February 18, 2008 Well I stayed up for some reason last night, but my roommate was kind enough to let me sleep in this morning; however, I did not know that I could sleep in this morning because I had no idea what time we were supposed to get up. So I get up this morning because somebody knocked on our room door, I just ignored it. Then I look over and realize that my roommate was gone and that I was all alone. I thought they had left me and that was my warning knock to get out of bed. Anyway, I got ready by taking a "shower" in our broken shower, thanks to me, and it was more like an experience down at the watering hole rather than a shower. I wonder if they are going to fix it while we are here, probably not. Brushing your teeth is another hilarious task because I sit there using filtered water from my Nalgene because I cannot use the faucet water: Poor a little for your toothbrush, poor a little for your mouth. I had breakfast and it was wonderful again. An omelet with fresh pineapple, I could really get used to that breakfast. I mean back home all I do is eat a bowl of cereal. I missed the devotional they had because I came down late and I had to stuff my face, and thank God I did because I had no idea what was in store for me later. Anyway, we separated into two groups: The Hospital and Batey 7 groups.
I did not know what to expect riding over to Batey 7. We drove the streets of Barahona and it was not too bad. People here dress just like they do in the States. Here and there you see people dressed nicely from head to toe and others that are not dressed so nicely. Everyone rides around on bikes to save gas and it is easier to maneuver throughout the city that way. After picking up our interpreters, we started heading into the Bateys. There are about 20 Bateys and they are the poor regions of town which the government does not believe deserve to be named because they are so lowly. The roads to these destinations are gravel roads in some spots and paved road in others. They grow lots of sugar cane and bananas to make a living. I cannot wait to upload my pictures when I get back so you guys and see what I am talking about. If Brian did not hold me up on Friday I would have been packed and I would have brought my cables. But I digest; these areas are populated by poor Haitians and Dominican Republicans. Their houses are like little shacks and I have been told we are supposed to be going to poorer areas during the week. I cannot imagine too much poorer, I mean these people were living in shacks. When we arrived to the Clinica del Bueno Samaritan, you could see a few people starting to gather for treatment. The clinic was surrounded by a white stone fence that helps to keep order throughout the day. Well, I would not say order because you will see that things get a little out of hand for one part of our group.
I struggled, along with Rachel, to figure out what was wrong with the patients. We were the start of the triage unit. We were not working for long and all of sudden the crap hits the fan. As Rachel and I interpret the patients names, age, residence, nationality, and symptoms I heard these kids screaming. The screams only lasted for a few minutes, so I didn't think anything of it. The screams were the type of screams that you hear when kids are having fun. Well they were having fun alright robbing four of our girls of all their arts and crafts supplies. Let me paint a picture, the victims Johnette, Angela, Darian, and Jennifer and the culprits 150 to 200 children. Each woman was initially working with a group of ten kids and everything was peaceful in this Batey 7 church. Then word must have spread throughout the Batey that there were beads and trinkets available for the taking, all you have to do is show up to the church. In this short time, hundreds of children swarmed the church while Rachel and I were diligently figuring out everyone's symptoms. Meanwhile, the children piled on top of the women taking anything they could grab. One victim explained that one of the children grabbed a bag full of beads and the beads flew throughout the church. As they flew the bead carnivores picked up every single bead they could grab. The women wanted to make puppets for the children, so they brought a bunch of brown paper bags. Well, the children used the paper bags to gather Popsicle sticks, beads, and fishing line. One victim asked, "What are they going to do with the Popsicle sticks?" Only God knows that answer. Some of the women had their personal belongings in the church with them as well. As one of them managed to claw her way out of the pile she realized their bags were vulnerable and jumped in the way of 20 paws trying to run off with their belongings. By the way, this is not a joke . . . this crap happened! None of the women were hurt physically, but their pride . . . their pride faded a little today.
After this nonsense ended, my ability of adaptation kicked in and helped me interpret on my own the names, ages, etc. of the patients. By the time it kicked in, we had our lunch break and I was very thankful for the breakfast I took time to eat. They made us hamburgers and these hamburgers were literally ham – burgers. They had lettuce, green tomatoes, a slice of ham, a burger (maybe?) and some cheese. I pulled out the burger and cheese ate that with three pieces of pineapple and two beef empanadas. I hope that helped me lose a pound or two.
No comments:
Post a Comment