Life Isn't Easy

I started working more in the clinic over the last couple weeks.  Our main focus right now is ensuring that all of our kids are getting follow-up care when needed.  The problem is that we have a lot of kids with chronic health problems and they require close follow-up and care.  Unfortunately, it is really easy for these kids to fall through the cracks because we don't have a good system in place.  Then they do not receive the medical care that they need.  Therefore, I am creating a document on the computer for every child with a chronic illness.  It will include their name, birthday, a picture, their medical and social history, current treatments, and a plan for the future.  This way, if there is an issue, it will be very easy to locate the needed information and be sure to address the problem.  Unfortunately, this is NOT as easy as it sounds in theory.  The problem is that all of the old charts containing the information are handwritten, by doctors (who are not known for their handwriting), in French!  Imagine.  And, yours truly, is the one trying to interpret them.  Any nurse can definitely appreciate the difficulty in this.  To top it off, many of the entries are not in chronological order either.  It is very, very challenging and time consuming, but worth it.  This information will be so vital in providing better care for our kids in the future, so right now that is my goal.

Reading through some of these charts, and digging through the past, has taught me a great deal about the struggles that many of these children have had to endure.  For many of us, it is not fathomable.  Many of these kids were orphaned or abandoned at a very young age, and the orphanage life is all they know.  We don't even have accurate birthdays for some because they were too young to remember their birthday when they came here.  Many were accepted into St. Helene after they were hospitalized at St. Damien at one point in time because they were very ill, and nobody came back to the hospital to get them when it came time for discharge. 

The living situation here for the children is not ideal.  The houses are in bad need of repair.  Some houses have up to 15 or 20 kids living in them with one caretaker per house (the younger kids have 2 or 3 caretakers per house).  The kids sleep in damp, crowded bedrooms in bunkbeds.  Each child has one small cubbyhole or locker which contains all of their belongings.  The bathroom conditions in most of the houses are absolutely awful.  Some houses only have one bathroom.  The toilets badly need to be replaced and smell terrible.  The water that the kids receive in the houses is contaminated, although we have water filters.  Since the public power supply has been down in Kenscoff for the last few weeks, and the generator here at the orphanage needs to be replaced, we have not had a reliable source of electricity.  This means that the pumps, which pump water up to the kids houses, are not working.  Therefore, the kids must carry up all of their own water for drinking, bathing, etc.

I know that I've painted a pretty grim picture of life here.  But, I have to stop and force myself to think about the alternative.  If the kids didn't live here at St. Helene, they would be on the street somewhere.  They wouldn't have a bed, or three meals a day, or healthcare, or the opportunity for an education.  Orphanage or not, life is not easy in Haiti.  And one day, when our kids leave here, they will have to be able to survive out in the "real world" where daily life is an endless struggle.  Yes, I have seen a lot of difficulties here, but on the flip side, I have seen a lot of overcoming difficulties as well.  The children here are amazing.  They are, for the most part, very grateful for what they have.  They are always helping one another and looking out for one another.  And most important:  they are happy.  I can't walk outside for 5 minutes without one or more kids calling my name and running up to greet me with a smile, a hug, and a kiss.  So, it's worth it. 

Settling in

I've been here for a little over a week now and I finally feel like I am starting to get settled in and learn my way around.  I moved into my new room in the clinic.  It is actually pretty big.  I also have my own bathroom.  The only bad thing is that it is much, much louder in the clinic than in the retreat house.  So, I usually wake up to the sound of dogs barking in the middle of the night, and I usually hear the kids around 6:00am everyday.  This past week, we had a group of Canadian volunteers that came down to help with some improvements around the orphanage.  They accomplished a lot while they were here, and they were a ton of fun!  

The kids are great!  I met a group of teenage girls that want to teach me Creole, so I've been to their house a few times for Creole lessons.  The deal is, they teach me Creole and I teach them English.  Our "classes" are usually pretty interesting to say the least.  I was at their house the other day for our lesson, and was planning to leave when it started downpouring.  So, instead of leaving, the girls braided my hair.  It took forever, and it hurt, but the girls LOVED it! 

I know everyone has been wanting to see pictures!  I haven't taken too many around the orphanage yet, but here's a few of the kids:

And this is the BEAUTIFUL view from the porch of the retreat house.  The view is constantly changing every few minutes because of the high altitude and the clouds: