6 months since "the event"

Today was the six month anniversary to the horrible earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. Over 300,000 people died due to the quake... Many more left homeless and injured. We held a special vigil today to remember the fallen today, in which many of our patients attended. It was quite difficult to see the emotions of some of the Haitians. I could not imagine the pain they are experiencing.
This weekend I got a chance to talk to a Mexican journalist who is here interviewing some haitian figures regarding the affects of the earthquake and the progress that has occurred since January 12. It appears that the gov't has made very little progress with rebuilding. Many of the large buildings in port au prince still remain collapsed and untouched. The roads are in complete shambles, making the traffic awful. We experienced that on saturday as we were out driving around going to see Haitian art. It took us hours only to drive a short distance. The journalist told me that many Haitians are moving to these tent compounds in port au prince because the UN is giving those Haitian families the equivalent of $5/day to live. However.. If an average Haitian worker makes only $2/day.. So essentially they are making more money by not working. It's unfortunate, but quite evident that the systems of power are corrupt and their progress if rebuilding Haiti is minimal.
As for the baby steps... Many people are here offering health care and services. Today the doctors we are working with at our clinic returned from their holiday. They are all from chile and are doing a 6 month medical rotation here. There is a dentist, nurse, pediatrician, and gynecologist. I look forward to working with them. Tomorrow some of the children I met at the orphanage with disabilities will be coming to the clinic tomorrow for therapy. The PT volunteer with me will be making a trip to the Handicap International office to get prosthetics for some of our amputee patients and an orthotics for our new patient who recently suffered a stroke. On Wednesday, we will be getting a patient with an incomplete spinal cord injury. He is coming from the famous, dr. Paul farner's organization Partners In Health. They will be sending over a doctor to help train us in this patient's bowel and bladder program. It should be very interesting. Because of where his injury was, he may be able to walk, but has lost his sensation for going to the bathroom. The more i work with these patients, the more I am interested in the field of public health and/or medical anthropology. On a positive note, one of our inpatients has made good progress and I am hoping to do a home (tent) visit with her at the end of the week to make sure she can go home. I am certainly enjoying the work here. I am learning a ton about the lower extremity from my fellow PT colleague.
We were fortunate to leave the grounds on Saturday to go see some of the beautiful Haitian metalwork art. Our translator/driver/rehab extraordinaire, Jean Claude took us there. Everyone I speak to still continues to talk about the danger of us going outside to grounds of the clinic alone. I did not feel unsafe leaving, but I am also thankful to have a trustworthy tour guide with us. We hope to spend a day next weekend seeing the beach in haiti!
Until next time.... Orevwa!