Day 7

Everyone says, you need to take the sunrise hike, at least once while in Haiti. The hike is up to the top of a hill/mountain. I don't know if there is a name for the hill, but it overlooks the Artibonite river valley.

Today was our morning. Some PTs and RNs came to our door for 5am. And we began walking...The walk started, simply trudging up a dark main street here in the village. Mind you, the streets here are dirt, rocky, loose, slippery and footing is uneasy. As we trudged we were joined by streams of people making their daily journey, buckets and pots on their heads, kids in tow, up to the well/ spout where the town's water flows...at the same intervals as at our house.

As we passed the well, much of the crowd diminished to stay by the well. Our path was narrowing to a single track, but oddly we still had 6-8 Haitian children with us. It was kind of surreal. I didn't know what to make of it. It felt kind of like Rocky Balboa climbing the steps in Philly, or ET leading a band of kids through the air on bikes. They wanted to touch us, hold our arms and hands. Within 2 minutes I found myself holding the hands of 2 Haitian girls. They pushed and pulled on me as we worked our way up the rocky hill. The kids spoke Kreole to us but also repeatedly asked our names, in English...probably the only words they knew in English. For some people, they gestured at watches and cell phones. It was hard to tell if they were begging for them like money, or just wanting to play.
These kids had either no shoes on or simple flip-flops or thongs. At least 6 times, I saved the girl on my left hand from slipping and falling.

Still, they journeyed with us to the top. At the top there were no trees, just some tall grasses and rock formations. 2 older women were already up there, sitting on an east facing bluff, praying and singing.

The sunrise was great. The kids love getting their pictures taken.
The people in the big group photo, going from Left to Right are Deb, APRN from Philly, Me, next row, Shawn, RPT from Canada, Janet APRN + wife of Ma-boss Vern, Brendan for Ocala, FL. Claire, RPT from South Afrikan but lives in Scotland and Suzanne, Ph D-RPT from Minnesota. Teaches @ St. Kitt

Vern's wife Janet, spent the whole day at the hospital, again. Starting IV's, changing bed pans and keeping people drinking. She and another RN, Jill from Boston, have been real troopers. I haven't seen it yet, but I understand the hospital is not a fun place to be.

The cholera continues to be a problem, but it does not seem to have gotten much worse. The good thing is that it is very treatable if caught. The patients usually die of dehydration, so they just need to drink and replace electrolytes.

My buddy, Brendan, leaves tonight @ 4:30am. We went down so he could sign the wall in the clinic, tonight. I know he hates to leave, but I also feel quite certain that he will be back.

Parl de men
Chev Blanc
PDA