is still a lot to laugh and smile about. How could things NOT be entertaining when you have groups of Haitians, Americans, Dominicans and Spaniards all operating on very little sleep?

Sleep has created an amusing set of circumstances for me. For some reason I do not rank high enough on the totem pole to have a bed reserved for me. I have to sleep where I find space. On the first night I found a bed, and appreciated it. On the second night I was on a very comfortable leather couch in the waiting area of the hospital. Last night a group of volunteers arrived very late, so the waiting area was far too loud to sleep in. I had to be creative. A nurse saw me roaming around like a zombie, exhausted after 18 hours on my feet, and advised that I take a look at the operating room. Sure enough, it was quiet, dark, air conditioned, and empty apart from all the surgical equipment. So I pulled in a cot and bedded down right next to the operating table. I slept very well. I wonder where I will be tonight...

Regarding relief...Day 3

(I am on the Haitian border, aiding with the earthquake relief effort. These are my stories)

Today was tough. Due to pressure from the local government, we are having to reduce the number of people within the hospital compound. This meant that today we had to make sure that each patient only had one family member staying at the hospital with them. Most families have had two or three people staying and caring for the patient. We had to go from family to family, explaining that they had to decide which of them was going to get on the bus that was going back to Haiti.

This is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. The Haitian people are extremely family oriented. These patients have lost their homes, and in many cases their limbs as well. Now we had to go around and tell them that we were splitting up their families for the time being. There was a lot of heavy emotion. Some patients refused to be separated, and tried to get on the bus wearing huge casts and with pins sticking out of their open wounds. Family means that much.

I feel stuck between the logical understanding of the practicalities involved with this operation, and a deep compassion for the people and a desire to do anything, no matter how unreasonable, to keep their lives from getting even crappier. It is not fun.

Regarding relief...Day 2

(I am currently at a hospital on the Haitian border, aiding the earthquake relief effort for about a week. These are my stories.)

What a day. I experienced a lot. I carried stretchers to operating rooms. I watched a medical helicopter take off. I had to scrounge to find food so that hungry people could have at least one meal today. I heard poor, homeless, injured refugees singing praise to Jesus at the top of their lungs. It was a full day, and I feel tired, frustrated, encouraged, satisfied, pessimistic and also excited about the world. Let's just say that I am learning a lot.

It all started when I got up at about 6 AM, to get ready for the early morning meeting with the team of translators. We assigned them to specific shifts in designated parts of the hospital. Apparently a lot of these guys have been working 24 hour shifts, following doctors around to translate their conversations with the patients. Not easy work. The translators are physically exhausted, emotionally drained, and are getting absolutely no compensation for doing a pretty important job. We have started making sure they get extra food at meal times to try to keep them happy. This meeting is the last specific event I remember from today. I am tired, but things also operate in such a whirl wind of activity that all that manages to stay in my head is a series of pictures, impressions, ideas and feelings.

The patients are mostly here with limb injuries. Almost everyone has either had an amputation, or is in traction. It is not easy to see, especially the little kids. It seems that most of them were just in their houses or at school when the quake hit, and the walls came down. It is encouraging to see them getting very good care, though. We have operating rooms, physical therapists, psychiatrists, 24 hour nursing attention and lots of other medical amenities that would not otherwise be available to these folks.

That being said, it is certainly NOT the mayo clinic. The patients are in crowded, dusty tents on thin worn out mattresses. They get fed twice a day with food donated by the local government. Lunch is a pile of greasy rice, and dinner is about half a cup of very liquidy oatmeal. Not exactly the kind of food that is ideal for someone recovering from a traumatic injury. There is no TV, AC, yummy hospital food, or caring relatives coming to visit. Each patient is allowed to have one or two family members staying with them. They have no connection with the people back in Haiti.

My job, besides coordinating the translators, is to do whatever I can to help out with the logistics of running this place. We volunteers do a lot of the dealing with local Dominicans. We are responsible for getting the food delivered and served every day. We serve as the cultural go betweens. It is not easy at all. American doctors like things the way they like them. In a situation like this, though, you have to work with what you have. Dominicans can be equally stubborn. I am learning a lot about international disaster relief strategies, but I won't bore you with that talk today.

We operate one day at a time, doing what we can to help the people in front of us. Right now it is unclear whether this place will turn into a long term care center. No one knows. We all work hard, and sleep is hard to come by. I am pooped. I will turn in soon, and try to write something more story-like tomorrow. I appreciate the prayers.

Regarding relief...Day 1

(I am currently at a hospital on the Haitian border, aiding the earthquake relief effort for about a week. These are my stories.)

I arrived here at the hospital around midday, and it has been a very busy experience so far. We are a few miles from the border. There are about 150 patients here, and about the same number of family members. Patients are layed out in tents, as most of them are still frightened to sleep inside a building, after having their homes collapse on them. There are a lot of sad stories here. People have lost friends, family members, and everything they have.

The doctors are mostly American and Spanish, here for shifts of a couple weeks. Peace Corps volunteers have taken over the administration of the facility. We distribute food, manage the translators, keep the books, and do all kinds of things to keep the trains running in week long shifts.

I will be in charge of coordinating the translator team. It is a group of about 20 young Haitian men, most of whom are relatives of patients. They were recruited for their ability to speak some combination of English/Spanish/Creole. They are not being paid. My job is to keep them happy, and make sure they are where they need to be to help the doctors. I start tomorrow morning. Look for stories tomorrow.

in which Tim gets to help Haiti...

I know there is a lot of interest among socially concious people back home in what is being done to help Haiti. A lot of the relief effort has been concentrated here in the DR since we have more functional airports than Haiti does right now. The embassy is very involved, and all of us know aid workers or missionaries who have headed into Haiti to take a more active part in the effort.

They haven't let us Peace Corps volunteers go into Haiti yet, but there is a hospital set up on the border that has been helping a lot of refugees. We volunteers are going over their in shifts to help keep things running. The hospital is equipped to serve a few hundred patients, and during the first week after the quake they were seeing that many show up daily. It was a big mess. Kim went out there last week to be a runner and do whatever she could to support the doctors. As with most disaster relief efforts, things are very unorganized and high stress.

I am heading out there on Saturday. Things may have calmed down now, but I am sure there will still be plenty to do. I am not sure what to expect, but I am glad to be able to help directly in some way. I will write updates as I can reporting on what I see and learn. Thanks for the prayers!

regarding unexpected food poisoning...

Part of life in the Peace Corps is that you get diarrhea a lot. Usually a few times a month. Sometimes it is predictable, and sometimes it is a big surprise. Here is a case in point...

I spent the last few weeks doing a bunch of travelling. I was in Kim's old site, teaching them how to build a new model of stove. We were in the deep country side for about five days, and there was no sanitized water around. Oh well. I had to drink what was there, so I drank the well water expecting something bad to happen, but nothing did.

A few days later I returned home. I had to spend a day tromping around the very high hills way far away from my community where there are no amenities of any kind. Usually on day trips like this I bring my water bottle along, but I forgot. Uh oh. I was hiking hills, and I had to stay hydrated. I drank the river water, expecting to be up in the middle of the night running for the bathroom. But nothing happened.

A few days later I went to a Peace Corps conference at a luxury hotel next to the airport. We had three whole days of swimming pool, AC, cable, wireless, and best of all, an all you could eat buffet with the most amazing food I have seen in the last two years. I was stoked! But what happened? You guessed it. Two days into the conference I was curled up in the fetal position with crippling stomach cramps, nausea, and diarrhea. Four or five of my friends had it too. Apparently some of that good food was not very good.

So what is the lesson? I guess it's that no matter how long you spend in country you never know when the stomach monster will strike. Stuff just happens.

In which Tim has visitors...

As Peace Corps volunteers, we are encouraged to have folks from the States come visit for short periods of time, to experience a new culture and see life as we see it down here. I was recently privileged enough to have three of my oldest and greatest friends from home come spend a week and a half with Kim and I. It was an epic experience. There was comedy, tragedy, action and adventure. It's a shame we did not have a film crew with us. Here are some of the highlights:

-The Car: Getting around where I live is not easy due to what can charitably described as ''rough'' roads. I encouraged my friends to rent a vehicle with four wheel drive, which they did their best to do. We picked the SUV up at the airport, and drove it across the country thinking everything was fine. As soon as we tried to cross the first river, though, we discovered that the vehicle was NOT 4wd. We got stuck many times, and probably did significant damage to the undercarriage of the SUV that wasn't really an SUV. Fortunately we bought the insurance, and it gave us many laughs as we got pushed, pulled, and rescued multiple times by more capable vehicles.

-Chickens: My host mother asked us to bring home some chickens to cook up for my friends. This was my first time buying chicken, since I usually let the host fam do it. So buy them we did, alive, because it is cheaper. We had to carry them up the hill, so we lashed these live birds to the front bumper of our incapable SUV. My friend David later had the honor of killing one of these chickens before eating it. My neighbors are still making fun of his poor knife technique. There are photos on facebook.

-Rats: My home has rats. Quite a few of them that like to come out at night to play. Kim and I have gotten used to this. We tuck in our mosquito nets, hide the food, and think nothing else of it. We didn't realize that most Americans are not so content to live with creatures of the night. My friends were disturbed. Deeply. We gave them pills to help them sleep, and fortunately I was able to kill one rat by doing a flying leap with machete in hand to bring it off the wall. I was proud, they were amused, but I think happy to leave my house for the pest free beach hotels.

-European style beaches: We went to a beach town that is largely inhabited by Europeans. The Dominican vendors were constantly trying to speak Italian to us, much to our amusement. The dress code on the beach was also considerably more R rated than anything you see in the great lakes. It was a cross cultural experience.



I think the most interesting part for me, though, was seeing my friends enjoying and experiencing the things that have become normal to me. Bathing in rivers, going to beaches, eating beans and rice, speaking Spanish, dealing with street punks, and dealing with the unpredictability of life in a developing country are all things that I have stopped noticing. I do it every day, so it's not that weird. But having friends here, and coaching them through all of it reminded me that I am living a rather bizarre and wonderful experience that few people get a chance to. It made me thankful.

I am so glad my friends came. It was a great adventure and I will never forget it.