We slept in a tent with 90+ other volunteers – some on night shift, most on days.  Up at 5:15am, 2 minute cold shower if the water was on.  There was morning coffee if the generator worked.  7:30 Staff meeting, then to the hospital tents; triage, ER, OR, wound care, x-ray, pediatrics, adults. There were 6 preemies in incubators, and 9 orphans of various ages.

Any patient still in the hospital as a direct result of the earthquake had major injuries and were probably amputees, paraplegics or quadriplegic. Because of the lack of infrastructure or support services, these patients remained for a long time so that they could receive physical therapy; a service usually provided as outpatient. As this hospital (sponsored by Medishare and run by the University of Miami Hospital) was the only functioning full service hospital in Port au Prince, there was a constant influx of new patients. Life and death goes on.

Time to find an interpreter and begin doing rounds, checking in with patients, advocating for their needs, sometimes just sitting with them. Often a nurse or a physical therapist would need help explaining the benefits of a procedure (such as amputation), or an activity (exercising the limbs of a paraplegic), and some patients needed ‘encouragement to leave’, though they had no place to go, and had not faced the world with their new impediment.

The day ended at 7pm, though we took turns on-call. The on-call person would respond to deaths, or traumatic situations during the night. Food was delivered, but was not always edible, or safe to eat. We had been warned to bring our own food. When we were lucky, we would find someone willing to drive us to the UN compound less than a mile away for dinner. You had to be driven due to security. At the UN compound was a bar/grill with decent, inexpensive food, ice, flushing toilets, and a wide screen TV turned to CNN so that we could reconnect with the outside world. It was THE hang-out for all the NGOs (non government organizations) in the city.

Haitians are a gracious people, concerned primarily about interpersonal relationships. They are a culture with very little materially, and with no expectation of more. They talk, listen, share what they have, and have great faith and respect for their God. When driving through the city you become aware that everything is as it was the day after the earthquake. There is no large equipment, no construction being done, and the only clean-up that has been accomplished has been done by wheelbarrow, shovel, and hand. There is the frightening sense that this is the new normal. The tourist trade is now coming to see the destruction, and the Haitians are adjusting to meet that demand.

On leaving, one asks if they made any difference in the face of such devastation and political culture. For solace the only answer is, we made a difference to each individual we touched – as they made an impact on us.