A Delivery!!!

Last night, after the kids and I finished watching a movie (they're psyched that I'm here with my laptop; Sarah's laptop's DVD player stopped working a while ago), one of our clients came to Sarah's gate showing signs of labor! We took her next door into the clinic and Sarah got her all checked in (this was at 9:15pm). She was just slightly past her due date, so more or less on schedule, and she was already starting to make some rather vocal sounds in response to the contractions. (As exciting as my shadowing on the Labor and Delivery floor at the hospital by Haverford was, I never actually saw any of the lead-up to a birth, so this was pretty neat to be a part of!) Patricia, our client, did a lot of slow walking around in the clinic, and every now and then would yell gently for a while as a contraction passed.

Ninotte, the Haitian midwife who is on our team, gave her some simple exercises to do, just to keep her moving around, because the baby felt like its head wasn't quite oriented down. Sarah did an exam and Patricia was only at 4cm when she arrived, so it looked like it would be a long night! Melinda arrived, too, and we all planned on staying overnight in the clinic (in the other beds) - the midwives needed to be there, obviously, and they let me stay for the experience. :) After a couple hours, Melinda examined Patricia again - still at 4cm! At this point, they figured they only needed to check her every hour for a while, so Sarah and Melinda went to bed. Oh, and I didn't mention that Sarah was also babysitting a friend's 3 month old baby! I alternated between watching Ninotte work with Patricia, getting Patricia water, helping rock our little baby Mara to sleep so Sarah could get some rest, and sitting with Patricia. Ninotte went to sleep for a 1 hour nap around 11:45pm, and I sat up with Patricia and her sister, partly just to have someone there, and partly to make sure she kept moving around but not "pushing" yet. 

Ninotte happened to wake up slightly early, around 12:30, and came to sit with Patricia, so she sent me off to take a nap. Not 5 minutes after I had lay down, I heard a knock on my door, and the sister was there! She took me to the next room, where Patricia was standing - her water had just broken! I went and found Ninotte and Melinda, who got her cleaned up and checked her out. Patricia's contractions got way more intense, and finally she looked like she was about to fall over, so Ninotte and the sister helped her into a crouch on a sterile, absorptive, plastic mat they had put on the floor in her room earlier. Suddenly, we could see the baby's head! It has happening! Right before anyone saw, Patricia said "the baby's coming!" (in Creole) - this is her third child, and she knew exactly what was happening. She gave birth very quickly, at 12:50 or 12:55 (Ninotte had woken up just in time!!), standing more or less in a crouch and supported by her sister. 

Melinda explained to me later that midwives are there to protect the birth space, and to keep it all as natural and safe as possible. They don't try to get the mother in any particular position - however it happens, whatever the position, they will support the mother and make sure things go smoothly. I was very surprised to see the delivery happen when Patricia was in a squatting position, but apparently most positions are better than the lying-back position used in hospitals because the baby has to come down the birth canal but then come up over a bump in the pelvic bone. It can make birth a lot harder and take longer. Interesting that the standard birthing position in US hospitals is made to be convenient for the docs, but much less convenient/easy for the mother and baby. Hmm. 

Anyway, after the placenta came out and was placed in a plastic dish, Melinda and Ninotte got Patricia and Baby Boy snuggled up together on the bed for the first nursing. Interestingly, they don't bother cutting the cord until a while later (either a few hours later, or even in the morning). It's more important to let the mom and baby bond together for a while, without interrupting that. Also, in order to help educate the people who come to give birth in the clinic, we use a different type of "cord-cutting" method here. Since people often don't understand how important it is to thoroughly boil and sterilize the scissors or knife, cutting the cord can be a major risk for infecting the newborn or exposing it to tetanus. Instead, the midwives here have adopted the practice of using a candle to burn the cord. Since it is wet, it doesn't catch fire, but it creates a safe, clean break that is more likely to heal without infecting the little one. And hopefully, the clients will share this tip with other people who don't come to the clinic. Pretty cool, isn't it? 

The mosquitos in Haiti are magic...

The mosquitos here are INVISIBLE. Well, not really, but I literally have yet to see a single one! I must have about 15 bites on me by now, despite my thorough use of permethrin and deet, but the closest I've come to actually seeing a mosquito is when I heard that telltale hum in my ear, once. I don't know if that particular one even bit me, considering that nearly all of my bites are below my knees. Go figure. I'm not too concerned about it because a) everyone here is very relaxed about mosquitos (no one seems worried at all, and I think I'm the only person taking any personal precautions whatsoever, like permethrin and deet... and some people don't even bother to sleep under a mosquito net) and b) I still feel 100% healthy.

People here are very relaxed about a lot of things, it seems. Life moves pretty slowly. The clinic is open until 4, I think (and the midwives are also on-call 24/7), and after that, everyone generally slows waaay down. We might go to the beach, take a nap, sit and read, hang out, talk on the phone... it's super chill. I think the heat may have something to do with it - even before I started settling into this lifestyle, my body wanted to slow down and nap because it's just so hot! (Although, as I write this, we're getting our first little bit of rain since I got here - just a sprinkle - which should help cool it down a bit!) There's also not a whole lot to do after the clinic closes, other than hang with the kids, relax, or take a mini trip somewhere (to the beach or into town, although it's a lot hotter in town). I think it's the same for lots of people here, because I often see people just sitting and lounging around outside on their porches and steps. It's actually really nice right now, because the rain is coming down a bit more, cooling everything down, pitter-pattering on our tin roof... and in the background, I can hear a lot of music coming from a school or church that's a couple buildings away. It's really great singing, with lots of strong voices, harmonies, and a bit of melodic and percussive accompaniment! 

I had a slow start to my morning on Tuesday, because when I went downstairs to eat and study some Creole, it wasn't long until (first) Marie-Paul was talking my ear off and (second) the house filled up with crazy kids running and yelling and playing! I finally gave up and gave in - and had a blast goofing off with the kids. Rosna (Sebastian and Marie-Paul's pseudo-adoptive-daughter), Jeangadi (a little HIV-positive boy who Sarah takes care of), Rosalinda aka Dada (a little girl Sarah takes care of during the week), Zigi (a young boy who comes around sometimes, jokingly called the local delinquent), Franky (the most adorable, sweet, little guy who stole your heart, probably 2 or 3 years old), and Danayelle (the 13-year-old who lives with Sarah) were all there. Danayelle was helping cook lunch, but all the kids were climbing on each other (and me), playing with toy cars and trucks, taking turns singing... it was quite a romp. Turns out hanging out with kids can really help with language practice, too! My Creole is coming along.

From left to right: Dada, Jeangadi, and Rosna, sitting in the hammock outside the second story door at my house.

Rosna is SO silly and giggly, all the time!

Later in the day, we went to another beach, and this one has calmer/cleaner waves so it's a major swimming beach. I can officially add the Caribbean to my growing list of waters in which I've paddled about this summer! It was so very warm, but still helped us cool off. While we were sitting at a table on the beach, a bunch of boys (probably mostly age 10-15, give or take) were roaming the beach, each carrying a machete and a few coconuts. They came over and handed them to us or set them down by the table, and unless were told otherwise, walked off (grinning at their friends/competitors) knowing they had just made a sale that they would collect on later. (Sidenote - one of them had a smile that looked SO MUCH like my cousin Andrew, it was disconcerting!) They would hack off the tip of the coconuts, just enough until there was a quarter-sized hole, which allowed us to drink all the sweet coconut water from the inside. After we finished that tasty/messy treat, they would eventually pass by again and hack the coconuts in half and also cut off a little skinny slice of the outer layer of shell - this created two halves, or bowls, that had a thin layer of soft, somewhat slimy coconut "meat", and the little skinny slice of shell became a spoon of sorts! Pretty clever. Finally, well after we were finished, the kids came around to collect their reward - 25 goudes per coconut (about 50 cents!). 

Here's Sarah with her coconut!

Aaaand here's my coconut after I destroyed it!

One of the really common street foods here (sort-of like french fries, both in how much they're served and eaten, and in how they're made) is fried plantains. They're super tasty! Usually, they're sold with other food, just on the side of whatever main meat or fish thing you're buying to eat or snack on. A bit of ketchup goes very well with them - still sounding a lot like french fries? ;) The plantains are also quite good when eaten raw, like a banana. We had them as a side with our fish the other night; they pretty much come with everything. 

First Day!

July 23 (evening)

I had a slow day today, which was nice because I'm still getting oriented and comfortable. I slept in and then took a shower (but couldn't figure out how to work the shower so instead scooped clean water from a bucket under a faucet in the shower). Turns out showering is going to be a night-time activity for me, because I proceeded to cover myself in Deet lotion and then sunscreen after my nice, cool shower. (I haven't yet mentioned the obvious, but it is HOT AND HUMID here!! I actually woke up and was chilly enough to put my top sheet on in the middle of the night, but other than that, I feel perpetually sticky. no, perpetually soaked sounds more accurate.)

I ended up spending much of the first day sitting around in Sarah's house. By the time I got over here, an eventful morning had passed by already in the clinic - one woman called and said she was having contractions, but gave birth at home before she could come here! I went over and met two women who work at the clinic (one is an assistant/receptionist, I think, and I forget her name, and the other is a student midwife, named Ninotte. Ninotte was finishing her third and last post-partum check-up of the morning, but things are pretty relaxed so she didn't mind coming and meeting me in the middle of it. She also speaks english (and maybe french, too? I haven't tried yet), and is going to Cali with Melinda sometime soon to take her midwifery exam. 

Sarah employs a woman to take care of upkeep around her place and keep an eye on the kids who come in and out for food and company. Two kids live with Sarah, and there are 1 or 2 others who come by Sarah's place or the volunteer house around mealtimes (or whenever, just to hang or play or eat). So there are a lot of good people all around all the time! In the middle of the afternoon, I was nodding off, so the woman working here (Mirlande? still learning all the names!) told me to use one of the kids' beds and take a nap... which ended up stretching out for TWO hours!! ha. whoops. 

There was supposed to be a poker night on the beach with other expat friends of Sarah's, but most of them cancelled so it was just me, Sarah, Melinda, and Ninotte. We drove down through town (I exchanged dollars for my first gourdes!) to the beach in Jacmel bay, and sat at a table in the lovely, strong beach breezes and ate a tasty dinner of fish cooked in a yummy sauce, fried plantains, avocado, and beer. After sitting and talking and laughing for a while, we finally came home, and here I am! I'm excited to follow Melinda to the clinic tomorrow morning (Sarah has to drive a friend to Port Au Prince at 4am, poor girl, so she'll be back around 10 or 11am at the earliest). 

Sarah was telling me that whites are usually approached and spoken to a lot, either to ask for money, sell something, or just generally chat and get to know a person, but so far I haven't felt that singled out. I haven't even felt stared at! A couple of people have said Bonjou or Bonswa as we pass, which is a pretty typical benign interaction. I like it here so far! And it was especially nice/beautiful down by the beach tonight. :)

So far I feel safe and healthy, despite 4 mosquito bites from the first evening before I had access to my Deet - whoops! I'm applying my 12 hour slow-release Deet lotion twice a day so far... but Sarah and Melinda claim that after being here for a while and getting bit some at the beginning, they don't even notice the mosquitos' presence anymore. Interesting. Sarah takes no preventative meds and doesn't use any Deet or other repellant products - she's had dengue once and malaria once, and seems pretty laid back and unfazed about it. 

Bonswa! xoxo

Byenvini!!

Monday, July 23 (morning)

I arrived last night! There are so many things to say and describe and tell! So exciting!

After a strange 1.5 to 2 hour delay in boarding the flight from Miami to Port Au Prince (they couldn't find the flight attendants!), I was on my way. I sat next to a friendly lady who lives in Boston but grew up in Haiti - she was on her way back to visit a couple family members in Port Au Prince for 2 weeks. We flew over some gorgeous islands (the Bahamas, I think), as well as Cuba and Jamaica! Finally, we were flying over Haiti and the nice woman next to me pointed out what was what. Over Port Au Prince, we got a pretty close-up view of the roofs of shanty town after slum after shanty town.

Our arrival in the airport was fairly normal compared to any other very small airport that has some construction going on, until we got to immigration and baggage claim. They had 4 immigration desk stations set up, and my airplane friend said they didn't even have those last time she was here. Going through was very easy, but getting our baggage was a crazy adventure! They had a luggage carrousel running, and when luggage started to come out, there must have been at least 15 guys with white shirts and ID tags who started pulling a bunch of it off. It turns out that it was a necessary step, as the carrousel kept bringing more and more and more luggage out, and at times was almost overloaded even with all these guys pulling stuff off! The other thing the men in white shirts were doing was taking people's checked bag tags and locating their luggage for them (probably for a tip?). 

I got my big bag on my own pretty quickly, but my backpack wasn't showing up after a while and neither was my airplane friend's checked bag. (We never got around to exchanging names, if you hadn't noticed by now.) After a while, one of the men in white shirts came in with a big ol' sign that said "Kelsey Capron OTP" in big, colorful, marker-made letters. My driver, Silas, had sent this guy in to retrieve me and my bags. He located my backpack just as my friend found her bag, so we grinned at each other and waved goodbye as I followed my new temporary guide. Boy, was I grateful to have a pro there helping me through the airport! He knew when I needed to hand over which immigration/customs paper, and then bee-lined it through this crowd and that crowd and this outdoor hallway and that sidewalk. The indoor area of the airport was actually quite small, and then it was just a bit of a walk out to where Silas was waiting. 

Silas had a blue pickup truck and three Haitian-American passengers who had arrived by plane (a few hours before; they had to wait a while for my delayed flight) and were also headed to Jacmel. Silas speaks a fair amount of english, and the three others were about my age and had lived in the States for at least 5 or 10 years (after growing up in Port Au Prince), so they spoke pretty good english. They recently founded an organization in NJ that is sponsoring an orphanage down here near Jacmel, so they're here for a week or two to check it out. Everyone in the car was super nice and friendly, although a lot of the 3 hour car ride from Port Au Prince was spent with Creole conversations flying around while I watched my new world fly past the window. I didn't mind so much, because it's just the start of my immersion and I want to learn! 

The drive was incredible. First, we had a long drive through the streets of Port Au Prince, which looks (unsurprisingly) a whole lot like all the photos we see in the news and online; there are still some crumbling buildings destroyed in the earthquake, piles of rubble here and there, the occasional building being rebuilt (pretty much always rough cinderblock and cement, from the looks of it)... but at the same time, it wasn't always obvious that there had been an earthquake. There were areas where it was just a mass of little cube rooms/structures made of sticks and tarps, and there were areas where all the buildings were cement, painted in all kinds of bright, bright colors. Sometimes the paint was faded and flaking, sometimes it looked fresh and new. Many of the streets were drowning in shallow rivers of water flowing along because of water pipes that are still broken throughout the city. There are humongous piles of trash in some of the streets, or along the sides.

Lots of people were walking around, and at one point, a little boy with a rag came and started to wipe the front of the car down until Silas waved him away. Some businesses looked like they might be doing ok, but many looked old and closed, too. Sometimes we would drive past a group of houses/structures with a central courtyard with a fair number of people sitting or wandering in it - apparently their kitchens are usually outside on the ground rather than in the house.

The vehicles were a mix of cars (just like anywhere else I've been), motorbikes, and these trucks and buses that have been painted with every bright color you can imagine - they look like they're coming straight out of the 70's! English words like "peace," "love," "generosity," etc. were painted all over them, as well as stuff like "Jesus loves." Quite a sight to see! They were all set up with long, skinny benches in the backs (some form of public/private transportation). Driving through the city was an experience, because everyone goes really fast whenever there's room to shoot forward, everyone honks seemingly all the time (whenever they need to get someone's attention, warn them they're coming, say "look out!", communicate that they're annoyed they did something, etc...), and no one follows any rules other than self preservation and honk a lot. I started to feel slightly carsick early in the drive, and it persisted for the next 3 or 3.5 hours (it took a while after our arrival for me to feel human again).

After we got out of the city, the drive was actually quite beautiful! We could see the sea at first, which was awesome, and the vegetation on both sides was so big and lush and green! Banana trees were everywhere, along with other large tropical trees and plants. The hills and mountains started to slope up around us and then under us after not too long, and we had a winding, drive up for quite a while. Every now and then, we'd drive through a small town, or maybe just a house, or a group of people walking along, or one of the crazy-looking rainbow buses flying down the road past us. Luckily, it was a paved road the whole way, with a short metal fence along the edge that wasn't a mountain wall. The views of mountains and ocean and sunset were all quite beautiful, and I tried to take photos when my hands weren't full of holding onto the handle on the ceiling of the truck. Oh, and did I mention that the backseat (where we were sitting) didn't have functional seat belts? Just another thing to instill a little sense of security! 

At some point, we stopped for some paper plates of fried plantains and pork, and Silas also got me a Coca Cola (the bubbles helped a bit with the slight motion sickness). I ate a bit, and it tasted good, but I couldn't stomach too much food due to the driving. Anyway, we drove and drove and drove, until finally I started to feel almost as if this was all the existed - driving fast in the truck, swerving mountain roads, beautiful views, slight queasiness, wind in my face if the window was open, Creole conversations swirling around me, and more driving... After the sunset, we finally wound down the mountain to Jacmel as dusk and then darkness fell (about 8pm). There had just been a soccer game in town and the winning team/fans were marching and cheering and singing through part of the street as we came into town, which was exciting to see! Lots of happy people.

Finally, Silas dropped me off at Sarah's place, and I went in to sit and chat with her while we waited for Melinda, another Canadian midwife (and also my roommate!). Sarah is super nice, and friendly, and really easy to talk and sit with. She seems very down to earth. :) Melinda arrived after a visit at the hospital to check up on a patient (a kid who apparently choked and had to have an xray to see if the blockage was moving down into his stomach, and his mom was hitting him to scold him for choking...). She is also very nice and friendly and easy to get along with, so I feel like I'm in good company! 

We dragged my rumbling suitcase on wheels as well as a jug of clean water on a dolly cart over to the volunteer house where I'll be staying. The house is similar to other houses around here, made of cement mainly, with slightly decorative metal grates installed in the windows (no glass), a sturdy metal gate outside the house and another for a front door, both locking with padlocks. To get upstairs (where our bedrooms are), you walk around the outside of the house (inside the tall, solid fence) to the back, where there's a cement staircase built against the outer fence and inner wall. It takes you up to the roof above the kitchen, and you walk around to the front where there's a second big, metal, lockable door. Everything is pretty simple, but we seem to have all the necessities. There's an underground water tank that a truck fills with clean water periodically, and when there's electricity (almost always at night, and sometimes during the day) we have to pump the water up to a tank on the roof. That allows for water pressure in the sinks and shower. 

I'm rooming with Melinda, and in the other bedroom upstairs is a French Canadian couple, Sebastian and Marie-Paul. They're very kind and friendly (seeing a pattern yet?), and they have lived down here on and off for about 3 years now. It sounds like they're getting a little worn out, but they've taken a 4 year old girl named Rosna ("roze-nah") into their care... they aren't allowed (by Canadian law) to adopt her, but they've effectively been her parents for quite some time now. They found her when she was extremely malnourished and weak and almost developmentally stunted, due to lack of care from her biological parents, so now they've fallen for her. They claim that they're not planning on staying for more than 1 year from now, but Sarah (and myself) somehow doubt that at this point... They're renting a place in Jacmel and will move in in a few days as soon as it is ready. It's been nice to get their perspectives on Haiti - Marie-Paul came here for the first time in '69 and has been coming on and off ever since, sometimes for extended periods of time. And I get to speak French or English with them! Also, they like to talk. A lot. ;)

IT'S GO TIME

Sunday, July 22 (posted after it was written, since I don't have constant internet; this will be common for some of my posts now)

Sorry guys! As soon as family vacation started, I was too distracted by fun and great adventures to blog. To make a long story short, my cousin Laura and I had an awesome time in Paris for 5 days, then the Oslo wedding was incredible and beautiful (plus an exciting jump off the boat into the fjord!), and it was wonderful to be with a big Rekedal/Bjordal clan again, then a week in the south of Spain was really fantastic! Lots of beach time - I swam a few times in the Mediterranean, once in the Atlantic (when we went to Tarifa, the southern-most tip of Spain), and spent the rest of the time on the sandy beaches, in the pool, or eating tapas with great sangria. That was the life! We got to explore a great number of cities and towns nearby, too - Almayate, Malaga, Granada (+Alhambra!), Tarifa, Marbella (sp?), Frigiliante (sp??), and other places. All in all, QUITE a vacation! 

Anyway, as you see in this post's title, IT'S GO TIME!!! I'm sitting on my first of two flights to Haiti as I write this! AHH so crazy!! I got back to the states on Monday night, and here I am, off on my way once again. I spent most of this week running around trying to find everything I need and everything I was asked by Olive Tree Projects to bring with me... I'd say I was mostly successful! I got all the vital stuff taken care of, anyway. An unsavory highlight would be spraying all my clothes with smelly/toxic permethrin in preparation for anti-mosquito needs. I also had to do some hunting around for tinctures and things that a midwife requested I pick up - I found almost everything, so I hope that works out!

One thing I have already learned about myself this trip: I SHOULD NOT BOOK EARLY MORNING FLIGHTS. :P My flight from Boston is a 6:40am departure, so I had ordered a taxi for 4:45 this morning. That was doomed to fail... but somehow it didn't! I woke up to my 4am alarms, but somehow didn't make it far enough into consciousness to actually get up. Luckily, SOMEHOW, I found myself waking up at 4:37! I got ready SO fast, and caught my taxi no problem! I noticed the time just after we started driving away - 4:46. WINNER. So far I have yet to realize I forgot anything. But the point is, early mornings and travel deadlines are a potentially deadly combination and I should avoid them at all costs. Plus I feel super tired and sleep-deprive-y. 

Ok - now I'm in Miami at my layover before my second/final flight to Port Au Prince!! The man sitting behind me on my flight from Boston was totally speaking Creole - I caught a few words! Super excited/nervous/having butterflies!! 

I'm not sure what to write about right now - my head is such a sleepy excited mess of thoughts and feelings and butterflies flying all over the place... but I feel like this is the final moment and I should have something poetic or thoughtful to say. Maybe I'll figure it out on the flight over. Probably not - the excitement and nervousness is only going to increase at this point. (I'm typing strangely fast right now.)

Random tangent! My friend Jenny is in Haiti right now, and is also blogging about her experiences. I took a look at her blog and she had some more suggestions for interesting or informative books that she read before going to Haiti... so I went and bought them, to add them to my stack of books. I'm excited to read them but feel a little silly because I fell so behind on that "reading list" I had set up for myself this summer. At this point, including the 2 new books, I still have 5 books to read! Ah well, they all look great and I brought them along, so I'm sure I can find some time to continue my reading. 

My self-imposed summer "reading list" in its entirety is as follows:

Haiti: After the Earthquake (Paul Farmer) - my current book

Infections and Inequalities (Paul Farmer)

Mountains Beyond Mountains (Tracy Kidder, but written about Paul Farmer)

The Rainy Season (Amy Wilentz)

The Serpent and the Rainbow (Wade Davis)

done: Cutting for Stone (Abraham Verghese)

done: Haiti: The Tumultuous History - From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation (Philippe Girard)

done: Pathologies of Power (Paul Farmer)

done: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Anne Fadiman)

I also have my independent study Creole books/CD to work with whenever I have some free time - I want to become able to communicate in Creole as fast as possible! 

And finally, if I really need some kind of fun distraction that doesn't serve a purpose (i.e. if I need to have fun and escape any responsibilities, even those that are self-imposed)... I have the NPR Radiolab podcasts! My cousin Laura turned me onto Radiolab this summer when she visited me in Paris, and I'm HOOKED. I made sure to download all the podcasts (they're free!) before heading out on my journey. 

Well, at this point, I this post is clearly just becoming me trying to convince myself that I've thought of everything and I'm super ready, but I should just turn my brain off and calm down. :)

One last thing. It's a strange group of us sitting here at the gate, waiting for the flight. At first, it was more what I would have expected... I was suddenly a minority (white girl and a lot of people who could be Haitian). But now, I look around again, and... the most prominent thing I see is a group of young men (maybe in their 20's or 30's?) wearing bright blue t-shirts that say Blessed2Bless. There are a couple of groups of typical looking white teenagers, maybe on youth group trips. Earlier, when I was one of 2 or 3 total white people sitting in this area, I felt a little weird - not because I was suddenly becoming a minority, but because the first big group of teens to arrive bee-lined for me and sat all around/by me. Chew on that. Well anyway. 

All my love to family and friends! I'll have internet access at the clinic, so expect more updates for sure! SUPER PUMPED.