A Few Quick Updates

Updates…

First an update to the blog titled “Answered Prayers”. So Friday October 10th came around…so did 2:00. Two o’clock is when we were supposed to leave. We were to be in Port-au-Prince by 3:00…although it was not too far away, I knew it would take an hour at least to get there. But I also knew there was no way we would leave on time….leaving “on time” has no meaning here in Haiti. Everyone here runs on “Haiti time”…anyone who has been here before completely understands what I mean. The clinic car…the only one we have here…left around 10 that morning in an emergency to take a baby and the mom to a hospital. At 2:30, the car still had not arrived back at the clinic. As the medical director called the driver…and called again and again with no response, he finally flagged down a tap tap (public transportation) that had come onto the compound. The driver of the tap tap said he would take us for 1,000 gourdes (equivalent of ~$20)…a short tap tap ride is 5 gourdes and the most I have paid for a tap tap is 15 gourdes. So 1,000 gourds is completely outrageous. As the medical director and now the logistics coordinator argued/negotiated/discussed with the tap tap driver, the clinic car finally arrived. So we loaded up and off we went to Port-au-Prince around 2:45…remember we were supposed to be there by 3….but don’t worry the person we were meeting was also running late - “hatian time”, ha! Anyway, so we finally arrived at our destination. The person we were meeting immediately led us up a staircase to the roof….this stair case had no railing and it was pretty much just floating in the air. Not only did it not have railings but it had rebar sticking out from each step in multiple places. This is not uncommon here; however it was a little unsettling, especially after I realized that we would be carrying wheelchairs up/down these stairs. Once we reached the roof, Dawn opened up the doors to a shed and right there before our eyes was wheelchair heaven. Hundreds of wheelchairs…yes, they were literally piled on top of each other; however there were SO MANY chairs!!! Nice chairs…chairs you cannot find easily in Haiti…chairs that we now had access to….amazing.

One chair down the stairs. Too big. One chair back up the stairs. A second one down the stairs. Too small. A second one back up the stairs. A third one down the stairs. Something just wasn’t right. A third one back up the stairs. A fourth one down the stairs. Perfect. The fourth one was the best fit for him. He was comfortable in the fourth one and the fourth had a lot of options to adjust to make it just right for him. 

So we loaded up the chair into the car and we headed back to the compound. He finally had a chair and his mom finally does not have to carry him everywhere they go. All in all, it was a successful 5 hour journey. 

Second:

An update on the blog titled, “A Story About A Girl”. Progress. Connection. Love. Those are the words that first come to mind when thinking of this particular patient (I will call her DJ). DJ has made DRASTIC progress. It was brought to my attention shortly after I posted the original post that DJ’s grandma wanted to give DJ away…she was tired and exhausted and she felt that she just could not handle DJ any more. DJ’s grandma wanted ME to take her. She wanted me to take DJ and raise her as my own. Obviously, this is not an option for many reasons, but the main one being DJ has a family and she needs to stay with her family….
DJ and I have made an unbreakable connection which is good and bad. It is good because now she trusts me and she listens to me and we have a ball of fun together. It is bad because I am leaving. As I move on to the next adventures God has in store for me, I am leaving her behind. It may sound harsh, but it is the truth. I am leaving her behind and she may never know why I left her. Just last week when she came to therapy, she was 30 minutes early so her grandma was walking her past the clinic doors to head to a bench to sit outside while waiting until her appointment time. However, DJ refused to continue to walk past the door. She stopped right in the doorway. Spotted me from across the room and with a big smile on her face reached out her arm as she wanted me to come get her to work. I walked over to her and explained to her she had to wait for 30 minutes and then I would come get her…with a little struggle she complied. Two o’clock rolled around and I walked out to get DJ. She jumped up grabbed her stuff, handed it to her grandma, grabbed my hand, and walked into the clinic. She immediately sat down, took her shoes off, and waited for me to give her a direction. PROGRESS!!! CONNECTION!!!! I was so excited. But then I was overwhelmed with a feeling of sadness as it was then that I realized I would be leaving her. She was so excited to see me…and in just two short weeks, she will be left to wonder where I am. After another AMAZING session with DJ, I took her out to her grandma. I explained how well DJ did during therapy. As the grandma listened, she looked at me and with a HUGE smile on her face said that she is doing a little better at home. Then she said many times “thank you”, “thank you for coming to Haiti”, “thank you to your parents”, etc., etc., etc. It was then that I realized, grandma wasn’t as exhausted as she used to be and grandma wasn’t as defeated as she used to be. DJ’s grandma was proud of DJ…very possibly for the first time ever. And as I watched them walk away to get a moto, I realized that I would be leaving her behind, but her grandma is here to stay. LOVE!!! 
Progress. Connection. Love. 

Check back for further updates very very SOON!!!!!