Today we had the pleasure of meeting with Ashley Dahlberg who is leading SOIL's efforts in the north which include the Shada Clinic. We had a productive discussion regarding the clinic which recently added a second day each week. It is now open both Wednesdays and Fridays. The Team will visit the clinic Wednesday with Ashley as I have never seen it before and hope to learn more about their needs. I also hope to help out in the clinic on Fridays and will potentially be using it as one of the sites for a malaria research project I am conducting as part of my work here.
For Haiti with Love
We also had the opportunity to meet with Pastor Presume and Roseline Dehart of For Haiti With Love. The organization operates a clinic in Cap that has a focus on treating burn victims. Burns are a very common injury for those in Haiti, particularly children. Burning trash and open charcoal cooking stoves unfortunately lead to many potential accidents.
The nurses at the clinic said that they typically see in excess of 60 people each day and are busiest in the morning. Burn victims are treated free of charge at the clinic and given follow up appointments for additional care of their wounds and re-bandaging. We arrived at the clinic to the cries of a 4-year old boy who had just been bandaged up for burns on his torso and both forearms. He had been pushed into a charcoal stove while playing with some other children. While I am confident that the good work For Haiti with Love is doing will help heal him, the obvious pain he was in and the look on his face is emblazoned in my memory (photo below).
The nurses at the clinic gave us a list of needed supplies and we hope to soon be able to help them out with those as we expect several shipments to arrive at any time. They reported that at times they even run out of the cream they use to treat the burns and gauze making it difficult for them to serve patients at all.
Our last stop of the day was the Orphanage and school that For Haiti with Love Operates. They have 50 girls at the orphanage who were all wonderful and had a great time joking with me in my limited Kreyol and playing with the hair on my arms (I have found that most children in Haiti are fascinated by this). The girls all looked very healthy and that is testament to the work they do their at the orphanage. They also operate a 1st through 6th grade school that has 158 students including the orphans. (Sorry we don't have a better picture but Dr. Kaplan says a professional photographer will be Team's next addition.)
It was a very productive day and we look forward to more to come!
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