Monday, July 12, 2010
8pm
Loving Light Hotel roof deck, Jacmel, Haiti
After lunch, I sat with some of the teenagers and let them listen to my IPod. A few of the girls braided my hair. I don't know if it will stay in while I sleep or not. They were out of "elastique" to tie the ends.
There was a women's clinic information meeting put on by Wanda for the women in the community. Wanda decided to have the meeting because many of the women she was seeing at the clinic were coming in with common ailments, many of which could be treated with ingredients they may have in their own home. There were about 20 women there. They started off very shy - the translator was a 17 year old (Reggie) who translates for the missions teams and at the clinic as his job, so I don't blame them for not wanting to speak up about "lady problems". Reggie did a great job though. I was surprised by how basic the information was, but the women didn't seem to know most of it.
Women's Health Info Session Topics
* Bladder infections -- wiping front to back
* Vaginal infections -- how to self treat (I won't go there right now)
* How to clean "female areas"
* Head lice in children -- what it is, what causes it, how to treat
* Dandruff -- what it is, how to treat
* Cold and cough transmission
* Fertility and birth control
* Handwashing
* Ringworm & other fungus -- medications available at clinic, what causes it
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| Women's health information session |
Our hotel restaurant had a cooler where we were able to buy cold, bottled water, some unfamiliar juices (like Tampico, but not called that), an off-brand Sprite type drink called "Teem!", or glass bottles of Coke. We had access to a water cooler, but that water didn't stay cold long (and let me tell you that after using the same reusable water bottle for water and gatorade for a week, it was pretty gross by the end!), so it was a nice treat to be able to buy a cold drink for $1US after we got back from a hot day of working. Keillen (an FEI missionary who stayed for 3 weeks and had been there a week already when we got to Jacmel) and I had multiple short conversations in the first couple of days I was in Jacmel about how it was funny to see Coke signs everywhere in the middle of such a poor area. But, Coke only, no Pepsi. We are both Pepsi fans, but we dealt with Coke because it was cold and available!
During our break, Patti and I went to get a Coke from the restaurant. It's nice to have a cold drink after the super hot work day. It turned into THE BEST DAY EVER!!! --- There was Pepsi today! No one here that speaks English has ever seen Pepsi here. It's a miracle! =) I made Patti take my picture with my beloved Pepsi. Seriously, beyond excited!
I am not even kidding about how excited I was to see this Pepsi. The top of the cooler opened and I saw that blue bottle cap and was like "Waaaaaaah!" I ran right up to Keillen's room to show her and she got one right away too! This was the only day there was Pepsi during our entire stay in Jacmel. I am convinced that God was sending me a pick-me-up.
Dinner was white rice and macaroni and cheese, which was a little spicy. We "debriefed" and talked about our highs and lows. Each day there were 4 or 5 different work jobs at different sites, so we would debrief and share a little about the work that was done at each site. On Monday the jobs were: Painting at the widow's house, set up the ceiling at the church, checking vitamin packages and medicine inventory at the clinic, sanding at the Restoration Center, helping in the kitchen. Gary (team coordinator) tried to get someone to mention the "Texas vs. the world" tension but no one spoke about it. He said a quick word about including everyone, but I think it fell on deaf ears. I am done worrying about it. That's not why I am here.
9:30pm
Hotel Room
I called Eric during the time everyone was up on the roof deck singing praise songs. I was able to borrow Tim's phone again. It was fun to tell him a little about the trip so far. It sounds like everyone is doing ok there.
When we came back down, I found a 2 inch cockroach on our dresser. It was big, and fast enough to freak me out. It is now under the dresser, but I am praying it is dead. I sprayed it with Patti's 100% DEET because it was so big I was scared to squash it (plus it was on the dresser crawling around on Patti's stuff). It fell off the back of the dresser and disappeared. It hasn't come back out. That was made more interesting by the fact that Patti is seriously, extremely phobic about spiders and large bugs. Enough that she apparently can't even see a picture of a spider. So when I walked into the room and saw the cockroach, I blocked her from coming inside and sent her back upstairs, just telling her she "didn't want to see" what I had to do in the room. When she came back down I just told her it was "taken care of" and prayed that cockroach didn't come back out alive. But, of course, it was still alive. It was on death's door but dragged itself out from under the dresser and was under Patti's bag (next to the dresser) when she went to get her pajamas out. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Luckily, the cockroach was already knocking on death's door because of the DEET - legs flailing but not able to move - so I squashed it. Then I had to take it all the way outside of our room so Patti wouldn't worry about it. I ended up throwing it over the balcony and out into the street.
I'm going to read now. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight.
I had tears about the Pepsi! Amazing journaling!
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