Home aka Mama Baby Haiti clinic

People have asked me to please put up some pics of where I live in Haiti so I am taking full advantage of the internet at the Hotel Roi Christophe today...enjoy!

My bed, the room also has another bunk bed, a single bed, and all the bulk food we buy.

One of the bathrooms. Buckets are for flushing and bathing when there is no electricity.

we have an actual flushing toilet! 

volunteer quarters upstairs, we eat, rest and hang out up here.

medicinary upstairs, this room also holds three sets of bunk beds

Sarah has done an amazing job getting things organized downstairs for the birth center.

Washing station. For clothing but it also gets used for dishes ;)

side view of the beautiful clinic

filling a hole in the garden just in time to get planting again!

Haiti Village Health/Mama Baby Haiti Collaboration

We visited Haiti Village Health today in Bod du Mer near Bas Limbe which is about an hour away from us, located in a small fishing village north west of Morne Rouge. It was beautiful and we couldn’t help but to jump in and swim twenty minutes across the bay to a small uninhabited island…in our clothes. FYI scrubs pants and shoes (worn because there are so many sea urchins) make swimming MUCH more difficult, but still well worth it. We had gone out to talk about sending our Haitian midwife Marie to teach educational classes for the Matrons in the area twice a month, following a program designed by the ministry of health years ago. It was a great meeting and I think that this collaboration will be beneficial for not only both organizations but also for the local Matrons who often have no formal training but who are the main caregivers for pregnant mamas here in Haiti. I really hope this can continue here in Morne Rouge too as we have so many Matrons who are seeking these educational materials which were once provided to them but are now withheld as the presiding forces decided that they didn’t want Matrons delivering babies so they stopped the trainings but as one could have predicted this didn’t result in less births with Matrons, just less birth with formally educated Matrons. No good, pa bon, boo.

Haiti Village Health clinic outside of Bas Limbe in Bod du Mer

they do amazing work for the community, a rural fishing village

touring the grounds of their clinic, they will be adding a new building soon!

So nice to be back with my second family which includes Marie our head Haitian midwife

First Blog, Second Trip

I have been in Haiti for five days now, almost four months since I left and things have changed dramatically. For one, the birth center/clinic is now 100% a birth center, with many midwives, students and community volunteers who take care of the mamas giving birth, women waiting for prenatals/postnatals and well child checks for those 2 years old and younger. There are many more volunteers than I am used to which makes for an interesting time with all the personalities, agendas, passions, schedules etc. I love it. I think there is something fun and interesting about spending time in close quarters with people who you might not otherwise spend time with…kind of like when you are at the dentist and they are digging in your mouth causing you pain but you want to hold out on telling them it’s painful because you are hoping that it will go away soon…it’s a challenge I find myself striving to win but am also very thankful for my IPOD, my friends who live in other locations and my sense of humor. On the flip side, it has been amazing reconnecting with all my Haitian “family” again and I love all of them more than when I left. It has been a trying time for all living and working here at the birth center by shear virtue that we are combining different cultures, ethnicities, religions, personalities and lifestyles.

I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with a friend of mine who lives in Cap which I jumped at. Now I know most of you are thinking that I just got here and what do I need a mini vacation for but then I know that most of you know me well enough to know that I am a big proponent of taking care of yourself and making sure you enjoy every day to the fullest J We went to the beach, out to dinner, hung out by the pool and just had a great time. It was a nice way to start off my trip here, knowing there is so much work to do and that without my ability to be calm, decisive, and humorous I might end up being a very grumpy person…that is the last kind of personality we need around here that is for sure-haha. Anyway, I love to be able to enjoy the luxuries Haiti has to offer as we so often focus on the negatives; the poverty, the despair, the starvation, the illness and the horror that people have to live in situations that are so far beyond their control. I love Haiti and I love Haitians, they are so full of life and heart, I think it is a disservice to the country for me to simply focus on the negatives and the difficulties. I mean, I can make a list that would wrap around this island about the negatives in the US but I would rather remember that we have constant electricity, opportunities to become educated and help others, food, water, toilets, access to medical care (ok this is on both lists) and infrastructure (as corrupt or not as you believe it might be).  Perhaps I am just justifying my weekend of play but I think it’s good for the soul and right now, I’m feeling happy, healthy and ready to spend the next six weeks working…well, with the intermittent fun day here and there…I mean, we all know all work and no play makes Zeenia very inefficient…and grumpy.

N’ap pita!

Belly Beach near Labadee, Haiti