..some of the things we have learned…

I cannot believe my month is coming to an end and I’m heading home in a day.  I apologize to all my friends and family for not e-mailing more often, if at all, but it’s been very hard to put thoughts into words — I found myself mostly unable to do much more than take it all in.  I am quite certain that I will be processing all that I have seen, heard, experienced, and felt for a long, long time to come.

It is really, really nice to think of being home again but I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about it.  Dan did remind me that I would never be the same after this month.  What we didn’t talk about was the fact that I wouldn’t know what to do with it all.  The poverty; the sadness; the destruction; the respect, care and love for each other; the suffering; the trust; the deep and genuine trust in God; the deep felt pain that is only expressed through the crying that comes with the physical pain of PT….

I have never seen children cry such a deep felt painful cry from anything – certainly not from a PT stretch.  We have 2 kids whose cry is clearly so much more than the physical pain… it comes from a place children (noone for that matter) should know.

Throughout the month I tried hard not to think of the details of our patients stories, but a month was long enough time for them to want to talk.  It is heartbreaking to look at them now and have a vision of their hours or days in the destruction of the earthquake — there is the little 4 year old girl who lost her 2 sisters, her mom, an unborn sibling and a leg; the 11 year old girl who was found 2 days later and has lost both her legs; the mom and dad who had severe injuries and lost a daughter that was lying in bed between them; and the 23 year old young man that was trapped head down for 4 days without food or water and has lost a leg.  The stories go on…….

In the midst of all of that they are all moving forward and grateful to be alive.  In spite of all the suffering and the incredible poverty of Haiti, most I have met talk about how grateful they are to God for all that they have been given!  There is nothing more humbling than to hear that from another human being who lives in a square room without electricity or water and who cannot pay for school and medicine and cannot eat everyday.  They thank us, with such heart felt gratefulness, for leaving our loved ones and our lives behind to come take care of their ‘family’.   And they have given me so much more than I could ever give them!

So, in a mixture of emotions from much sadness to laughter, here are some of things we have learned while working here in Haiti:

• yes, it is possible to have an open fracture (huge one), gait training, and a tarantula in the same room at the same time
• you have not known heat until you have been in Haiti…. more specifically, until you have done physical therapy while wearing heavy cotton scrubs (the kind that glues to your body) while working in Haiti
• a medical history can (and should) include – ‘when was the last time you ate?’ and ‘how frequently do you eat’?
• custom made braces can, and do, fit many people
• a trickling shower CAN be the ‘best shower you have ever had’
• yes, it is possible to have 4 children and an adult on a motorcycle
• waiting… for hours…. can be a daily and natural occurrence in one’s life
• open wounds can (sometimes) heal well despite the most unsanitary of conditions
• a cold soda can be the most amazing thing in the world
• it is quire possible, and very probable, that in your sweatiest and dirtiest day you were still in a better place than Mary and I at the end of each of our days this last week
• ice cubes can be the most amazing gift to a hungry child…..yes, just plain ice cubes
• scabies ARE contagious
• being inside a building with a cement ceiling can be very scary
• it is possible to see Mary Jean speechless
• it is possible to have absolutely nothing and yet have everything
• when you put it all together, it is impossible to spend time in Haiti and not want to come back….. my next trip is already scheduled for July!

Here are a few more pictures to help share our experience while in Les Cayes, Haiti…

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