Hi all,
Thanks for all your support and emails. It really makes me feel good to hear from you. The nights are long and busy, and the days hot, humid, and spent sleeping. Not much time to think and get homesick. But I am missing my people, that's for sure.
I thought I better respond to some questions you have asked.
How is sleeping here. Well, at the compound, which is about 25 mins by van from the Cite Soleil cholera treatment centre, there are two big dorms. A women's and a men's. There are rows and rows of bunk beds, and if you are lucky you get a bottom bunk with no one on the top so your stuff can go on it. Bunk beds are handy because you can drape your mosquito netting over the top bunk and not have to hang it from the ceiling. You always have to come and go quietly in the dorm because there is almost always someone sleeping from some shift.
The people. Who have become homeless here have set up thousands of tents, which when see from outside look like they are joined one to another. When you drive by miles and miles of these tent cities your mind cannot take in the staggering enormity of the problem here. No electricity, running water, sewage systems (there are outhouses on very tall platforms) and really no law, protection, or privacy for these folks. And yet, you will see a young kid walking across a field of debris from these places, singing.
Have not seen Sean Penn yet :( but then I don't get out much lol. If I see him Albina I promise to give him a kiss from you, lol.
The food here Mom is pretty good. The MRE's are, well - they are an adventure!! Had cheese tortilini (not bad), chicken fajitas with tortillas (pretty darn good) and chicken breast (not fit to eat at all.... Blech......). We have those for when we are at the Cite Soleil site courtesy of the USA department of defense. :) they really are a cool thing. I will write more about them later.
The young man with the abdominal mass became a lot sicker. We had to transfer him by ambulance to a hospital for treatment. He was in very poor shape when he went. Very very sad. We probably won't hear how it went for him. What I remember is his long, long eyelashes, and his tiny little mom, sitting quietly, hopefully, by her boy. We found him a staff blanket, soft and deep blue, and a foil emergency blanket. Tucked him all in, and off to the hospital. Tried hard not to cry. But.
The little girl with the big beautiful eyes is doing really well. Maybe going home in the morning. Amazing how fast they can go from really sick to approaching well with just fluids. Wow!!! And no, she still won't look at me. :(
Tonight there was some excitement in that there was some fighting outside the gate the ambulance comes to, which is about 10 feet from the triage area. Day shift was delayed leaving because of it, and it was tense for a bit. So triage was moved inside the ward, farther in. Day shift was escorted home to the compound by UN tanks. I am SO jealous!!
It does have a different feel to it today. On the way here one of our vehicles was hit by rocks thrown by someone at the side of a very crowded road.
So for now now more watching the sunrise over the ambulance gate. Will be interesting to know if dayshift will be allowed to come, and we will be able to go. Seems quieter now. And I am glad security is so very good. They really are on top of things.
So very sweet moment tonight - with all the tension and sickness, an older man was standing by the nurses desk in the middle of the ward and just started singing. Everyone got quiet, and most turned to listen. He just sang. And we listened. :)
Just had the chance to hold a little gaffer and try to help feed. I have lost my baby touch lol and couldn't convince him to drink the formula, lol!!
Michelle
