Haiti Journal – May 29 – Fondwa – Morning
Continuing with the description of the trip to Fondwa, there are a number of UN encampments around. I found the sight of the blue helmets somewhat soothing, although the locals seem to regard them as useless.
We stopped to visit the new home that our friend the doctor in Leogane is building. It’s a small complex, maybe 3 or 4 acres, with a high wall surrounding it. He’s building 3 houses. Apparently, his house was nearly complete when someone stole the roofing material and set everything back.
Fondwa is another 45 minutes into the mountains, on a pretty well maintained road. Apparently the resorts frequented by the billionaires are past here, so the road gets lots of attention.
Many (most) buildings in Haiti are made out of rebar and cinder block. These people start with 1/4″ and 1/8″ metal rods and a pile of concrete, and simply build buildings. The rebar is always left sticking out of the top of the roof in case they want to add another story later. This gives everything an unfinished look.
Fondwa is a small mountain farming community. The bus stopped at a turn out in the road, and we walked about a mile in, down a hallaciously steep and barely paved road. We’re staying at the guest house, which was built by the Association of Fondwa Peasants.
Haiti Journal – May 29 – Fondwa – Post Clinic
Clinic was pretty intense. I worked in the pharmacy, where I had this constant fear of giving the wrong dose and killing some kid. Actually, the dosage was pretty simple. The trick was in making sure that the correct meds got to the correct people.
We saw about 108 people today. Most of them were kids from the school & orphanage. Because of the thunderstorm last night, we heard that the trails were really slick, so may people couldn’t make it. Hopefully tomorrow will be bigger.
I feel that I have transitioned from having no idea about the problems here to having no idea what to do about them. We spent a whole day throwing pills at people. We de-wormed and treated scabies on a whole school full of kids. The coughing ones got cough syrup. They all got vitamins. All this will still be true 6 months from now.
Last night there was a mother’s day party, and the whole town was up at the pavillion by our place, dancing & singing. Michelle (in our group) commented to me that she never sees Americans so joyful. It’s true, we’re too proud, or too important to simply sing, dance, and love our mothers.
They killed a goat for us for lunch. We could hear the thing screaming as they dragged it to the spot. On the other and, our coffee this morning came from the trees around us, and my mango was the best I’ve ever eaten.
redmed saw one woman today who was actually on birth control. All hail Depo.
Haiti Journal – May 29 – Fondwa – Evening
One lady came in late to clinic. She had a temperature of 103 and had walked an hour to get there. Jen called it Malaria. She started to leave, after resting a few hours, and Craig got up to go with her, clearly intending to walk all the way home with her if needed. Some relatives met her a ways up the hill. Jen and I accompanied Craig and had a nice talk. He’s in medical anthropology.
Apparently, Jen outed me to the other docs today: She revealed that I’m carrying not a bible, but the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Kathy and Carrie were chill. I’m pretty sure that John, Elizabeth, Jen, and Linda would not be. No read yet on Sticha or Chemi.
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