Back in Terrier Rouge

It is hard to sum up the feeling of Haiti right now. When we returned back to Terrier Rouge last Sunday there was a definite sadness in the air. The whole town felt a little different. Every family in the whole country has a member living in Port Au Prince, or at least friends or distant relatives. Everyone has a story to tell about how the earthquake has affected them personally. Everyday T.R seems to grow a little bit more as family households fill with people leaving Port Au Prince. Obed, a man Meredith works with now has 16 people living in his house and more want to come. It is difficult to imagine how one city really does affect the whole country. There is a woman here who was in a building in Port Au Prince during the earth quake and was the only survivor in her family, she was pulled out of the rubble and saw that her sister, mother and son did not make it. She was so distraught she was just screaming and crying and saying how she was afraid to go to sleep. Another young girl rode all the way from PAP in a bus with a broken pelvis up to T.R. One of our friends lost both of her sisters and another friend lost her cousin who was in medical school there … and those are just a few of the stories.

Meredith has been very busy with the clinic, due to such an increased population. She has also been doing home visits and follow-ups with Berry Rice, the RN from the states who founded this clinic. Berry’s NGO received some relief money so we are able to treat those coming from PAP for free and offer them free medication – since the only thing they came with was the clothing on there back. One woman was in the hospital during the earthquake and was able to get out before the whole building collapsed, she returned to her home in City Soleil to find it completely destroyed, she has a new baby not even a month old and a 10 year old daughter, they came to TR to live with her sister. She came to the clinic with a 104 temperature after arriving the previous night by bus, her older daughter had cuts on her face from the falling rubble.

On a lighter note, we bought rabbits this week! John, our fearless leader, returned to Haiti with us after we said goodbye to the UVM class at the Santiago airport. He’s a little obsessed with rabbits (so is Peter now too). So we now have two does with four kits to start a little rabbit project here. Peter has been spending the rest of his time this week getting his garden back in shape and building a compost pile at the IDDH farm.

We know some of you at home may be a little concerned about our safety here, probably due to the cable news reports of people looting Port Au Prince and starving refugees pouring into the rest of the country to search for food. People we’ve heard from in the Capital say that it is one of the most horrible things they’ve ever seen; however, they also say that reports of looting are very over exaggerated and they are struck by how calm everyone is and how much people are working together. The resiliency of the Haitian people is unbelievable.

That is all for now, thank you everyone for all your thoughts.