First Updates!

Hello world! I am here in Haiti, I am alive, and I am well! No need for further explanation, I'm just going to dive right into what I've been up to for the past few days. This is a long one, and there aren't many pictures -- just a warning!

Saturday, Ekaette dropped me off at the airport around 4:15 am, and I made it through to Haiti just fine with a quick layover in Miami -- mesi Bondye. Ronel, the main driver for MFH, picked Mayano (a visiting nurse and our only volunteer for the week) and me up in the giant custom-built pink jeep and drove us "home." Two security men, Jonal and Judenel, came along for the ride. We picked up a midwife along the way and took a brief break to check out some fish and pick up a guinea hen for Ronel's family. It rode (alive) with us the whole way back to Hinche, its feet bound by a string, tethered to Jonal's shoelace. Every now and then it would freak out a bit, so Mayano and I were a little bit on edge the whole way back.

Here's the jeep!

We were warmly greeted by Carrie, the outgoing In-Country Coordinator, who I'd met in January and with whom I'd corresponded quite frequently in recent months. I'm taking Carrie's place as the second official In-Country Coordinator (a title she gave herself once she created and developed the position). Though the position is still developing and growing, as is the organization, there is so much to learn. Since she created the position, she has made it into a full-time job and I am the first person to whom she's had to pass on all her knowledge. This job not only includes accommodating house guests (primarily volunteers) and the Haitian staff who live and work here, but also dealing with day-to-day things that come up (as an example, Carrie was told today that a man was coming today to drop off 3 massive crates of donated hospital supplies). My job description/manual is over 12 pages long and is taking some time to go over in detail. I've learned so much about the basics of the organization in the past few days, but there are still many details to talk and learn about.

Anyway, once we arrived on Saturday, we settled in a little bit, got a tour of the gorgeous guesthouse, where I'll be living, and ate soup for lunch. The afternoon was free, because Carrie knew we would be exhausted, so I spent that time writing my last blog post, updating people from home, and settling in a little bit. I'm staying in the Director's (Nadene's) room until Carrie moves out, so I'm only somewhat unpacked.

The house! Monique does laundry on Wednesdays and Saturdays,
and it's my job to fold it and bring it inside

Carrie told us to sleep in on Sunday, so we missed Church, but we were busy from the start. We asked every question we could think of, and I met the staff members who work on weekends. Carrie powered up the pink jeep (remember, women don't drive in Haiti) and the three blans (white people) drove into downtown Hinche. We stopped by the market, which is crazy even when it isn't market day, a small shop that sells some basic items (Garnier shampoo, nailpolish remover, Victoria's Secret perfume and lotion...), the orphanage, and the hospital. The orphanage, Maison Fortuné (or "Fortunate House") is run by some American religious brothers, and has recently been split into two compounds -- one for boys, one for girls. Brother Bill lives at the boys' compound and has a beautiful black cat with two sweet kittens. He has an extensive movie collection from which I can borrow, and I plan on sharing the few Harry Potter movies I have on my laptop so he can complete his collection for the kids. As soon as we stepped out of the jeep at the girls' compound, little girls ran up to Mayano and me. They spoke decent English, asked us our names, played games with us, touched and braided our hair, admired our nails and jewelry, etc. They asked lots of questions and love cameras! My little group of girls went through about 400 of my graduation photos, asking about my family and friends, and telling me everyone was beautiful. They kept wanting me to sing High School Musical to them (specifically Gabriella's part)!

Some Haitians smile in pictures, some don't. Both of these little girls
were very sweet and happy

Next, we went to the Ste Thérèse Hospital, where our midwife students do clinical work and where many of our graduated midwives work. Though we don't run the entire hospital, MFH plays a huge role in staffing the "maternity ward" (in quotes because it's all outside and is quite different from our perception of a ward). We came home for lunch, and then spent some time packing "baby bags" with donated onesies and receiving blankets that we will give out to new mothers at the hospital. Later in the afternoon, Kenel, a 21-year-old Haitian with high aspirations, came to the house for my (and Mayano's) first Haitian Kreyol lesson - $5! I'm lucky I know French, because I learned so much! Kenel is a fabulous teacher.

We had a group of 6 high school students arrive last night with their two chaperones from Norfolk Academy in Virginia. Since it's their second trip, they've planned out research and data collection projects they plan to carry out during their 5 days here. They are incredibly intelligent and mature, and I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Today was jam-packed with stuff to do. Once Mayano had left for the hospital and the high school kids had split up between the Mobile Clinic and research in town, Carrie and I hopped on the back of a motorcycle together to go into town for our own errands. Davide, the driver, is very sweet and a great driver. He took us to the photocopy place, a photographer (so I can open a bank account tomorrow), two small grocery stores, and to the hospital. He waited patiently outside wherever we were until we were ready to move on. There are too many details to share in this blog post, unfortunately, but I will assure you that each errand we ran had its own lesson in Haitian culture to share.

The MFH guesthouse is surrounded by gorgeous flowers!

We came home and went over a relatively small section of my manual, but now I have a much better idea of everything I need to do volunteer-wise. We took a break until lunch, and after lunch the high schoolers, Mayano, and I went to the Azil Feeding Center for malnourished babies and young children. It was apparently started by Mother Teresa, so there was an Indian woman there dressed in the typical white-and-blue habit. As soon as we walked in, she picked up a wailing child and handed him to me, telling me to "cuddle him, hug him, love him." Apparently he had arrived today and was surely very overwhelmed. Some of the other babies were very smiley and happy, and the older ones (their ages are very difficult to place since they are all underdeveloped) were tons of fun to play with. I picked up a quiet one named Lwi (like the French Louis, pronounced "Loo-wee") and held him for a very long time. He drank a lot of juice, but was otherwise silent and unresponsive...until, that is, I tried to put him down. When I took him to his crib, he started grabbing my shirt and arms and calling me "mama." Poor little guy! I absolutely cannot wait to go back.

The remainder of the evening was calm until a shipment arrived from a group called Direct Relief USA. They donated and shipped to us about half a truck full of baby formula, maternal pads, alcohol wipes, baby shampoo, and more. Exciting stuff! -- except that we have to unpack and find storage for it all tomorrow, haha.

When the donated supplies got here, "the boys" (our security guys) had a great time
unloading it. Jonal is proudly sporting his new Columbia rain jacket, donated by my dad!

Lastly, meet Ina May! She is the house kitty, and she's pregnant for the third time. She's full of personality -- she'll meow until you give her your leftover chicken, she naps on Carrie's (soon-to-be my) pillow, and will curl right up into your lap. She is teaching me how to love cats, and since it'll soon be my job to take care of her, she'll teach me how to care for a pet!

How photogenic is she?!

If you made it to the end of this blog post, kudos to you! Sorry it was so long, but there was a ton to share. I'm thinking my next post will be about daily life here, since I'm sure there are lots of questions. I'll try to get into a more regular posting schedule, so I'll try to stick with Sundays as my posting day. Feel free to leave comments with post suggestions, questions, comments, etc. Thanks for reading!