I am writing this post as we are packing up our things at the Isaiah 61 House, awaiting our charter plane back to Port au Prince before we head back to the states this afternoon. I wanted to take a moment and reflect on some of the things we have done and seen this week.
First off, CCH is a great, small NGO with their hands in a lot of things around here. They are all about sustainability, which is a great concept as any foreign group heads into a country to help.. Bring your skills and your experience in so that you can teach them to practice and eventually teach others. CCH seems to be implementing this through all of their projects: the clinic (which includes a general practitioner, a new operating room, and the great rehab clinic which we have helped in), the rural outreach clinic and gardens, the pepper farm (for which the "red tea" peppers are being used to sell to medical companies abroad for use in chemotherapy and arthritis treatments), and other facets. They also know how to show us a good time, by taking us to some wonderful corners of Jacmel (Basin Bleu, LoLo's on the beach, the art district), feeding us very well, and providing transportation, a bed, a shower, and a roof over our head. We have had a great time getting to know the staff a little bit better, and have enjoyed meeting and working with other travelers that are here for various reasons.
As students, it was great for us to have Tonya here with us to be a mentor. She helped us work through problem solving and clinical decision making with all of the patients that we came in contact with, and supported us so that we can become more confident as we enter our final didactic semester of PT school. We look forward to working with Tonya in the future!
It was also wonderful to feel more confident in teaching others skills and about PT. From speaking to the nursing students to working on skills and reasoning with the rehab techs (which seem to have more training and responsibility than someone with the same title in the US), there have been many learning experiences- both for others and for us.
The Haitian culture is an interesting one, with a strong sense of resilience. Although the amenities of life are much different than in the states, there are many qualities of the people we have come in contact with that we admire: their ability to be very laid back while still driven to work hard (which seems different from in the states where it can seem as if hard-working almost always coincides with a sense of, I don't know, slight haste or aggressiveness?), their strong family values, and ability to never seem to complain or whine about their situation. Maybe there was a language barrier, yes, but those were the things that came across to us through my interactions with others.
That being said, the average life expectancy in this country is still 52. The infant mortality rate is above 12%. There are many things here to be worried about- clean water, sanitation, etc, that we hope can be implemented in a sustainable way so that they can live healthier lives with less morbidity. We hope that, as in the US, anybody can receive the medical care and rehab services that they need. This will be a challenge, seeing as the majority of the country lives on the hillsides surrounding the cities and even further into the mountains. I hope that (and I'm sure the other girls agree), if I can come back here in the future, I have the opportunity to participate in more rural outreach.
As our first global health experience in PT, we have had a wonderful time soaking it all in and doing what we can, and this has fed our desire to do more trips in the future! For now, goodbye, Haiti!
