(a little late – from Friday, May 27th)
Another busy day is behind us! Last night, we were lucky to fall asleep to a beautiful light show accompanied by the sound of the Haitian rain. We had no trouble falling asleep after an adventurous two hour-long ride in the pan of the truck to St. Marc to shop for some medications.
We started our day with Germaine’s yummy breakfast of oatmeal and fresh fruit.
After breakfast Todd, Jenny, Don, Karen, and Alycia headed over to the church to continue with health promotion for some of the students and their families. It’s crazy how something as simple as brushing your teeth twice a day is not a common practice here. It is eye-opening that receiving a toothbrush is an important thing to some students and were greatly appreciated!
When one lady got word that a doctor was in the area, she brought along her hospital chart which we thought was quite interesting compared to what you would see in the hospitals back home – sample attached.
While the others were busy at the church, Emma and Lacee continued to unpack all of lovely donations that our team brought to Haiti with us. We received an enormous amount of clothing, medications, toothbrushes & toothpaste from the people of Springdale and surrounding areas, along with skipping ropes & frisbees (thanks IRA!).
After a busy morning, we were treated to a proper Haitian lunch of fried chicken, rice and beans with Creole sauce and Haitian beet salad.
To work off all of that fried chicken, Moise challenged us to a game of basketball. Moise and Jenny may be drafted by the Raptors next season, but there’s not much hope for the rest of us! We then headed off to Borel to visit friends of Karen, Bim and Tim, who work with the Water Project for Haiti. There we were taken on a tour of the grounds which included the home that Karen rented for 9 years before building the current HATS compound.
We saw some other residences, a metal workshop, and most importantly the water filtration system – so cool! The Water Project for Haiti develops water filters for families in the surrounding area so that they can have clean drinking water and be better protected from water-borne diseases. The filters use sand to naturally separate the purified water from the bacteria and debris. It is incredible how such a simple system can bring to a family what most of us take for granted each day.
On the way home from Bim and Tim’s, we stopped at Luckner’s store for a cold drink and decided to do a bit of “shopping” for goodies to take back to Newfoundland with us. We hit the jackpot when we found Pringles and grape soda!
That’s about it for today; we are excited to see what tomorrow has in store! For now we are off to have a cup of Tetley and story time with Karen before bed.
Jenny has the tea on
Time for tea with Purity Lemon Creams
~Alycia and Lacee
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