Monkey Brain Musings

I've been burning the candle at both ends...yet again...but for good reason. I just spent a week at Denver Children's Hospital, getting Fetal Echo training, which was amazing! It's going to take a lot of extra work and time on my end, but I am really excited about it. Every time I have the opportunity to learn something new, I can't help but think about how I will be able to use my new skills for future trips. In the mean time, I still have a couple hundred photos to sort through, and share, so I'll get back to the task at hand... On my first evening back in Terre Blanche, I wrote about the women cooking for the attendees of the Medical Conference. I'll be sharing those photos, as well as a few others, from the women who set up cooking stalls during the week of clinics. Here is the blog I wrote, with the photos below. Enjoy, thanks for listening, and I will try to share more soon! :) (From 2/20) I just took a quick blog break to go on a mini walkabout. Some o...

I'm still sorting through photographs...over 1,000 photographs, to be more specific. I'm not sure how I managed to take that many photos, and I can't imagine how many I would have taken if I hadn't been working in the clinic! Going through my pictures gives me a chance to remember everything that I love about Terre Blanche and Haiti. On the last day of clinics, a group of us went to the Terre Blanche market at the end of town. The translators went with us, and acted as financial advisors, which was great fun. There is often a mark up for "Blancs", which most of us didn't really mind, however the translators were very protective of us and wanted to make sure we got a fair deal. Vendors sell everything from produce, meat and other food items, to school supplies, shoes, and toiletries. A couple of the women even bought machetes...who doesn't need a machete? Enjoy the photographs...

Here's a recap about the School Lunch Program at the Terre Blanche school, with photos, of course! When Joe and Linda's church first became involved with Terre Blanche, they started a school lunch program that fed about 65 students. This ensured that the children who came to school would have, at least, one good meal a day. This program has expanded greatly, is now run by a group of local women, and feeds over 1,000 students a day. Initially, many of the children were sent to school for the sake of the meal. Thanks to the expansion of the school, and a community health program, the children are a lot healthier now and seek a better education. The women cook large pots of rice and beans, setting out plates of food on picnic tables, in the school kitchen area. When a group is finished eating, they quickly wash the plates and set up for the next group. Lunch starts  at 10:30am , and the youngest children eat first. The children must first wash their hands, they rush into the lu...

While the team and I were waiting for Church to begin, on our first Sunday in Terre Blanche, a Ra Ra band came through town. Here is what I wrote at the time... While we were waiting for church to begin, we had a rare treat, a Ra Ra band came through town. Ra Ra bands are voodoo followers, who parade around playing loud music to "distract" the Christians. In Port au Prince, these bands are sometimes accompanied by scantily (or not at all) dressed women ... Now, that's distracting! Janan, who has been coming to Terre Blanche for over 10 years, has never seen a Ra Ra band come through town. The drums were painted red and blue, appropriate voodoo colors, some of the men were playing large, PVC pipes, and the horns were long metal tubes with funnels welded to the ends. There were also metal, welded "maracas" and a boy carrying a large symbol over his shoulder while another boy banged on it with a drumstick. The band marched and played through town, stopping in fro...