Day 11

This is Yvener and Charite. Both men are victims of the earth quake.

Charite lost his leg and his home. Upon losing his leg, his wife and kids left him. He says that his wife no longer thought of him as a whole man, without his leg, and left him. She thought there would be no way he could provide for a family.

Charite has been homeless ever since. Today, Charite made leaps and bounds in his progress. For a while he has been plagued by limb issues. But today was like a new day. Suzanne, Yvener and I worked with him for quite a while. You can see from the pic, that we brought him up to the tennis court. Here we did more dynamic stuff.

It is funny that we use the tennis court, because to get there you have to walk about 100meters up a rocky dirt road. Haiti is one huge, rocky dirt road. It is not a tennis court. Still he marched around and we would bark orders at him, so he could test and trust his leg. "Speed up, slow down, speed up again". "Turn, climb over the net"
Suzanne grabbed his hands so he could mimic her movements...grapevine left, grapevine right, forward and back.

Yvener was really excited. We took a picture of Charite to send to Mrs. Mellon. Yvener said that she is the one who found Charite and brought him to the hospital., that she would be really excited to see how well he is doing.

Yvener is not 18 like I guessed the other day. He is 20. He lost both parents and a sister in the earth quake.

Last night Yvener came by the house after work, to visit. Vern had said that he wanted to share some red wine with his boss. Yvener is a great kid. He really cares for the people in the clinic and the patients that come there. As we shared a few drinks, we talked about Yveners family.

Yvener is from Port au Prince. Before the earth quake he had his parents, 2 sisters and a brother. They lived in what Yvener describes as a middle class apartment, on the 3rd floor, over a store. His father coordinated drivers/ chauffeurs for the airport, working very long days and weekends. His mother was a seamstress. The sister that died was in medical school, at the time.

When the earth quake struck, Yvener was outside, sitting on the stoop with friends, hanging out after school. He remembers clearly running toward the street and looking back at the building he lived in. He could see it literally falling down, as the ground gave way behind it. He said there was dust everywhere, nearly blinding for a little while.

After the earth quake, buses would come through the area, Yvener said, to take people to hospitals in out lying communities. For five days he did not get on one, because he was uninjured, and all around him were hurt people.

Yvener remembers crawling through he rubble, searching for his family. Around day 2 or 3 he found his sisters leg. He knew it was hers because of how she liked her nails done(pedicure). He said he stay there for a long time, just hugging her leg.

Yvener was closest to this sister. He is the youngest. She was the oldest.

"I didn't eat for 5 days. I was so skinny. When I finally get on a bus and I cannot even stand. I just fall on the floor and they poor some water on me."

Before we knew what had happened, it was 7pm. Madame Bebe had already left. Dinner was nearly cold on the table. Janet offered for Yvener to stay and share with us, and he did.

Today, Yvener lives in Virete, a neighboring town to Deschapelles. He stays with friends there. He is nearly estranged from his living sister and brother, as he says he never really felt close with them. They never really talked to him, they said.

As we talked, I kept looking for hints of emotion from Yvener. He wasn't flat. But he wasn't emotional. He says he is ok with everything. He also says that he drinks a lot of beer in coping.

Since June, Yvener has worked as an interpreter for the clinic. His English is very good. In the coming year, he is hoping to go to school for IT.

Yvener, like many of the people in the clinic are good, honest Haitians. I knew they were here, somewhere. They don't ask us for handouts or money. What they need is our help and guidance so that they can learn to care better for themselves.

Bon nuit

P.S. Yvener says I spell it wrong...it is Chov Blanc...not Chev

Chov blanc
PDA