More on Haiti

Now that I have been home for awhile I think I would like to post a little more on my trip to Haiti. Going to a Third World Country was much different than I thought it would be. To think back, I'm not sure what I expected, but it was an experience like none other.

This is the President's house in Port Au Prince, (looks a little familiar--White House?)

And these are the scenes a few streets away, it doesn't even look like the same city.

At times the people we treated were somewhat demanding. But as one on my fellow team members later said, "If I thought I would have one opportunity in a year, or maybe even several years to have my child seen by a doctor, I would probably be pushy and demanding"
I think I probably would too.

The days went by quickly and we saw between 125-300 people every day. We would say we opened at 700 am, but by 600 people were waiting and we ate a little breakfast and started early. We ususally kept going until it was too dark to see, the only exceptions were our trip to the beach and the day we left.

It was physically harder than I anticipated, but the views were so breath taking. Hiking down to the village was a longer hike that I thought it would be, but I did it!!

This was the view which greeted my friend as she attempted to use the latrine--yes it is a triantula. It was such a place of beauty, all kinds of exotic flowers I had never seen, and facinating people.But one of the hardest things was the lack of sleep, usually about 4 hours a night. It was extremely hot at night and mosquito nets and snoring didn't add to my ability to rest.

It was a life changing experience for me, one I will always be greatful I had, and one I will remember. One of my favorite times there was when I was able to swim in the ocean, relax in the caressing of the waves and feel clean after 3 days with no shower.I will admit when the week was over, I was ready to go home.

Here we are after hiking out and waiting for the bus to take us back to Port au Prince.