Haitian thoughts.

Here’s a few vignettes from Haiti:

1)

We were out on the beach, enjoying a half day’s rest and relaxation after several days of clinic. We had secured a table and a bunch of grilled fish, rice, beans, and Pickliz (spicy coleslaw). As we finished up, there were two kinds of beings begging for our scraps: dogs and children.

One of the group members wept when he realized that his first instinct was to shoo the kids away, and give the scraps to the dogs.

2)

We saw a woman with what we thought was appendicitis. For the uninitiated, appendicitis is amazingly painful, and can easily be lethal if untreated. My dad gave very specific instructions that she go to the hospital, immediately, because her life was in danger.

Perhaps half an hour later, we realized that she was still lingering by the clinic. We figured out that the problem was that nobody had the money for transportation (perhaps $20 by private vehicle). As soon as we said “we’ll pay! just go!” then things started to happen. Just being in mortal danger isn’t enough.

We watched her ride up the first stretch of the hill, to the paved road, on the back of a donkey.

3)

There was a little boy, maybe 10 years old, who had cut off his left index finger with a machete, two days prior to our arrival. It was clean and well tended, but he’s definitely not growing it back. We had some toys with us, and we decided to give him a soccer ball and a pump.

Later, in the evening, there was some concern about whether this would cause a rash of finger-cutting-off. We were only partially kidding. Soccer balls are hard to find out there.