Home from Haiti

Wow--I can't believe all the experiences I've had in the last week, I'm sure different things will continue to come to mind as I process everthing that happened. First of all, I was with a wonderful group of nurses and doctors whose only desire was to be of service to the Haitian people. We accomplished some great things, but the need is so great in Haiti, it feels like one drop in a huge bucket. But as one of my fellow nurses said, "our drop along with many other drops can make a difference.

In my experience Haiti is a land of contradictions, the cities are fithly, full of garbage, smoke and a mass of humanity. But the people themselves are very clean and well dressed. They wear clothes donated from the United States, with all manner of American t-shirts, but they don't know what they wear. For instance a boy wearing a t-shirt that says "girls rule".

The people we met stayed with were kind and gracious to us, but the first night we arrived there was a riot right outside the house we stayed in, we heard it coming for about 10 minutes, then shouting and glass smashing right outside the home we were in, then it moved on down the street. Our hosts assured us it was a drunken party, but it sure scared us and made us wonder if we had made a good decision in coming.
As awful as the cities are, the country is very beautiful, as is the coast. But the Hatian people do not use the coastline as recreation. In fact on the afternoon we went swimming in the ocean, we were the only people on the beach. When a people has trouble meeting their basic needs of food , safety and shelter, they have no thought of leisure.
The highlights of my trip were teaching the Haitian midwives about neonatal resusitation, they were excited to learn what I had to offer. One midwife named Idemer Revol stated, "we finally found a delegation that's helping us", another, Odette Etienne said, "what a beautiful thing, you are saving Haiti."

I also loved being around the children, all children are beautiful and innocent, and one of the highlights of my day was getting them to smile.

I am grateful for this experiece I've had, and even more grateful to be back in America. In all the challenges we currently face in this country, we are so blessed to live here and we should appreciate all the things we take for granted, such as electricity that works 24/7, indoor plumbing, refridgeration, ice and cold safe drinking water, safety in walking the streets, garbage pickups and clean streets and the ability to reach out and help other countries not as fortunate as we are, I thank those of you who donated goods or money to help me in my efforts to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves, may God bless you for your efforts, and thanks again.

Linda