So you all may have heard about Hurricane Isaac by now. Here in Haiti, it was a category 1 storm. Lots of heavy rains all of a sudden, and winds strong enough to blow open clinic doors. I mentioned in a previous note that the roads are bad here: they are full of pot holes & unpaved for the most part in the villages. There is a clinic we go to in a village named "Ville de la Nativite". It is the poorest village of the clinics I go to. We had almost reached the clinic, when we got to a road that was mostly mud-filled pot holes. Dr. Eugene decided that he would drive his truck on the side of the road where trash was piled up. It looked pretty solid, but little did we know, there was water & mud underneath the trash...WE GOT STUCK.
So by now all of the children in the village were laughing & cheering at the truck getting stuck. And more & more people were coming out to stare. It was insane. So to add to our misery, up ahead, the men had dug a deep trench to prevent cars/trucks from getting through. You see, the village was built near the airport and large trucks had taken to making a shortcut through the village to get to the airport. So the men dug a ditch to prevent it...but they forgot that the good doctor also uses the road to get to the clinic...
So anyway, a bunch of men came to the truck and literally lifted the tires out of the mud. then they started to fill in the ditch with dirt so that we could drive over it. While that was happening, more men came and washed the mud off of the truck and the windows & mirrors. In Creole, they said that they have to help Dr. Eugene because he takes care of them. The entire situation was ridiculous, hilarious, and humbling. Here are some photos of my eventful morning! (the village of Nativite was created by a church in Virginia who had previously come there on a mission. they also built & are building most of the sturdy homes, and send meds & money to the people of the village)
Dr. Josephine Agbowo
Family Practice resident, PGY-3
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