May and June: The Caribbean, Crutches and Celebrities

May and June were pretty busy months.  School was winding down and with review and exams and other end of the year festivities, this meant less work at Fon Ibo.  It also meant, however, that the camp season was beginning and preparations needed to switch into full gear.

Fon Ibo participated in Toms Shoes "One Day
Without Shoes" so our kids, despite the fact
that they are often barefoot, realized that there
are kids all over the world that do not have
shoes too.

Residents are Maison Bon Samaritan (the local assisted living
center) saying goodbye to Frankie.

These months brought several new changes.  The biggest (and saddest) one was that Frankie left.  She went home in mid-May to find a job and get settled before she started grad school for social work in September.  The same day she left brought Aileen, a year-long volunteer from two years ago who was coming for two months to help with camp.

Aileen

Final days of school party!

The Caribbean

Not long after Frankie left and Aileen arrived we were able to go on one final vacation before the craziness of the summer started.  It's an unofficial rule that after being a Quest volunteer for 6 months, you receive the privilege of the ability to ask to go to Môle-Saint-Nicolas, a beautiful beach on the north-western tip of Haiti.  The town of Môle-Saint-Nicolas is a small town, with only a few thousand people living directly in town and about 20,000 more in the surrounding area.  Most of the people are fisherman.  It's a pretty quiet and simple town, but one can see the remains of colonial forts from days gone by.  

We had talked about it when Beth and Frankie were still in the country, but we never had time.  Flag Day, in Haiti, is the 18th of May.  No one had school or work and our house was shut down, so we took advantage of the long weekend, headed north and got ready to enjoy the sun, the sand and some much needed rest and relaxation.  It's a long drive on horrible roads, but boy, was the drive worth it.  Not only was the beach beautiful and we got to sleep in tents practically in the water, but there was awesome snorkeling and the fresh seafood was to die for.

One of the colonial forts with our baby
flag.

Before I go any further, here's a little history about the Haitian flag.  Haitian lore says that Jean-Jacques Dessalines, leader of the Haitian Revolution and first ruler of the independent nation, created the first flag by ripping apart of the French flag, removing the white (symbolic of removing white authority from Haitian society) and then asking his god-daughter, Catherine Flon to sew the new bands together.  The blue symbolizing the black citizens and the red for the mulattoes.  After changing from blue to black, President Alexandre Pétion returned it to blue, changed the orientation to horizontal stripes and added the coat of arms.  Under the coat of arms reads "there is strength in unity."  A fun fact about the flag is that only national and military flags can have the coat of arms.  All over civil flags are only the blue and red stripe.

First view of the ocean!

The beach!

A shipwreck off the coast.

A beautiful sunset.

Hello Mr. Crab

Downtown Môle-Saint-Nicolas

The Atlantic!

It's kind of hard to see, but on top of this already loaded truck are a bunch of goats.  Have to take advantage of all available space!!

Luckily the rain held off until we were almost back to Gros Morne.  And then it came down in buckets.  The road literally turned into a river. 

One of the perks of being by the ocean - we get to bring back fresh fish to freeze for later!!

Crutches:

These months also brought an increase in visitors passing through our house - several old volunteers (one was the very first Quest volunteer from 15 years ago) and two Irish lads that were doing pre-organizational work for the two camps volunteers from the University College of Dublin do.  It also brought around my first severe(ish) injury since arriving in Haiti.  Considering my clumsiness, the quality of the roads that I was running and walking on and my usual lack of paying attention to where I was going, I’m surprised that it took me almost 9 months to hurt myself.

Right after I got back to the house...looks pretty bad.

One morning at the end of May, I was running up the mountain behind our house and was just about to turn around and meet up with the 2 other volunteers.  I knew that the terrain I was heading toward wasn’t good, but continued anyway and about two seconds later, stepping on a rock and felt a crack.  I got myself down the mountain, told Sr. Jackie and within the hour Aileen and I were in the car with Barak on our way to the hospital in Gonaives because the x-ray machine at the local hospital is broken.  We were at the hospital for a long time (several hours) to get an x-ray and then see the doctor.  When the doctor finally was ready, he said that he didn't see a break and that I should just keep ice on it.

After talking with my second mother at home, who happens to be a doctor, she suggested crutches and some way of immobilizing it, just to be on the safe side, in case it was actually broken or something was torn.  Luckily we had two previous volunteers coming down a few days later and they were able to bring me one of the big boots.

Looking to a pair of crutches to go to the hospital
with.  Couldn't find a pair, but found a cool cane
instead.

This was the first time I had ever been on crutches and let me tell you, it was quite a challenge.  The terrain and quantity of people in public spaces is not conducive to easy crutching.  It made me very thankful for my two legs and made me appreciate the amount of work and effort Haitians that have lost limbs or have other handicaps that mean they have to use crutches or a wheelchair must do in order to get around.  It was also a nice reminder of just how lucky I was it was only a broken ankle.  I had my fair share of times where I was feeling real sorry for myself for various (stupid) reasons.  But, all I had to do was look around me a see about a hundred other people who were hungry or had more severe ailments or wouldn't be able to see a doctor or get the proper attention that they needed and that shut me up real quick.

My x-ray. 

I've been doing minor wound care for this boy's foot throughout the year after he had been in a
moto accident.  He thought it was so funny
that we both had crutches!!

Celebrities:

(Sr. Pat's photo)

Towards the end of June we had the pleasure of hosting two famous Irishmen in Gros Morne.  One was Leslie Buckley, the Vice Chairman of Digicel and an important Irish businessman.  Digicel started in Jamaica in 2001 and has quickly expanded around the Caribbean, Pacific and Central and South America.  They started with cell phone service and have expanded to internet, business solutions and other technologies.  They started in Haiti in 2006.  In 2007, the Digicel Foundation was introduced in Haiti.  The Digicel Foundation supports mostly educational community-based projects.  They have built schools, provided teaching trainings and has also given small grants.  Mr. Buckley has supported the Alma Mater Hospital in Gros Morne and has contributed to the construction of new out-patient facilities that is currently going on.

(Sr. Pat's photo)

(Sr. Pat's photo)

The second celebrity that came was Ronan O'Gara.  He is a famous retired rugby player.  Since I don't fully understand the game, you can Google him and read all the stats.  All you really need to know is that he's incredibly well known in Ireland and a pretty big deal in the world of Irish rugby.  In 2009, the final minutes of the match, Ronan O'Gara's drop goal helped Ireland with the Grand Slam - their first one in 61 years.  We had two Irish guys staying with us at the time he came and he had big-time celebrity status in their books.





Mr. Buckley and Mr. O'Gara had only a short visit to Gros Morne, but were able to squeeze in a visit to the hospital and Fon Ibo School.  It was fun to watch them interact with the kids and learn about the hospital construction.  They were incredibly nice and enthusiastic people and it was a pleasure to be able to meet them.

(Sr. Pat's photo)