Well, I made it home but I have more to report. The last 5 days in Haiti we visited a "hospital" downtown that looked like an old civil war hospitals with NOTHING as far as services or staffing. The families provide all the care, with the exception of 1 MD once each day! It was awful to see! The abandoned children's unit was the most horrible with some children in "cribs" that were more like cages with bars all the way up so they couldn't get out, undressed, and some were even placed on paper towels instead of blankets/sheets.

We also traveled down to a town called Jacmel, described to me as a small "New Orleans", but in fact it looked like New Orleans hit by a hurricane and never cleaned up. In fact, they did get hit by a Hurricane in November of this past year and the land had not yet dried out from the rains.

On the drive out from Port au Prince (3 hours drive), you realize how much of the natural rainforest has been cut down for cooking fuel and how much of their natural resources have been used up. What used to be rainforest land looked stripped and barren and coming off the top of the mountain you can see the land bleeding the red and white erosion into what should be pristine waters. The way of life in Jacmel is a little more colorful, a little more friendly and a little more country. Young children 3 and 5 year olds walk for miles to get water for their families from the same river as the women and men wash their clothes and where the donkeys and pigs bath. The water is clear here where the salt and fresh water meet.

As we made it into town at 10 am, we transferred to 2 4x4 trucks in order to get to the country clinic we were running 45 min up the mountains into the undeveloped and untouched lands. It was beautiful here. On our way up the mountain, both 4x4's broke down, what would have been a 3 hour walk back into town, in the dark, of course without water. Thankfully we let the cars cool and they started again, but by this time we were about 3 hours late to the clinic. When we arrived, there were about 150 people waiting outside of the church building. This clinic was better than the last, it even had cement floors and walls. We rushed to start the clinic. I triaged people (took BP and temps) and rushed people to the front of the line if they were critical or if it was a baby. I was told by one patient that this was a "waste of medicines" and that we should treat the most healthy first as they have the best chance anyways. Putting us into the clinic 3 hours late, we ended up having to send away 50 people, one of which walked 3 days to be seen by a doctor! But, I was told, we had to get off the mountain before the sun went down because we had such unreliable cars. This made me so mad and sooo sad and as we pulled away no one was speaking to anyone in the car. How heartbreaking to turn away someone who walked 3 days to see us and without an answer to tell them of when another medical team would be in the area.

It's good to be back in America. With a stable government, infrastructure to support the basics we take for granted here. Things like basic hygiene knowledge taught in elementary school, and venues to learn. The most frustrating thing about Haiti, for me was that they needed basic education that I was not prepared for. Things like basic positioning for children, basic feeding techniques, basic first aid education, basic sex education, and basic hygiene education. I may need to go back because because I feel like there is so much more to do and I could have done things better knowing now what I know about their needs. Haiti NEEDS help!

The last night was Carnival, which is like Mardi Gras on drugs! They have Ra Ra bands, floats, and people save all year to decorate, make masks and parade through the streets to celebrate. The crowd was somewhat non-rowdy, but like anywhere a few fights broke out. It was quite a sight.