Planes, Tap-Taps & Automobiles!

We awoke at 6:00am after a restful night of sleep, minus the rooster.  We indulged in a French toast breakfast with jam, tea and coffee.  We graciously thanked the staff of Matthew 25 and departed for the airport to catch our flight to Jérémie .  The drive to the airport was frenzied, packed with mopeds, Tap-Taps (its like a bus but really it’s a truck with seats in the bed) and pedestrians.  We flew Tortug air on a 20-seat twin prop propeller plane.  Somehow we managed to get our 431 lbs of checked luggage onto the plane without any extra charges!  We enjoyed a scenic flight over the Caribbean Sea and landed without an ounce of turbulence.

Catherine Wolf, MD and Cherlie Serve, RN greeted us at the airport; our hosts and founders of Friends for Health in Haiti.  We ventured via SUV through the winding road of Jérémie to Catherine and Cherlie’s home.  There home is an architectural dream! It’s a three-story concrete, stucco home with red terracotta tile roof, right on the Caribbean Sea. The home has modern fixings including running water and electricity.  The house is powered through solar panels that charge batteries for the home.

We spent the early afternoon unpacking and talking with Catherine about the history of her home and the Friends of Health in Haiti Organization.  Check out the website to read more about the organization; http://friendsforhealthinhaiti.org

Later in the afternoon we jumped on the opportunity to visit the local beach. Wow! Is all we can say about the beach- very tropical, with luscious vegetation, white sand and crystal clean turquoise water.   We walked back to the compound and got a first hand experience of the environment outside of the compound.  We enjoyed a beef stew dinner with rice, plantain and Cherlie’s spicy sauce, topped off with homemade brownies.  We spent the evening doing homework and working on our CPOC. Yuck. But we did enjoy an evening of getting to know Dr. Wolf as we shared our backgrounds and our interests in nursing and Haiti.

Though these past few posts have been giving you the run down of our activities, we hope to provide our readers with insightful stories and adventures from the trip. The jam-packed nature of our first few days has been intense, and the rest of the week proves no ease. Tomorrow’s plan includes a small tour of the main hospital in Jérémie, a visit to an orphanage to craft and interact with children and a hospice organization to give some care and massages to the elderly in the end of their life. Tomorrow will be challenging but luckily, we have a wonderful support of group members, faculty and a wide network and friends and family in the States – obviously, including all of you!