Monkey Brain Musings

What a week! While in Haiti, I managed to secure my next travel job, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This job is with a new company, which means a lot more initial paperwork, so I had to hit the ground running. I got home late Monday night, well actually Tuesday morning, and spent most of Tuesday with a foggy brain. By the end of Thursday, I had completed a 17 part orientation module for the hospital, packed almost all of my stuff, made multiple runs to the storage unit, had a physical exam and TB test, and completed a number of forms for the new company. On Friday, I celebrated my 51st birthday! YEAY for birthdays! :) I spent the day with my folks and my friend Carl, from the Haiti trip, hosted a wonderful dinner party. Today, I packed up the car, ran a few more errands, including one last trip to the storage unit, had a late lunch with another friend, and now I'm waiting for my phone to charge, so I can download some audio books for my road trip. Unfortunately, I won't be taking my...

There is always a dilemma when I return to Haiti... what do I bring as gifts? This is more complicated than it seems. Many of us have forged friendships with the people we see in Terre Blanche, we certainly have a deep affection for the village, as a whole. We want to bring gifts for the people we care about, and especially for the children, but there is a lot to consider. There is something to be said for giving someone a gift that is ornamental, as well as practical. I'm a gift-giver, and even small presents show someone that you're thinking of them. I want to give them something that makes them joyful, but in a developing country like Haiti, I also want to be respectful of the financial and environmental impact my gift may have. Practical gifts, like shoes, can be bought by local vendors, which also helps the vendor make a living. And how do you think about presents, when people are not getting enough food on a daily basis? Part of the funds raised for each trip, ...

Wrapping up the trip... Thursday… I slept well, thanks to the miracle of Benadryl. It’s the afternoon break, and most of the group has gone over to see the Te Foyer. I’ve been thinking about the differences and similarities of my three trips to Terre Blanche. This team has been fun for me, because about half of the people are new to me and the other half I know. Many of us have been to TB several times, but we haven’t necessarily been on the same Teams. There are 8 of us sharing the women’s dorm room, ranging from our 30s to 70s, 3 of whom I already knew from my 2 prior trips. There is a husband and wife team, staying in an extra room, Linda and Joe have their room, and 6 men in the other dorm room. It’s always a gamble, throwing together a group of people in close quarters, and expecting them to work and live together for almost 2 weeks. Carl, a nurse from my trip 2 years ago, had become one of my closest friends and I love being on this trip with her. Katie, also a nurse and a...

More thoughts from the trip... Sunday, March 5 There was a demonstration on the road to PAP on Friday, which delayed the ambulance taking Dieunelson to the hospital. He died during, or shortly after, surgery. The news of our sick little boy was heartbreaking, and a rough way to start the day. Haitians deal with death on a daily basis. This is not an exaggeration. Dieunelson was lucky he had a clinic his family could take him to. He was lucky there was a Pediatrician and ER Physician and Sonographer available to make such a rapid diagnosis. He was lucky that Pastor Delamy is so committed to his people that he made multiple phone calls to get him to the nearest hospital, and called in multiple favors to get him an ambulance ride into PAP. He died anyway, which is a hard pill for us to swallow, but so many Haitians are not as lucky as he was. This is what we talk about, when we are crying over our first patient of the week, and we know we have hundreds more to treat. ...