Two weeks here, and a lifetime of work to be done...

Having this weekend off has been really nice in order to get some rest and see more of Haiti. Friday we returned to more local art in Haiti in the village of the artists and Saturday we spent the day at the beach. The beach is only a little over an hour drive from where we stay and there is actually a paved road (with potholes of course) to get there. So 5 of us went to the beach, which included 2 Americans, 1 Canadian, 1 ecuadorian, and an Indonesian! Their beach was mostly rocks and not too much sand but it was pretty to see the ocean with the mountains in the distance. When we tried to leave the beach we found that the car we took there didn't start. Luckily we found several local Haitians that knew a thing or two about fixing cars to help us out for a small price of course. We made it back to the grounds in time for a fiesta with our patients and other visitors staying on the grounds. We had Latin, Haitian, American, and Indonesian music with many different styles of dancing. Today(sunday), I enjoyed a quiet (including the rooster calls) morning where I hand washed my clothes in a basin with soap and water and swept and mopped my room. It's hard to keep anything clean here, but I'm adjusting to being dirty quite well :).
The two other therapists and I just returned from a walk where we talked about plans for how to better set up the next therapist for success. We are needing to plan to discharge some of our outpatient and inpatients in order to create an atmosphere where patients are receiving the therapy they need without the therapist being completely overwhelmed by the need and the amount of patients that are hoping to be seen. We have found this week there has been confusion among some of the people promoting our services about what all therapy entails. We are getting more and more involved patients like strokes and spinal cord injuries, and in order to give them good treatment, they need our time once or twice day for 1 hour. We are also trying train a rehab nurse and rehab aide from Haiti so they will be able to assist with this process when we leave. We're finding that trying to train the haitians, translate languages, and treat patients is quite a time consuming and exhausting process. Therefore it is impossible for us to accept any new patients right now be use we are already so stretched. I feel guilt about that because we know new people are going to continue to arrive, but i know that on order for our current patients to make progress, they need to receive good therapy. Also, there is only one new therapist coming to replace 3 of us, so we don't want overwhelm her more than she already will be. One thing is for sure... The need is there and we're not possibly meeting all their needs. It's going to take quite a long time.
On a positive note, I really am enjoying working with the patients. They are a delight and my creole is coming along. I continue to learn more everyday from the other therapists and the physiatrist that came to train us in spinal cord injury bowel and bladder programs. I am also continually reminded at how blessed I am to live where I do and be born into the family I was. Somethings I will never understand.
And so this week, I will try and celebrate the small steps and simple joys- because that's what any progress made will need to begin with.
Bonswa!