Sorry it's been 4 months...

Wow. I really did a poor job of updating this blog, and I apologize to those who check for updates! It’s the same as keeping a journal to me- I love the idea, and I have lots of things I want to remember and share with others, but I can’t make myself write about what has become my life. In the beginning everything was so new, and I wanted to write about all the differences that I came across, but now I kind of just find myself accepting things and not questioning them quite as much. I’m going to try to write some catch up things.. new things I’ve learned and experienced.

I’m going to start with WHERE DID THE TIME GO? I cannot believe I have just over two months left here… There was a period where time was going slowly, and now I can’t seem to slow it down! Just as in the end of any part of my life (high school, college) the end of my time here will be bittersweet. I am so happy in my decision to have come here and would not change it for anything. I love my life here, the people I’ve met, the ways in which I’ve grown, and all of the things I’ve learned about the world and myself. But on the other hand, I am also ecstatic to be going home. I am excited for all the plans I have, and the next steps I’m taking in my life. I feel like the experiences I’ve had here have impacted me in ways that have changed me forever. I’m so grateful to have that to carry around with me.

I told Ann I get especially sad about leaving when I’m eating an abriko, or swimming at Anse d’Azure, but when I talk to my friends and family at home I am equally excited to be able to see them regularly again. Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on the fact that I’m leaving… I’m still here and I want to share some new things…

A lot has happened in the 4 months since I last wrote. Port-au-Prince is still a mess… I feel that it will take a long time to get it back to the way it used to be, which wasn’t a great state anyway. I was in the capital for a few days over the last few months… and it’s hard to describe. In my personal opinion, Port-au-Prince was not a beautiful city to begin with, so besides collapsed buildings and tent cities it is difficult for me to point out changes. I’ve never spent more than a few days in the capital at a time, and cannot make my way around myself, so I cannot provide much detail. What I can say is what I’ve heard from others… For instance, that people are receiving aid in the tent cities so they do not want to move back into their homes even if they’ve been deemed safe to live in. I’ve heard that someone (the government? Aid organizations?) are thinking about giving an incentive to families hesitant to move home. Like, if you go back to your house, we’ll give you $50. They want to start clearing out the tent cities, which I can understand. But, even though I said people are receiving aid in the tent cities, I’ve also seen spray painting and signs outside that say “we’re hungry” and pictures of a crying Haiti… It boggles my mind and hurts me to know there’s no quick and easy way to ease the suffering.

Out here in Jeremie things are about the same. A lot of people have started going back to Port-au-Prince to pick up the pieces of their life and start over. People are looking for work, and going back to school or looking for a new school if theirs was destroyed. There were a few weeks where we didn’t have much gas/diesel out here and no city power, but there weren’t any MAJOR outages of anything. Of course there were thieves on the road to Port-au-Prince who stole food and supplies coming out to this region, but nothing horrific happened that I know of. There was a point for about a week when the US Army was here with supplies and checking out the situation around Jeremie. They helped HHF bring supplies from PAP on one of their cargo boats. There was not nearly as much on there that could have been on there, but it was still a great help.

HHF continues in the earthquake relief effort. There are still many families dealing with extra people that came from PAP, and lingering injuries. It’s as though it has become the norm now.

In the wake of everything that has happened, we have continued operations of all of our regular projects in addition to earthquake relief. For me this means mainly the Next Generation of Healthy Women program. Youth from 29 villages were trained in the Responsible Sexuality course, and we are now finishing up our “Girls Health Days” which now include boys as well. We take height, weight, hemoglobin, and blood pressure in order to check for malnutrition and give iron to anemic girls. We are focused on the girls that will be playing soccer this season. We want to make sure they are healthy enough to practice and play all summer. Johns Hopkins University nursing students are coming at the end of the month to help with the last two Girls Health Days.

We also have 2 med students down to study breastfeeding and prenatal care especially pertaining to women who came from PAP after the earthquake. It will be interesting to see what they find.. if there are any differences.

In May I went to Cap Haitien with Ann and another friend, but I will write another entry on that… Haiti has a crazy and interesting history, most of which none of us are taught in school, which is interesting in itself.

I promise to write more soon!