Although I seem to have aclimitized and the evenings are actually quite pleasant, parts of my body are not adapting.
For the past week, I have been slowly losing the battle against heat rash!!!! And where on my body is this lovely item.........................exactly where you would find diaper rash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And when I asked one of the female staff members for any tips/tricks on how to deal with this, what wisdom does she spout..........................."Use lots of baby powder and try not to sweat." TRY NOT TO SWEAT!!!!!!! She has been here a year and knows it is impossible to not sweat! Sometimes, the staff get a little too much pleasure in seeing the volunteers suffer!
I realize I should not complain because one of the other long-term volunteers just got over having stomach parasites only to come down with scabbies!!!! At least my issues are mundane!!!!!!
Other than the cold, Michel has had to suffer the mosquitoes. They absolutely adore him. They hardly even bite me and when they do, I get a little red and don't itch but Michel suffers from much itchitude!!!!
Wish us luck in our last week! I would hate for either of us to come down with some exotic affliction!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
The Week in Review
When we got back from our time off, it seemed we were not the only ones that had been sick – many had come down with the same cold or other ailments so the energy level on base was pretty low this week. This worked out well for some of us as our jobs were low key (painting) but some people were prepping a foundation for School 19 which involves digging trenches and pulling up tree roots.
I was surprised at how excited a bunch of people were when we got back from our time away. Sometimes we have no idea of the impact we have on people’s day to day lives. It was a great feeling though!
Michel and I have been on the same crew for a couple of weeks now and we continue to work on Schools 16 & 17. This week we painted the inside of the classrooms and a little bit of the outside. I am really looking forward to Monday as about 30 of the students from the school have volunteered to help us paint!! Paul, head of school construction, mentioned that since we don’t have enough brushes and rollers for everyone, we might get the kids to do hand painting! It is going to be lots of messy fun!!! Yah! I should have some good photos for you once I have the bandwidth to upload them.
This past Thursday was American Thanksgiving and we had the day off. One of the staff members organized the cooking of a traditional Thanksgiving meal for 140 people!!!! I volunteered to help in the kitchen so spent most of my day either doing that or participating in the Gobble Gobble Thanksgiving Photo Scavenger Hunt. I will definitely post my teams photos when I can!!!! The meal was fabulous!
Since before we went on our week away, I have been off rice and beans. We get this twice a day and my body has reached it’s limit. I realize it is kinda like potatoes to North American’s but I don’t eat potatoes that often either!!!! So I have been eating a little at lunch (because it is our only option) and either avoiding it at dinner or buying egg sandwiches from the street vendor. I have to ask the nice lady what her name is because I have become like Norm on Cheers. She doesn’t even ask anymore, she knows I like 2 eggs instead of 1 and hotsauce, hold the ketchup! With only one more week to go, I may be off egg sandwiches by the time we leave as well!!!!
Last night several of the long-term ladies decided to have a girls’ night movie so we got to watch Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – it was exactly what the doctor ordered. Amazingly enough, by the end of the film there were a fair number of garcon’s watching as well!
We ended up having Saturday and Sunday off this weekend too. Because we have been so low energy, we opted to stay at base and just max on the relaxing. We went to the local market today (very interesting but I didn’t take pics cause I don’t think that would be welcomed) and will be making couscous with vegies in a lime dressing (yummy). Other than that, we have napped quite a bit and that is about it.
Monday, November 21, 2011
The Glorious Week Off
We are actually back at base from our week off and I feel remotely human again.
I had gotten sick with a cold just before we left for our time off and unfortunately, Veve picked it up. We spent most of our week being sick but Port Salut was the perfect place to spend it.
The trip there was interesting in itself. We went to PAP to find the elusive air conditioned bus for the 5 hour trip to Les Cayes (close to Port Salut). We found it and it only cost us $10/pp!!!! But is was crowded. When we got close to Acquin, there were 5 or 6 people on the road throwing bottles and rocks on the road and at the bus. The bus driver stopped the bus and he and 3 of the male passengers got out to kick ass. They gave chase to the hooligans but in the process left the door to the bus open. Had they been robbers, this would have been the perfect time for one of them to board the bus and take action - but luckily, it turned out they were demonstrators. It seems there was some issues with several politicians in the area that had people angry. Anyway, the bus driver and male passengers got back on and we went on our merry way. The talk on the bus was quite annimated though!!!!!!
When we got to Les Cayes, it was 5pm and it turned out that we had missed all the tap-taps and were forced to take motos (motorcycles with drivers). It was the craziest hour ride of my life and if possible, I never want to do it again. These guys are insane, they will pass cars on the shoulder and follow other vehicles with only feet or inches to spare. This cost us $40 - it just doesn't make sense - a 5 hour bus drive is $10 and a 1 hour moto ride is $40.
The hotel was great! It had a small private beach and a nice little restaurant but my favorite thing was the hammocks. They have 2 hammocks under a gazebo but the hammocks are actually 2 large retangular bean bags - they were incredibly comfortable so if we weren't in bed watching movies recovering, we were laying in the hammocks listening to the surf.
We were feeling good enough by Tuesday to venture out for dinner. It was at this quaint restaurant that only had 3 tables and the owner was the chef and server. His name is Walter and he is an expat from Switzerland. We had a great conversation with him. We ended up having a bottle of wine and a drink with dinner and low and behold, the next day we felt like crap--------it was not a hang-over though!!!!!!!!! Cause it lasted 2 days!!!!!!!
Friday was a national holiday and we had to leave paradise as the hotel was sold out for the weekend. Another guest was also leaving and he offered us a ride so we traveled in style and ease. He ended up taking us all the way to Tante Mary's in PAP.
We had the chance to meet more family. Oncle Edvar came over for a short visit on Sunday morning and then we headed out to see Zita's god-daughter, Maryse and her mother. They were incredibly nice and once I have a better connection, I will post pictures.
And now, we are back at base for another 2 weeks.
I had gotten sick with a cold just before we left for our time off and unfortunately, Veve picked it up. We spent most of our week being sick but Port Salut was the perfect place to spend it.
The trip there was interesting in itself. We went to PAP to find the elusive air conditioned bus for the 5 hour trip to Les Cayes (close to Port Salut). We found it and it only cost us $10/pp!!!! But is was crowded. When we got close to Acquin, there were 5 or 6 people on the road throwing bottles and rocks on the road and at the bus. The bus driver stopped the bus and he and 3 of the male passengers got out to kick ass. They gave chase to the hooligans but in the process left the door to the bus open. Had they been robbers, this would have been the perfect time for one of them to board the bus and take action - but luckily, it turned out they were demonstrators. It seems there was some issues with several politicians in the area that had people angry. Anyway, the bus driver and male passengers got back on and we went on our merry way. The talk on the bus was quite annimated though!!!!!!
When we got to Les Cayes, it was 5pm and it turned out that we had missed all the tap-taps and were forced to take motos (motorcycles with drivers). It was the craziest hour ride of my life and if possible, I never want to do it again. These guys are insane, they will pass cars on the shoulder and follow other vehicles with only feet or inches to spare. This cost us $40 - it just doesn't make sense - a 5 hour bus drive is $10 and a 1 hour moto ride is $40.
The hotel was great! It had a small private beach and a nice little restaurant but my favorite thing was the hammocks. They have 2 hammocks under a gazebo but the hammocks are actually 2 large retangular bean bags - they were incredibly comfortable so if we weren't in bed watching movies recovering, we were laying in the hammocks listening to the surf.
We were feeling good enough by Tuesday to venture out for dinner. It was at this quaint restaurant that only had 3 tables and the owner was the chef and server. His name is Walter and he is an expat from Switzerland. We had a great conversation with him. We ended up having a bottle of wine and a drink with dinner and low and behold, the next day we felt like crap--------it was not a hang-over though!!!!!!!!! Cause it lasted 2 days!!!!!!!
Friday was a national holiday and we had to leave paradise as the hotel was sold out for the weekend. Another guest was also leaving and he offered us a ride so we traveled in style and ease. He ended up taking us all the way to Tante Mary's in PAP.
We had the chance to meet more family. Oncle Edvar came over for a short visit on Sunday morning and then we headed out to see Zita's god-daughter, Maryse and her mother. They were incredibly nice and once I have a better connection, I will post pictures.
And now, we are back at base for another 2 weeks.
Mea Cupa, Mea Maxima Cupa
I have been so bad on the blog front, sorry. The internet at base got even worse than it was when we first arrived and now there are more people here trying to access it! I thought I could get a bunch done when we went to the nice hotel in Port Salut (more about that later) but shortly after getting there, their internet went down and wasn't restored before we left!
So, through the magic of modern electronics, I am going to try and catch up over several posts.
Three Sundays ago, saw us get into a tap-tap with 19 other people (one of them being the driver). A tap-tap is a Toyota truck (the small ones) that have been modified to have 2 benches that run the length of the box on either side. Some also have little benches to go down the middle to fit more people in. Ours had a roof - thank god because several people rode up there leaving a smidge more room for the rest of us. It also rained on the way home so those of us inside only got slightly damp.
You may ask how we got a total of 19 people into this...........creatively!!!!!!! There were 2 people on top, 2 in the front seat (with the driver) and 15 people in the back in various contorted poses. It does not make for a comfortable ride. We were off to Bassins Bleu..........only 3 hours away!!!!! And we, of course, had to get back after our visit, so that is 6 hours squeezed into the truck. My butt still hurts.
However, the trip was sooooo worth it. We even had to cross a river (going there....in the truck......coming back......we had to walk through the river). Once we got to the head of the trail, it was about a 20 minute walk to get to the water falls. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
On the following Monday, we started rendering the inside of School 16 and 17. I was going to post pictures of the rendering process but I think I will save them for a separate post when we finish the school. Today, we started painting the inside of the schools. There is going to be a celebration this upcoming Saturday to mark the opening and I am not sure we will have the outside painted!!! I hope they add some volunteers to our crew. I am very excited to see these schools through to completion and am thrilled that I get to go to the celebration.
Here are some of the students that will be attending Schools 16 and 17. They generally come visit us on their breaks to see the "blancs" and what we are doing. Today, Veve spent most of our lunch break making paper airplanes for many of the kids.
So, through the magic of modern electronics, I am going to try and catch up over several posts.
Three Sundays ago, saw us get into a tap-tap with 19 other people (one of them being the driver). A tap-tap is a Toyota truck (the small ones) that have been modified to have 2 benches that run the length of the box on either side. Some also have little benches to go down the middle to fit more people in. Ours had a roof - thank god because several people rode up there leaving a smidge more room for the rest of us. It also rained on the way home so those of us inside only got slightly damp.
You may ask how we got a total of 19 people into this...........creatively!!!!!!! There were 2 people on top, 2 in the front seat (with the driver) and 15 people in the back in various contorted poses. It does not make for a comfortable ride. We were off to Bassins Bleu..........only 3 hours away!!!!! And we, of course, had to get back after our visit, so that is 6 hours squeezed into the truck. My butt still hurts.
However, the trip was sooooo worth it. We even had to cross a river (going there....in the truck......coming back......we had to walk through the river). Once we got to the head of the trail, it was about a 20 minute walk to get to the water falls. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
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| This is the lower pool. It was quite slippery coming down the stone steps (you can see Adriana coming down them in the middle of the pic) to get to the middle pool. |
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| This is what you see of the middle pool when you enter it. |
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| And an aerial view - yes, it is stunning. Brian gained his senses and did not jump from this perch. There were several lower perches to jump from and several of the kids did - not me, I am in the water somewhere below. |
Here are some of the students that will be attending Schools 16 and 17. They generally come visit us on their breaks to see the "blancs" and what we are doing. Today, Veve spent most of our lunch break making paper airplanes for many of the kids.
The following Tuesday and Wednesday were national holidays so we headed up to PAP via bus. It is amazing, a bus ride to PAP cost us the equivalent of $1.25. However, we hired a driver to bring us back on Thursday morning for 7am, that cost us $60. We visited with Tante Mary to just relax, however, I got a migraine so I was in bed most of the time we were there.
The following weekend, we only had Sunday off and since rendering really took it out of us, we just hung out at base, did laundry and went to the local market and made dinner. I have a new respect for frontier women cause at base we wash our clothes in a basin with a washboard - yes, an actual washboard. I have to say that I can handle many of the daily issues here but I absolutely hate doing laundry - I can't wait to get back to civilization!!!!!!!
Friday, November 11, 2011
A Week Off
Veve and I have decided to take a week off!!!!!!!!!
It has already been a month in Haiti (how quickly time flies) and All Hands requires volunteers to take off at least 3 days for every month worked so we have decided to take an entire week and go to Port Salut and Cavaillon.
The first destination is Port Salut for what we hope is 5 glorious days all by ourselves in the lap of luxury (flushing toilets, decent food) and I actualy get to sleep in the same bed as my husband!!!!!! We have booked a room at Dan's Creek Hotel, check it out!!
Then, it is a little backtracking to Cavaillon to visit with Michel's uncle.
I, of course, came down sick last night though! With all the interesting sicknesses various people are getting on base, what do I get...............the common cold!!!!! No interesting bowel movements, pustuals or drama of any type. Just lots of sleeping due to low energy and a sore throat!!!!
The internet connection at base has not been good this week so I haven't been able to upload any pics or video but I am hoping to do this while we are at the hotel so stay tuned!
It has already been a month in Haiti (how quickly time flies) and All Hands requires volunteers to take off at least 3 days for every month worked so we have decided to take an entire week and go to Port Salut and Cavaillon.
The first destination is Port Salut for what we hope is 5 glorious days all by ourselves in the lap of luxury (flushing toilets, decent food) and I actualy get to sleep in the same bed as my husband!!!!!! We have booked a room at Dan's Creek Hotel, check it out!!
Then, it is a little backtracking to Cavaillon to visit with Michel's uncle.
I, of course, came down sick last night though! With all the interesting sicknesses various people are getting on base, what do I get...............the common cold!!!!! No interesting bowel movements, pustuals or drama of any type. Just lots of sleeping due to low energy and a sore throat!!!!
The internet connection at base has not been good this week so I haven't been able to upload any pics or video but I am hoping to do this while we are at the hotel so stay tuned!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
When traveling in a developing country..........
It is so incredibly important to follow some basic rules:
1) Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
2) Wash your hands before eating.
3) Generally, don't eat street food.
That being said, Veve and I have broken rule #3. The other rules we have abided by strenuously.
Today, upon getting back from the field, we had our regular daily meeting. Except today was a little different.
It seems that one of the volunteers had been ill during the night and was taken to Medecins Sans Frontieres and was diagnosed today as having Cholera.
Mom, Dad and Sandi, before you freak out! Don't worry. Cholera only kills if it goes untreated - you die from dehydration from diareah and vomitting. If caught in time, it is actually quite easy to treat.
The volunteer is apparently recovering quite well and is expected back at base either tomorrow night or the next day. Isn't that amazing!
Once the diagnosis had come back, the staff of All Hands went into action. The bathroom, kitchen and the volunteer's belongings and bedding have been sanitized. Everyone (staff, local volunteers and international volunteers) have had a presentation by MSF about the signs, treatment and fallout relating to Cholera. Everyone is very cognizant of the importance of Rules #1 and 2 now and the impact of not following them.
Many of the volunteers are quite young and I believe they have that sense of invincibility that is very common in the young. However, I think this incident has brought some gravitas to the fundatmental rules of cleanliness for them.
Don't worry about Veve and I. Our bowels are good!!!!!!
1) Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
2) Wash your hands before eating.
3) Generally, don't eat street food.
That being said, Veve and I have broken rule #3. The other rules we have abided by strenuously.
Today, upon getting back from the field, we had our regular daily meeting. Except today was a little different.
It seems that one of the volunteers had been ill during the night and was taken to Medecins Sans Frontieres and was diagnosed today as having Cholera.
Mom, Dad and Sandi, before you freak out! Don't worry. Cholera only kills if it goes untreated - you die from dehydration from diareah and vomitting. If caught in time, it is actually quite easy to treat.
The volunteer is apparently recovering quite well and is expected back at base either tomorrow night or the next day. Isn't that amazing!
Once the diagnosis had come back, the staff of All Hands went into action. The bathroom, kitchen and the volunteer's belongings and bedding have been sanitized. Everyone (staff, local volunteers and international volunteers) have had a presentation by MSF about the signs, treatment and fallout relating to Cholera. Everyone is very cognizant of the importance of Rules #1 and 2 now and the impact of not following them.
Many of the volunteers are quite young and I believe they have that sense of invincibility that is very common in the young. However, I think this incident has brought some gravitas to the fundatmental rules of cleanliness for them.
Don't worry about Veve and I. Our bowels are good!!!!!!
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