Howdy: The weekend was quiet but today made up for it ...what a full day! I was all over the place from one side of PAP to the other but was pretty please with what I accomplished considering the traffic and congestion. My stops were as follows
Hopital Ti Frere et Soeur.....close to the US embassy. I went by to visit Vionie, Modelene's daughter who has been in the hospital for a week. She had her first operation last week for appendicitis. I spoke with one of the residents who said she was doing a lot better than when she first was admitted. Today she was scheduled for a second operation to reassess the site as it seems an abscess formed and it was still draining more than he thought was good at this point. I told them I would drop by again on Wed. While at the hospital I passed by their outpatient clinic to ask about a nurse I have known for a number of years and sadly learned that she was killed in the earthquake. She was really an exceptional nurse and I know they will miss her very much there.
Food for the Poor....to drop off some donated medical supplies and medications I had in overabundance. Didn't see Dr Laurent or others I wanted to check in with because everyone was in a meeting with Mr Mafoud. I'll try calling the others tomorrow..wanted to check on a shipment of food that is due to arrive anyday now.
Megamart....a large grocery/dept store along the line of Costco..but not quite as large. I was checking on some prices for a group who is deciding whether to purchase things at home and ship them or purchase the items in PAP. They have quite a large parking lot and part of it is taken up with folks camped out in their tents.
Carrefour.....this area is about halfway between PAP and Leogane.....I didn't realize it was so far, having mixed it up with another section of town. I was heading there to see where Joseph, our driver, was living and how he was situated with his tent. I tell you it is like two different worlds between Santo, our area, and that side of town. The damage is so much worse over there. Having visited his house, I now have a better understanding why Joseph has to leave his house at 4:30 to get to our place by 8....what a trip!!
Kombit Artisanat...is an Haitian souvenir place not far from the Oloffson hotel which I have been frequenting for years. I wanted to see if one, the shop survived and two, if the owner and her staff were okay.......good news on that end. All were okay as was the shop....so naturally I had to spend a few gourdes while I was there.....for various gifts and fund raising events. A crew was busy out from of the Oloffson in the process of re-building their walls. I didn't stop to check out the hotel but from the number of cars I saw in the parking lot, I figured they are open for business.
Ministry of Health....found Mme Nazaire the Dir of Nursing for the State school of nursing in the "new" offices of the Ministry of Ed'n. She was there chasing after some money for her staff who haven't been paid in some months. My purpose to see her was to present her with a tarp as she too is living on the streets. She is still deeply saddened by the loss of so many of her students and still does not have a complete count. Some have not only left PAP but the country. The Ministry will be having a Mass at the end of this month for those students and staff members killed at the school and hospital.
Plaza Hotel..made reservations for a Canadian construction contractor who will be visiting Haiti at the end of the month. It is a convoluted story of how I got connected with him but I was happy to be able to help a fellow Cdn. He may be interested in doing some construction work in Haiti, so I told him about the clinic we wish to build..so now Hope House is on the agenda for one of his stops while he is here so I can share more with him about our project.....you never know where it could lead!
Jospeh headed home from the hotel and I drove the rest of the wayback home, as I only had one more stop. It didn't make sense for him to drive me all the way back to Santo just to turn around and take public transport all the way back home. After each of us downed an icey cold coke we went our separate ways.
Visa Lodge...stopped by there to make reservations for the gang coming this week. We will enjoy lunch there Sunday after church.
From there it was clear sailing all the way home...I chose the right route as traffic was pretty light and I got back home in no time.
And that folks is what took me from 8:00 AM today until 3:30 this afternoon......I am a little bouke...(tired out)..are you too!!
I'm attaching a couple of pictures for your interest.
Hopital Ti Frere et Soeur.....close to the US embassy. I went by to visit Vionie, Modelene's daughter who has been in the hospital for a week. She had her first operation last week for appendicitis. I spoke with one of the residents who said she was doing a lot better than when she first was admitted. Today she was scheduled for a second operation to reassess the site as it seems an abscess formed and it was still draining more than he thought was good at this point. I told them I would drop by again on Wed. While at the hospital I passed by their outpatient clinic to ask about a nurse I have known for a number of years and sadly learned that she was killed in the earthquake. She was really an exceptional nurse and I know they will miss her very much there.
Food for the Poor....to drop off some donated medical supplies and medications I had in overabundance. Didn't see Dr Laurent or others I wanted to check in with because everyone was in a meeting with Mr Mafoud. I'll try calling the others tomorrow..wanted to check on a shipment of food that is due to arrive anyday now.
Megamart....a large grocery/dept store along the line of Costco..but not quite as large. I was checking on some prices for a group who is deciding whether to purchase things at home and ship them or purchase the items in PAP. They have quite a large parking lot and part of it is taken up with folks camped out in their tents.
Carrefour.....this area is about halfway between PAP and Leogane.....I didn't realize it was so far, having mixed it up with another section of town. I was heading there to see where Joseph, our driver, was living and how he was situated with his tent. I tell you it is like two different worlds between Santo, our area, and that side of town. The damage is so much worse over there. Having visited his house, I now have a better understanding why Joseph has to leave his house at 4:30 to get to our place by 8....what a trip!!
Kombit Artisanat...is an Haitian souvenir place not far from the Oloffson hotel which I have been frequenting for years. I wanted to see if one, the shop survived and two, if the owner and her staff were okay.......good news on that end. All were okay as was the shop....so naturally I had to spend a few gourdes while I was there.....for various gifts and fund raising events. A crew was busy out from of the Oloffson in the process of re-building their walls. I didn't stop to check out the hotel but from the number of cars I saw in the parking lot, I figured they are open for business.
Ministry of Health....found Mme Nazaire the Dir of Nursing for the State school of nursing in the "new" offices of the Ministry of Ed'n. She was there chasing after some money for her staff who haven't been paid in some months. My purpose to see her was to present her with a tarp as she too is living on the streets. She is still deeply saddened by the loss of so many of her students and still does not have a complete count. Some have not only left PAP but the country. The Ministry will be having a Mass at the end of this month for those students and staff members killed at the school and hospital.
Plaza Hotel..made reservations for a Canadian construction contractor who will be visiting Haiti at the end of the month. It is a convoluted story of how I got connected with him but I was happy to be able to help a fellow Cdn. He may be interested in doing some construction work in Haiti, so I told him about the clinic we wish to build..so now Hope House is on the agenda for one of his stops while he is here so I can share more with him about our project.....you never know where it could lead!
Jospeh headed home from the hotel and I drove the rest of the wayback home, as I only had one more stop. It didn't make sense for him to drive me all the way back to Santo just to turn around and take public transport all the way back home. After each of us downed an icey cold coke we went our separate ways.
Visa Lodge...stopped by there to make reservations for the gang coming this week. We will enjoy lunch there Sunday after church.
From there it was clear sailing all the way home...I chose the right route as traffic was pretty light and I got back home in no time.
And that folks is what took me from 8:00 AM today until 3:30 this afternoon......I am a little bouke...(tired out)..are you too!!
I'm attaching a couple of pictures for your interest.
One is of an irrigation ditch in PAP. This is one of the biggest challenges for recovery work..trying to clear out some of the canals before the rainy season starts in earnest. As we headed to Joseph's the one crane was pulling stuff out of one of the canals. The sludge that it lifted was definately not a pretty site!
The second picture is of a crew of men taking down a building by brute force alone...they have a long way to go!
The EDH just came on, so I will say goodnight and go and take care of a couple of chores taking advantage of the electricty.
Have a good evening.
Debbie.
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