Dear friends and family,
I hope you are all doing well. I have finally conceded
defeat and started a blog to post updates on Haiti for whoever might be
interested in how I’m doing. I actually didn’t start the blog, my wonderful girlfriend
Kayla took the initiative and got it running and deserves most all the credit
for anything that you will view here. Sadly she opted not to incorporate my
suggestion for the title of the blog, “Slothing About Haiti.”
Life in Haiti has been really quite nice so far.
Port-au-Prince has lots of amenities and luxuries that you find in any
developed country, so you don’t have to worry about me suffering. My apartment
is also really nice and even has an AC unit that works every now and again! As
for tarantulas and scorpions, I have yet to see any, thanks to the sweet baby
Jesus.
On Friday afternoon I made a trip with our Country Director,
Eleonore, out to Canaan, a temporary resettlement community for people who lost
their homes in the 2010 earthquake. Estimates vary on the population of Canaan,
ranging from 90,000 to potentially 120,000, and the community sprawls out over
multiple hillsides. A lot of people live in old USAID or UN tents from their
former homes in tent cities, or have built temporary houses out of an
assortment of materials. MTI has been running a clinic staffed with Haitian
nurses in Canaan in partnership with a local church, who will hopefully take
over sole management of the clinic at some point in the near future. One of
MTI’s major projects over the next year will be doing a thorough assessment of Canaan’s
community health needs and implementing community health initiatives there.
This upcoming Saturday I will host my first volunteer
medical team, one of the primary responsibilities of my position with MTI. We’ll
be headed to Beraca Hospital in northern Haiti, a hospital that we frequently
sent patients to from the clinic in Passe Catabois. MTI works with Beraca to
train staff there and help them acquire additional skills. I plan on reporting
all about it when I get back to Port au Prince in a couple of weeks.
That’s all I have for you at this point, hopefully its an
adequate introduction to my work here. More updates will be coming soon I
promise. I miss all of my friends and family and am very grateful for the
support I continually receive even while in Haiti. Peace and love to you.
