Have arrived in Jacmel

Enjoying the luxuries this morning! Sleeping on a real bed without being suffocated under a bug net. Hmmmm! We really are lucky to be Canadian! I think that the last three days at ile-a-vache has definitely given me perspective! So lucky to have had the opportunity! This morning i can hear the waves crashing as I lay here at the Cyvadier hotel in Jacmel. Funny - as we stepped off the airplane in Jacmel, I immediately felt at home! This is my favorite place in Haiti. Today we have the day off and plan to spend part of it at Kabik beach. Looking forward to being at Pazapa for the week and seeing all my little speech munchki s again! Happy and lucky to be living this experience!

En route to Jacmel

Spent the last evening at Kay Damien having movie night with the local family where we were staying! I must say, that staying at a Haitian house,was a different experience! I learned that I can "rough" it - and by roughing it, i mean that it was like going to a camp where you have to go outside in the middle of the night to go to the washroom... having said that, Kay Damien was a very lovely house and had running water and a toilet that flushed - more than most Haitians... so my "roughing it" really wasn't roughing it! It was hot and even hotter under the mosquito nets... every night it rained and rained hard! We were lucky to have a roof over our heads - again - this is more than many Haitians have. The best part... watching the sunrise while the roosters crowed and all the other animals were saying good morning. This morning - we awoke to the sounds of drums as one kid said "lwa" (vodoo ceremony). We stopped by the orphanage on the way down the hill to say goodbye! Enrico managed to keep it together "fairly" well... he promised to study hard at school and show off his intelligence when I come back next year! (there were still crocodile tears though). Currently sitting at Cayes airport awaiting our flight to Jacmel. Looking forward to being able to unpack and "organize" myself a little! Looking forward to seeing everyone in Jacmel! Bon bagay!

Hard at work in Haiti

Arrived in Haiti on Saturday morning... as usual, travelling to Haiti is never without some adventures... Michele got re-routed from LAX to JFK before arriving into Haiti later than expected because of the events which took place at LAX on Friday. When Nam, Adrian and I arrived at FLL airport to come to Haiti, it had been evacuated!!! After an hour, we were allowed back in and the people at American Airlines were super efficient and got us in the air with only a 20 minute delay! We enjoyed a day of R&R at Club Indigo where we met some UN workers from Canada, Brazil and Argentina. We left bright and early on Monday morning for HUM in Mirebalais. Lovely new facility with lovely people! We offered workshops on all things stroke - including communication, dysphagia and positionning/transfers. There were over 30 pariticipants including MDs, RNs and therapists. We drove back down the mountain and back to Port-au-Prince and after we were stuck in traffic for 2 hours to move 6kms... we managed to go to Montana for a lovely dinner. We were up and at 'em bright and early on Tuesday morning and took a small 5 passenger airplane over the mountains to Les Cayes... of course - nothing is easy for us, so we were way over weight and had to frantically move things around in our bags and ended up having to leave 2 bags behind! On Tuesday and Wednesday, we taught at MTI in Les Cayes. Once again - all things stroke including pathophysiology, communication, dysphagia and positionning/transfer/posture. Participapnts here included MDs, RNs and therapists. The group was very engaged and participated very well througout. We were also able to assess and provide therapy/techniques for 3 stroke patients, and our P&O tech provided some training and education to their P&O tech. Wednesday afternoon saw us hop on a little motor boat where we outran a storm the whole way over... again - because travelling is always an adventure for us, we took on some passengers from another boat that was way to full... always scary to see scared Haitians jumping from one boat to another! But all were safe! We arrived at Ile-a-Vache where we were greeted by Damien from Ireland. We made our first stop at Ile-a-Vache's own Irish Pub (really this is a little square, with a tin roof and caution tape as walls - but they have cold beer. We hiked up the hill to Damien's house and watched movies under the stars with the local kids and adults! This was the first time any of us have stayed at Damien's... he has a breathtaking view... but... very warm under the bug nets... even enjoyed the cold shower in the morning!!! We are at the orphanage right now, Michele, Nam and Adrian are working with the therapists, and I'm sitting in on the classroom for 9 kids...I'm so very impressed with the teacher and the kids!!! They were all happy to see me - which is always a nice feeling! We'll be here for the next day and a half - then we take a boat back to the mainland, and then hopper over the mountains to Jacmel. Happy to be here!!!

One more sleep!

As all the little ghosts and goblins were out trick or treating tonight, I was packing, unpacking, re-packing, shuffling things from one bag to another... Packing for Haiti is always part science, part art and part luck!

Managed to get most everything I wanted to get into my bags... but had to leave some things behind... they'll make it next time I go!

I must say that this afternoon departure is much more civilized than having to get up at 3am to leave, which is what we usually do when we travel on Tuesdays!  Note to self - Friday departures are a good thing... although... there will be a 3am wake up in Fort Lauderdale so we can catch our flight to Port-au-Prince on Saturday morning!!! At least it'll just be a 2 hour flight and not a whole day's journey!

Looking forward to seeing my teammates! Looking forward to seeing my dear friend Gail, who began her journey back to Haiti today from Portland! Looking forward to seeing Haiti again and all that she teaches me!!!

Stay tuned for updates!

Na pale pita!
Karen

Haiti November 1-19, 2013

Haiti November 1-19, 2013

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog, and I felt it was time to do so again.

There have been a few trips to Haiti since my last post in November 2011.  I was in Haiti in November 2012 with a group of 10 people from Team Canada Healing Hands TCHH where we worked at Ile-à-Vache and Jacmel.

I returned solo in May 2013 where I spent 2 weeks in Jacmel working at Pazapa re-assessing and providing new goals of therapy for the kids requiring Speech and Language Therapy.  The first week, saw me continuing with the practical component of the Communication Disorders Assistant that we are training in Haiti, and the second week was focused on the teachers and kids at Pazapa.  Being in Haiti solo was definitely a different experience, and one which allowed me to do more in-dept SLP stuff.

I am once again getting ready to return to the country that has definitely become a huge part of my life.

A small, but mighty team of 4 will be leaving for Haiti on November 1st.  We have an RN, a PT and a P&O tech.  This trip will be another new experience for me and us.  

After we've all taken a day to recuperate from our crazy busy lives in Canada, we will be heading to Mirebalais, where we will be teaching Stroke Education at the Partner's in Health Hôpital Universitaire Mirebalais HUM. This is an acute inpatient setting, where we will providing training to MDs, RNs, and therapists. I'm very much looking forward to being there and having this opportunity to partner with a new organization and helping create sustainable rehabilitation for those living and working with stroke.

After a full day in Mirebalais, we will return to Port-au-Prince and organize ourselves for our short flight to the south-west of the country.  Here we will be teaching Stroke education at Medical Teams International - Haiti Advantage Program HAP, another new partnership for my team. Here we will be helping develop sustainable outpatient rehabilitation services for those living with Stroke in the community as well as working with the local P&O technicians to create prosthetics and orthotics.

After 2 days of training and working at the P&O clinic at HAP, we will hop on a boat and travel to Ile-à-Vache where we will be working at the Orphelinat St. François where we have been providing training and education to the teacher and therapists who work with children with disabilities.

After 2 days there, we hop back on a boat and onto a plane for a short flight to Jacmel where we will spend the next week working at Pazapa.  A school for children living with disabilities.  Here we will be working with the teachers in order to re-assess the children and provide them with new goals of therapy.  We will also be doing home visits and outreach clinics in the surrounding communities.  On Saturday, we will be providing a workshop on developmental disabilities to the teachers of the school.  Our RN will be partnering with Friends of the Children of Haiti FOTCOH for a couple of days.

After 2 full weeks of work, we will be heading back to Port-au-Prince to do a little promotion of local economy and hopefully find some lovely treasures at Artisan's Business Network ABN and the Iron Village at Croix-des-Bouquets.

The team will return to Canada on the Monday and Tuesday.

Stay tuned for posts from Haiti!

One last thing - if you feel so inclined, click here to make a donation to support me in my quest to help Haiti develop a sustainable rehabilitation system.

Mesi anpil e na pale byento!

Karen
 

Back in Canada

The team made it back to Canada safely - despite a bit of a gong show at the airport in Port-au-Prince! Never ceases to amaze me the confusion and chaos there - yet I look upon it nostalgically now!!!  We were delayed leaving PAP and therefore missed my flight from Montreal to Ottawa, but thankfully there was a later flight which I was able to get on!  Made for a very long day...

People were looking at me a little strange walking around in flip flops in -2C weather...lol!
Woke up bright and early this morning to a newly fallen snow... was so not prepared for that! All I could think of was "I'm not in Haiti anymore!".

I miss Haiti already and can't wait to go back...

It was a GREAT trip with a GREAT team who did GREAT work and who experienced some GREAT social and cultural events.  I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to live this life and this experience!

I am sad that I won't be there for another year now... who knows what will happen between now and then!

Until then... bon bagay! (I will try to post some pics soon)

K.

Back in Port-au-Prince!

We made it back to Port-au-Prince in good time! Two and a half hours to get over the mountains with a small house (gear) on top of our van! Hero was a wonderful driver and we felt completely safe with him - always a good thing!

Spent the day at Kabik beach yesterday - body surfing and then eating fresh caught seafood overlooking the ocean was wonderful! Managed to purchase a few more things too! (big surprise!)  Was sad to leave Jacmel - Mwen fou pou ou Jakmel... mwen fou pou ou!

Tonight is a relaxed evening - had supper at the Guesthouse, some of us are blogging, some of us are playing Sultan of Katan...not sure what that game's all about - the extent of my game playing is Rummikube!

Tomorrow - we will spend time promoting Haitian economy and artists... yes - shopping is on the agenda! I will be assessing a kiddo tomorrow, but the day's plan is to shop then write report!

Really don't want to be heading back...but...must get back to reality soon!  Until then - I will enjoy the next couple of days in the Capital!

Bon bagay!
K.