to teach a man to fish....

So we began the day yesterday with a half day of med clinics.  Things went very smoothly and efficiently, and it always seems that right when we get it down to an art- that its time for the med team to leave, sigh.  But, regardless- the amount of patients we have been able to see from the first day to yesterday has nearly tripled since we were able to work out some kinks in the system.  There were several children that showed up to the clinic by themselves.  A little girl, just six years old, sticks out in my mind.  She waited outside the gate of Go-Haiti since about 545 am, to wait in line to see someone.  She traveled all the way here by herself, and explained what it was that was bothering her.  She had a staph infection on her scalp, and also had impetigo.  She was very sweet and smiling, and we were able to give her azythromycin and explain to her when and how to take it.  Crazy how a child so young can take care of themselves and be totally self-sufficient.  We tend to baby our children in the states, and Haiti is the exact opposite.  Regardless of how you feel about the situation, it just goes to show how truly capable children are of surviving when they are forced to.
This little boy came in with his mother, and was suffering from a staph infection on his face.  Here's what it looked like....

Because of everyone's generous donations and contributions, we had the available antibiotics on hand to give to this boy's mother free of charge- and this infection should clear up.

We also had our feeding program yesterday.  I am a huge fan of Paul Farmer, and those committed to truly changing Haiti.  I have read several books on their theories and beliefs of how this change can be implemented, and one major point Paul Farmer makes is not to just be another NGO (non-governmental organization) handing stuff out.  Whether it be food, clothing, hygiene products, ect he believes that Haitians have become completely dependent on non-profits here, and instead of working towards becoming self-sufficient several of them now wait for a hand out from these organizations.  Although this is not true across the board, I see where he is coming from.  There's that saying, "Feed a man a fish he's full for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll be full for a lifetime...."  It's such a powerful statement, and very true.  But, I also think there comes a point in your life where you just need a break, a word of encouragement, some type of uplifting to renew your strength and your faith and let you just carry on.  I believe our feeding program does this.  Every time we come down, we try to set one day aside and feed the people in the tent city a full plate of food.  Many of them haven't eaten in days, and life is just hard.  They are up against incredible obstacles that neither your nor I will ever understand.  I get that this feeding program will not save lives, it will not stop the hunger in Haiti, and it is not teaching Haitians to be self-sufficient.  Trust me- I get it.  But, we've all had those days where all we think is "can I just catch a break- some type of break" and this feeding program is just that.  A physical and mental break from the back-breaking labor and trials these people are forced to face daily.  We started off in a tent city, where we fed the children lunch.  Peanut butter sandwiches and Kool-Aid.

Many of these kids were left orphaned after the earthquake and are always left to fend for themselves.

The pastor of this tent city and his beautiful wife have poured every ounce of themselves into trying to improve living conditions here and provide encouragement to these people.  Here is the pastor, his wife, and two children..

When we left this tent city we went back to Go-Haiti's compound and prepared to feed the local community.  A generous donation allowed us to purchase enough food to feed hundreds of people a meal consisting of chicken, rice, a spicy creole sauce, and water.  Many of these people do not remember what it is like to have a full stomach, and they are so incredibly grateful.  We set up the projector and played some movies and cartoons for the people while they were waiting for food, and Gayepaye lead the worship songs along with Rachel on the guitar and Jon on the drums (an empty water container with a stick).  It was such an awesome night. ...

There was a little girl that got Dr. Franco's attention during the feeding.  She had hurt her toe and the skin was raw, and the toenail had fallen off.  She was wearing sandals and her feet were filthy. I brought her inside and did the best I could to clean it up and bandage it.  She was the sweetest little girl.  She said "merci madam" when I was finished and I said "you're welcome" and she just stood there staring at me...contemplating her next move.  She then starting kissing my face all over and my eyes started to swell up..yup, it always happens.  She brought me to tears.  She was so grateful for this simple act that I would come down here whenever, at the drop of a dime solely for a moment like that.  Here is the little girl...

It is not a human right 
to stand not fight
while broken nations dream
open up our eyes so blind
that we might find
the Mercy for the need

I woke up this morning and went to the pharmacy to try and purchase some antibiotics we ran out of.  It took us nearly 2 hours to get there, and we just sat and waited. and waited. and waited. and then waited some more.  It was to the point where I just wanted to walk out, but then I made myself think of the people who would use and need this medication.  There is absolutely no sense of time in Haiti at all, and waiting a half-day or an entire day in a pharmacy is pretty much expected.  It made me have this new found appreciation for my local CVS.

We returned back to the property where the guys were building the second soccer goal post out of sticks and a volleyball net.  It came out far better than anyone would have imagined.  I'll try and take pictures for the next blog, but needless to say, the boys went nuts.  It's an all-out soccer tournament here all day long.  Dustin, the camera guy from Fox 61 left this morning with Sarah French, Sara O, and Joannie and surprised Gayepaye by videotaping them playing soccer and making a short video out of it and uploading it onto Gayepaye's computer.  He was so psyched, he must have watched it 30 times this morning.  Thank you Dustin.  That was incredibly thoughtful and brought a huge smile to all the boy's faces.

It torrential down-poured late afternoon in the middle of med clinics, and I decided it would be the perfect time to do an outdoor shower in the rain again.  Since there are so many people here, we can only shower every other day, but on my day off there always seems to be a hard-core rain shower in the late afternoon.  The rain was so strong I was able to wash and condition my hair...and for all of you that know me..I have a lot of hair.  It's now about 9pm and I'm laying out in the rope hammock.  My cloth one is drenched, and Sarah left this one here.  Unless it starts raining again, I'm staying out here on the damp hammock because that pool raft in the medical closet is brutal :)

Tomorrow we have the day off and are going to Kaliko Beach, leaving at 5am.  I am really looking forward to a day of relaxing and just spending some quality time with my good friends here.