Life's a Journey, Aye!: Team Cite Soleil Night

Friday, January 14, 2011

Team Cite Soleil Night

Hi All,

I thought I would tell you what the daily schedule is like for us. You are scheduled and stay with your team for the most part, which is nice. You get to know your team members, and you do spend 24 hours a day with them.

So the shift itself is: After a 12 hour shift, leave the Cite Soleil Cholera Treatment Centre (CTC) sometime between 0600 and 0630 depending on arrival and hand off to day team. Travel back to compound is about 25 minutes depending on many factors - traffic, road conditions, amount of people/critters on the road. When we arrive back at base, the vehicles come into the compound after passing through 2 armed gates, and stop at the shower hut. The night before you would have left some clean shoes (ie: those which have not been to the cholera site) on shelves outside the shower. Upon arrival, we remove the shoes which we have worn to CTC and scrub them with bleach. Shoes then go back onto the rack to dry for evening. We then retrieve our shower bags (which were packed up before we left for shift) from just inside the door of the dorm. Everyone must shower and change all clothing before going anywhere else on the base. Then you can have breakfast and THEN go to bed. Crickey, makes me exhausted just thinking about it!!!! Most days I guess in bed by 830 and probably asleep by ohhhhh, 820. :)

I have been sleeping until around 2 pm and then waking. The heat and humidity is quite oppressive during the day and it is difficult to sleep. Something that surprises me is that I find I actually like the mosquito netting around the bed because while it doesn't obscure things, it does give you the illusion of a bit of space of your own. Quite something in a dorm with maybe 50 beds? (I will count them.....) Am finding the shared living enjoyable for the most part, and being part of a team just fantastic, but do miss privacy.

Another important part of the team at Cite Soleil Cholera Treatment Centre is the interpreters. These Haitian men and women are absolute gold.... it is quite a different thing to communicate to your patient through an interpreter. Taking a history and getting information is difficult enough, but doing it in a different language is a whole different deal!!

I have two faves: Jean Marie and Andy. Both men are so much fun, willing and very communicative. On Sunday night Andy, Lauren (medic, N. Carolina) and I had some time to sit and talk. He told us about the politics of Haiti, customs, and things of general interest. So enjoyable!

Last night Jean Marie translated a written protocol, a flow chart you could call it, for what takes place in Triage. Dr. Nam and I devised it, Jean Marie translated it into Creole, and I printed it out on cardboard. An English one, and a Creole one. Supposed to keep us all on the same page. Or that is the intent anyway ha ha ha.

Well 0420. Pretty tired. Really can't wait to be done today and am hoping for a better sleep today.

The weary medic,
Michelle

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone! And as we let our light shine, we give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Get out there, and let your light shine! (and yup, that last bit added by me!)

A quote often attributed to Nelson Mandela, but written by Marianne Williamson. Shared with me by my sister Noelle.

Change in Direction

Have been watching with more and more horror the images which reach us here in our nice, warm, safe home of Haiti, post-earthquake.

Many calls have gone out for help, and many have responded in ways they are able - donations, time, with prayer, and deeds.

The thought of all they are suffering has been niggling at my conscience. So. I asked my sister if she knew of aid agencies taking volunteers She did, and put me in touch with a very large and well known one. One with resources and 'pull' - one which is respected and known around the globe. Seemed snesible to me to volunteer with one which is well known, and has resources to support its activities and its volunteers.

So. Tuesday I sent in my application to go as a paramedic to serve in the field hospitals/clinics of Haiti.

If accepted I will go.

So from you dear readers, I will need a continuous supply of positive thoughts, and encouragement. My stint will be for only 2 weeks but I fully expect it will be a life changing experience.

So this will be a different sort of blog that I usually write. No night shots of the Eiffel Tower, no cathedrals, no castles, no Scottish countryside scenes, no flower gardens. I expect the only monuments I will see are those of human spirit - struggling to make themselves and their country right.

I will start by posting some facts about Haiti, and you shall learn about this country right along with me as I do.

I have always known a certain saying, and have always felt it applies to me, in that I have been quite blessed in life. The way I remembered it is:

"To whom much is given, much is expected".

-Michelle, to whom much has been given - and who is staring into the near future, hoping to be more than adequate to the job ahead.

The History of the Scottish flag - The saltire

From http://www.scotlandsource.com/ -

It has been believed by generations of Scotsmen that the national flag, the white saltire on a blue background, the oldest flag in Europe, originated in a battle fought here in Athelstaneford (and I am going there, wahoo!!) in the Dark Ages between the Picts and Scots on the one side and the Angles of Northumbria on the other. (around 832 AD).

There are many versions of the story but they generally agree that an army of the Picts under their King Angus (or Hungus) aided by a contingent of the Scots was invading Lothian (then and for long afterwards Northumbrian territory), and found themselves surrounded by a massive force of the Angles under their leader Athelstan. King Angus and his host prayed earnestly for deliverance to God and the saints.

That night St. Andrew (the Patron Saint of Scotland) appeared to the king and promised him victory.

On the next day when battle was joined, the vision of a white saltire (the diagonal cross on which the Apostle had been martyred) was seen by all against the blue sky. This so encouraged the Picts and Scots and frightened their adversaries that the former won a signal victory.

In the pursuit, so the tradition goes on, the Northumhbrian leader Athelstan was slain at the crossing of the Peffer or Cogtail Burn, the site of which is marked by Athelstaneford Mains Farm, about half a mile south-east of the village.

The probable site of the battle is at nearby Prora Farm,where there is a field called "The Bloody Field, close by the Peffer Burn, (this burn runs into Aberlady Bay, to the west, whereas the first mentioned Peffer Burn runs east to the sea).

The Saltire is also known as the Saint Andrew' s Cross.

Robbie Burns

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard) was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a "light" Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these pieces, his political or civil commentary is often at its most blunt.
He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism. A cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish Diaspora around the world, celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was voted by the Scottish public as being the Greatest Scot.

Life's a Journey, Aye!

In the words of Ewan MacGregor, "The Long Way Down"

Friday, January 14, 2011

Team Cite Soleil Night

Blog Archive

Lands end in Dorset....... next stop... FRANCE