Wednesday work and adventure

Today we only worked a half day in the clinic. Dr Braam stepped out in style this morning bringing much laughter and many comments.

 

Lovin' the babies

 

  Another steady stream of people came with a variety of needs. One of the more unusual cases today was a minor surgery that Dr Braam was able to do with the help of a couple of the nurses and Dakota helped hold things in place and found it an interesting learning experience to say the least! The procedure went smoothly and soon the lady was up and on her way. Dr. Dennis and his assistants, Elva and Teresa are getting a bit of a system working and were able to see 9 patients before lunch today.

Lynnise consulting with Pharmacist Dave

After lunch some of the team headed out to the market to do a bit of exploring. After a sweaty walk on a path shared by people, animals and motorbikes we reached a busy highway we had to cross. Our interpreter watched for a break in traffic and then hustled us across the road. Pedestrians are the bottom of the totem pole and yield to everything, vehicles, goats, bikes, wheelbarrows,  women with large loads on their heads and portable pharmacies carried with ease on ones head.  After a quick stop at the ‘bank’ to exchange some money into Haitian dollars we were on our way thru the winding paths. Clothes laid out on the ground, beans and rice in gunny sacks, fish, beef, housewares, to name a few of the buying options. We stopped at the bakery to enjoy some fresh buns just out the oven. One American dollar bought a nice size bag of buns.  A little farther along we found  a lady frying donut holes that she squashed flat between 2 short pieces of wood and then fried them. We bought a few of those to samples...we will just say…they were nothing like timbits!

We bought fresh buns here and enjoyed the snack.

 As we meandered back through town we came across a shack that was broadcasting LOUDLY thru the streets. Curiousity had us stick our heads in to see what was going on, and there was a soccer game on a 24” color tv and it seemed to be the local sports bar with rows of chairs set up with spectators.  A bit farther along we came across Dr Vava, the dentist who had helped us out yesterday in the clinic. Dennis was invited to go in and get a brief tour of his office.  By the time we got back to Haiti arise property, our feet were ready for a rest and we were HOT! This Haitian sun packs a punch…HOT HOT HOT!!

After a turkey supper and of course a juicy mango, Dakota and I are sitting on the roof enjoying a cool breeze and listening to the trees rustle in the wind and the crickets  chirping their background music. It has been another great day. We all remain in good health and are thankful for this opportunity to be here.  By days end we are all exhausted and find our beds pretty early.

We have learned that comments to this blog need to be sent by a computer connection and a phone connection doesn't seem to work for those having trouble posting.

Elva and Dakota