Its been a wild ride down here in Haiti these past couple of weeks. Nothing much going as planned but we have had a great team and everyone has rolled with it. Originally we were going to spend the first week in Marbial, a remote area outside of Jacmel, the second week in Gouneau, a remote area outside of Les Cayes, and the third week inaugurating the new clinic on the orphanage compound here in Jacmel, seeing people in the Jacmel community. Instead, we were unable to make it to Marbial the first week because the rain made the river too high so we switched the first and the second weeks and drove to Gouneau. Unfortunately, public transportation decided to strike and have a "demonstration," blocking off all the roads to Les Cayes. We still went but a day late and in the middle of the night during a window of time when they were supposed to unblock the roads. That didn't exactly work perfectly either since we had to wait at a gas station about halfway there while the tires in the middle of our path stopped burning. Seven plus hours later we eventually made it and spent the next few nights camping and days seeing 350 patients out of a make shift clinic in a small church. Shower curtains and sheets curtained off our exam rooms.
The second week we were able to make the trip to Marbial. Hour and a half in the back of trucks up the river bed and a 45 minute beautiful hike with all our bags of medications on the back of mules. Things went well and we saw about 400 people week two. If anyone wants specifics about what we are seeing and treating, let me know. There were some super interesting cases.
That brings us to this week. As I said, the plan was to open the clinic here in Jacmel to the community. Unfortunately, it's not finished and they need about $5050 to install the floors. I'll get back to that in a second. Instead we are going to be helping out another pastor and his church down the road here, holding a mobile clinic there this week. We also are going to be seeing all the kids in the orphanage, well child checks and sick visits. Last week a couple of our team members went to the new orphanage Marlaine opened in Port au Prince. There are 27 kids there who are all relatively new with lots of funky things going on. This week we plan to send a couple of providers over there to follow up on them as well. Lots to do despite the change in plans although I am a bit disappointed that we can't open the clinic, which will eventually be used as a home base and great place to ship medications so we don't have to hand carry everything down for the mobile clinics.
So, $5050 for floors; this is the estimate for labor and materials. It would be great to get these installed in the next couple of weeks because someone is coming to paint at the end of this month. I found someone who is willing to match donations so if you are able to donate, your money goes twice as far.
For now, checks can be made out to Kythoni Inc and mailed to Kythoni Inc c/o Kathy Nomides 233 Racine Drive Unit #82 Wilmington NC 28403. Donations are tax deductible. Our website should be up and running soon and there will be a link to donate on that site but the best way now, as we need to move quickly, is to send a check as above.
Thank you so much for your love and support. Trying to post a photo of my mom and daughter standing in the clinic. I can't wait for it to be finished!
With so much love,
Jen
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