a little bit of life.

As a general rule, I try to post blogs that are pertinent to other people. Blogs that inspire or enlighten or influence readers. I think about something for a few days before I blog, so that it is as well thought out as possible. But, today is a different day! This blog has no purpose at all other than to let you know what days are like in Haiti by detailing a relatively crazy Haitian day. So, if that interests you, read on! and if not, then go do something else like play outside a while :)

This is the story of my Tuesday this week. It was a strange day. In America, it was one of those days that probably happen like once every decade.. where you lay down at night and think "this can't be real. this was too crazy to be real!" In Haiti, it was just another day... that happens several times a week, where you lay down at night and think "is this real life? oh yea, of course.. I'm in Haiti."

So we began the day in true Haiti fashion with a funeral at 6am. It was for sweet 3 year old Kathline, who you can read more about here. We got up around 5:30 and got a call saying that the morgue is at the church with the body and the door is locked. Hang up, call the pastor. "The funeral is today??!! I didn't know!" Lovely... got to the church about 6:15, and improvised with some sweet guys who really stepped up and led in a Godly way music and then they spoke a few words to the congregation. 7:00, still no pastor. Calling.... and he's stuck in traffic. Of course, because this is Haiti. Stalling, more music, more speaking, stalling.... finally, he arrives! A brief message [none of which we understood, obviously] and we loaded back up in the car to drive to the burial site.

Where are we burying her again? we asked the family. "Oh.. just a little ways up the countryside" they say. That should have been a red flag. We loaded up about 20 people in a 15 passenger van, 6 people in the cab of a pickup, 6 people and the casket in the back, and we head out to the countryside. 2 hours in, we ask "how much further?" "just a little ways...." Should have known in Haiti time that means WAAAAYYY longer than in American time. Anyway... long story short, 5 hours later we arrived at the family graveyard.

Wait wait.. I need to back up. We have this phrase here that pretty much sums up Haiti. It is this: "everywhere in Haiti is a bathroom." This should be taken as literally as possible. We stopped on the way up the mountain and everyone piled out onto the side of the road right on the edge of a tent camp. I'm like what is going on? And then I realize everyone is in need of a bathroom.. only there isn't one. So, here we have 10 Haitian ladies squatting, and 10 Haitian men standing.... all in a line essentially. My first thought was "they cannot be serious" and then I thought "oh well, I'm in Haiti... and I gotta pee!" so, what could I do except squat beside them? This occurred more than once I hate to admit. I re-embraced my small town genes, but at least I didn't go right on the sidewalk, like some crazy American lady I know [ahemmmm... haha]

Going to the country side there are lots of mountains to go over. As you might guess, Haiti doesn't have guard rails. On the way to the grave, we came upon a large crowd of people standing in the middle of the road in the middle of nowhere. We rolled down the window and ask what had happened? They told us that a taptap [Haitian taxi] had gone off into a ravine. It was obvious that this was a bad situation. And then I remembered... I'm a nurse. I should do something! So we jump out of the van and run to the site of the accident... my Haitian friend yells "she's a nurse!" and there I was, a trauma nurse on the side of the road in Haiti with only a first aid kit and some bottled water to work with. It was a crazy 30 minutes, and if I had thought about what was going on I might have freaked out. But I just put on my big girl panties and did what I had to do... we had a pair of gloves so I was able to help one guy who had a gash all the way across his face with his skin completely flapped up. We cleaned it with water and then put bandaids on him to hold it together, then took his shirt off him and wrapped it around his head to slow the bleeding down. There were probably 20 people in the taptap, and only 3 were able to be pulled out while we were there. I imagine there were lots of fatalities. The taptap was still upside down when we left.

When we got back in the van, I realized I was nauseous. Well, I was nauseous before the wreck from the driving, but if I hadn't been already, I definitely would have been after we stopped to help them. It was a crazy experience.... and not particularly one I'd ever like to experience again. I don't know how EMT's do it! Hardcore.

So, we finally arrived in the area of the burial ground. We turned off the main road [which was gravel with a pothole every 5 feet, winding along the edge of the coast] and then found ourselves on a small dirt path. On and on and on. I'm like I thought we were here?! And then they instruct our driver to stop. They begin to pile out, and I'm looking around and not seeing a graveyard. [I should note that all the while Michelle is whispering in my ear that they are taking us out here to eat us]. Then they announce that we must walk to the burial site. So, here we go. A trail of about 30 people carrying a casket... walking and walking to the middle of a cornfield where it opens into a tomb with a house like structure. Here we met a ton of other family members that live in the countryside. The Haitian people are very expressive.. with happiness and with grief. After much whaling and screaming and crying, they offer us dinner [beans and rice with goat meat] and we gladly accept because by this time were were very hungry. After our meal, we loaded everyone back up and headed back to Port au Prince.

One more thing I left out that is just plain interesting. In Haiti, they take pictures of everything, happy and sad. So, the night at the hospital when Kathline had just died, there were about 10 Haitian people there just bawling all with their phones out taking pictures of her. When we went to the morgue earlier this week to fix her hair and put her dress on her and such, here come to cameras again. The whole funeral I filmed on my Flip camera because thats what the Haitian people do. And then, after a 5 hour ride in the back of a truck on a hot hot hot Haitian day, when we got to the burial site, they opened the casket and took more pictures. I was like really? I feel like I wouldn't want that to be the last picture I took of somebody that I loved, but, thats the Haitian way. Very different from America, thats for sure.

On the way home I was thinking about how crazy the day had been, and when I thought about all the driving we had done [10 hrs total0 I said out loud "Man, I could have gone from my house to Panama City today" But when I laid down that night, I still knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would not rather be anywhere in the world but here. And I know that I have this peace and certainty because God has given it to me!

This was a long story, I know. Thank you for reading, if you made it this far. Kathline's funeral was beautiful, and the day was beautiful after it was over [even if it seemed unbeautiful while it was happening] I spent the remainder of the week at Medishare [the Haitian hospital here that is partnered with the University of Miami] being a Neonative Intensive Care/Pediatric Intensive Care/Pediatric Trauma nurse. I stayed on-site in a bunk room, met a ton of new people, cared for some of the most precious babies in the world, and did my best to be a light in the darkness shining for Christ there. I will post stories from the week later!

Your continued prayers are so important to me. You have no idea how your encouraging words and thoughts and prayers keep me going. God is using you in huge ways, I'm certain. Praying for you and sending love from Haiti today!