It has been two months since we left for Haiti. Haiti is more like Togo, my country: the culture and lifestyles are very similar to those of Togo, except that Togo is better-off economically. That's hard to believe: you can't believe how much poverty there is around here. Women with ten kids who are trying so hard to find some way to feed those kids while their husbands sit home.
It makes my heart ache to see all that. Some of them come to us for help, and we do what we can; but we can't take care of all the problems. Sometimes I'm homesick, but I'm going to leave in June; these people are here to stay.
I have been working at the clinic whenever I'm needed, and everytime I'm there I end up having a tear before I come home. Too many people with typhoid and malaria at the same time, who can barely keep themselves up -- often for lack of clean water. Sometimes we'll have forty patients, 10 of whom will have typhoid and malaria and 15 of them just have malaria. It's sad but true, and nerve-wracking.
I'm enjoying living with Ivy: she's the most remarkable lady I have ever seen. She's got four orphan kids under her wings at the moment, plus five others who live with her, who have grown up with her (some with families of their own, but who still are associated with the household).
I sit and watch this 86 year-old lady running the show and I'm in awe. We get along well, and I learn more and more about her 50 years in Haiti. I came to discover that she likes to garden, so I put a garden in for her. Andy doesn't have to twist her arm to play Scrabble, nearly every night since we came.
Thad loves his school and looks forward to each new school day. He's starting to pick up a few Creole words (including some bad, but that's the way of kids learning languages!), and a couple of songs he's learning in school.
The school is a little "unstructured", to put it kindly: one day I went to his class and found that Thad was whipping his classmates with a small branch. I made him stop, and asked him what he thought he was doing: "That's what the teacher does when the student is talking in class," he replied. Since there was no teacher in the room, I guess he had taken over! I quickly put a stop to that.
Andy just got over his malaria and the rash he got while suffering. I'm sure it feels good not have a fever, chills, itching, and upset stomach.
I miss you all, and hope that things are going well. I'll write more next time.
Anna