Finishing the race...

And now a word from your friendly local Canadian pharmacist in Haiti… 

 

Bonswa! 

For those of you not fluent in Creole, Bonswa means “Good Evening!”  We have just finished supper after a very busy Monday at the clinic.  For those of you that I know that work in pharmacy, let me share a typical day at our pharmacy.  Our days run from 8am until usually around 530 or 6pm.  The clinic sees on average about 120 patients per day and everyone gets a prescription.  And EVERY prescription goes through pharmacy (surprisingly there’s not a Shoppers Drug Mart nearby…)   On average we fill about 3 prescriptions per patient, everything from sunglasses to Tylenol to antibiotics and everything in between.  And the temperature is typically around 35C, not including humidity.  Oh yeah, and we hand-write our labels!  Very rarely do we leave our “cage” but from a small window where we hand out medications, we often see chickens wandering through the waiting area, quite a comical sight!  But our view is pretty cool – mango trees in the background!   The first day I had to become quite fluent in writing Creole (i.e.  1 konprime 3 fwa pa jou, si se nesese – I’ll let you guys translate that).  The difference here is that patients have an abundance of patience and seem to be very thankful for what they receive.  I couldn’t keep up with these busy days without a wonderful team around, which includes the inner circle (Elva and Scherlie, our interpreter – they’re great!), the nurses and Dr Le Roux (we often have mini-conferences to solve complex patient issues, not to mention their help pre-counting at night to help us prepare for the days to come), and everyone else associated with the clinic, especially Mignon and Noah who often come in to pharmacy to help us when we’re swamped (such maturity for such young age!) And Sharon has been an amazing leader, guiding us through all our challenges.

 And now for today’s news:

Started today with the time change – we had just got adjusted to the earlier time zone and the heat and then we had to get up and hour earlier today, but everyone was up bright and early for devotions. The interpreters arrived and the team was ready to start the clinic when we found out that they had arrived for breakfast, not realizing the time change. Then dinner was an hour late as the cooks didn’t realize the time change. 

 Elva had the privilege of giving away 3 goats today to older ladies who were caring for large families.  Each time Elva returned from her “goat presentation”, she had tears of joy running down her cheeks – it was very emotional.  One of the goats she gave away went to a lady who is caring for a 4 month old baby that had been abandoned at 4 weeks of age, I think we may have had pictures of them on the blog earlier this week from either their visit to the clinic or our ministry walk.(such a sweet baby)

The Moose Jaw team went out to distribute rice to a tent city in Grand Goave.  It sounds like it was quite a scene!

We presented our interpreters with their gifts at the end of the day – and were they happy!!  The gifts were quite simple, things that we might just toss aside but they received as if they’d just won the lottery!   

This is the view from our pharmacy window...mango tree hanging with mangoes!

 

What a privilege to give this lady a goat...

This has been a very special experience – not only for the experiences I have had with the Haitians I have interacted with, but also with the other team members – they’re an incredible bunch!  The clinic time has been too busy to fully absorb everything but experiences like the ministry walk, Sunday morning church, Saturday morning market, riding on top of the minivan to the beach through the countryside waving and saying “Bonswa!” to whoever we pass and watching the smiles we receive in return – all these things have been quite moving and really speak to the good character and caring-nature of the Haitians.

To those of you who’s birthdays I have missed while I have been away – I hope you forgive me and accept my Belated Birthday wishes.

Mom, Dad, Larry, Kelly, Treena, Kim – I think you understand why I chose today to blog.  I know we were all thinking of him today….. Dallas

Outpost Nursing 101...a learning on the job course!

If I would have known the impact on my life and Nursing career 10 days ago I would have been better prepared. National Geographic is a great program but, until you have hugged a scabies, infested Haitian, you have not lived! This is Outpost Nursing 101, listen to the story, assess, diagnose, treat, smile & hug, that’s all it takes! Ha!

The joy these people have is incredible despite some of their desperate conditions. On one of our “free” afternoons we walked through a nearby community. Their homes are very simple, no running water, electricity or heat, I believe 2-3rooms for a lot of family members. Outdoor grilling on the porch is the kitchen and the outhouse? Well, pick a mango tree! First come first serve.  But, don’t be fooled, they have a pride within themselves that many people I know could take a few lessons from. Despite these seemingly dismal conditions I have never seen so many well dressed good looking people in one area since the last wedding I attended!

Being the first group to work in the new clinic is an honor. We have running water, and   much more supplies than I would have dreamed! My new favourite toy?, the  portable pulse oximeter the size of a whistle!

Today Dr. Antoinette  and I did a surgical procedure under true Haitian sterile conditions, priceless! I am working with a very strong team and we work awesome together (at least I think so, maybe I am delusional from the heat!). I have thoroughly enjoyed working and spending time with both my sister-in–law Tannis and nephew Noah, time I will always cherish!    Jeanette



Jeanette ready to receive and care for a patient in her examing room...bring them on!



Haiti is arising!

It has been great being back and especially sharing this experience with my husband, Gord.  It has been amazing to see the progress made in Haiti itself and at Haiti Arise with  the Clinic building finished  and our team being able to utilize it for the first time.  They have done a nice job and are working on the landscaping and fence around the perimeter. The wall around the children’s village is complete, where last year they were just working on the North wall.  Then to see the new church building ( still temporary) but completely new and it looks like it accommodates a third more people and still every pew is completely full!  God is at work here!

The clinic has run well this week after the kinks were ironed out after our first day.  The team has functioned so well together and it has been an honor to work alongside our awesome translators.  The Haiti Arise complex is a beehive of activity from 7:00 to 5:00 pm with construction workers, cement mixers going, 300 children in school and 120 + people coming and going thru the clinic during those hours. 

It has also been great to share this experience with Doug and Joyce and Tannis and Noah from our church in Rocky Mountain House.  I’m sure we will never be the same after this experience!  The Lord is Good!  It is hard to believe tomorrow is our last day!  See you all soon!   - Ruth Stock



Mission walk visits with our translator Stevens.
Noah, Gord, Ruth and Jeanette

We apologize for this late blog but we have experienced.....lets just say 'internet challenges'.  The internet service is not what we are accustomed to. So if the font and organization is not evident in this blog it is because the blogger...Sharon...is exhausted and went to bed and left her baby sister to put it together....something I have never done before! Hope you can make sense of it and enjoy....Elva



Dallas, Cherlie and Elva