English Lesson

The mobile clinics are extremely demanding, and after a full week's worth it was decided that the triage team would switch with the rehab team for a day. We had the opportunity to take on the responsibilities at a small hospital outside of Milo called Christ of the Benediction (CBH). The hospital was in the midst of being built before the earthquake and they quickly had to finish the task after January. It is ran by volunteers from the UK, and I can't do justice to the services and care they are providing. It is simply amazing, and God's work is at hand.

CBH has a surgical unit on site, maternity ward, respite care for developmentally challenged children and the rehabilitation center. Since they are still in the process of completing the building and organizing of the facility, the primary focus has been the rehabilitation/spinal cord center. This particular hospital was designated to take the patients from Port-au-Prince who were the most in need, but likely not going to make it. However, with the heart and determination of the volunteers and medical staff at CBH the patients have been nursed back to health. Most of the patients are paraplegic and confined to a wheel chair and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The day we were on site, some worked in the "container", essentially organizing a mass amount of supplies that had be donated in the past months since the earthquake. The staff and volunteers have been working day in and day out to sort and rid of expired items. I'm happy to say at the end of our time in Haiti, the rehab team had completed the organization of one of the containers! Items are still coming in daily, so this will be an ongoing task.

My time was spent at the respite center, where free daycare is offered to parents with children who have developmental challenges or delays. Being with these children reminded me of the time I spent doing respite care in San Diego. Though Haiti and San Diego are two different worlds, the care you give to the children is the same. They loved when you made silly faces or funny noises, I could instantly get a laugh by picking them up and hopping around with them. It is no surprise that these children could melt your heart in an instant, and they were a great comfort and therapeutic release for the spinal cord injury patients. I found out that some would wheel over to the respite care center (and when I say wheel I mean over an unpaved road about quarter mile away from the main hospital) every afternoon to spend time with the kids.

I think the ladies were surprised to see two Americans with the children, but one patient in particular, Nadia was eager to talk with us. As the ladies rolled in one by one my teammate Kristine greeted them and before I knew it we began an English lesson. It started with general phrases like, "How are you? I am good. What is your name? My name is." For Nadia this was all review, but her friend Solange listened intently and was determined to understand and say each sentence correctly. Kristine and I also asked the women to teach us, and we attempted to speak some Creole. We then moved onto colors and then Nadia requested we go over the body. So we started with our heads and worked our way down, and afterwards we quizzed the ladies. Up until this point only Nadia and Solange had actively participated while the other ladies showed little interest in our activity. But when Solange would forget or hesitate to answer a question some of the women would quietly whisper the correct answer to themselves. We ran with that and began to quiz all the ladies, and to our surprise they had been learning all along. By the end of our little lesson we had a majority of the women speaking and even laughing.

Even though our time together was short, the women were extremely grateful. We said goodbye and they embraced us with a warm hug and sweet kiss. I was disappointed that I wouldn't have the opportunity to go back and spend more time with them, as their resilience was truly uplifting. But as God would have it, Kristine was able to return to the hospital since she needed IV treatment for an infected spider bite. She was just what the doctor ordered for these women!

I was lucky to briefly see the women each day as we would drop off and pick up the rehab team and they would greet me with enthusiasm and the simple phrases we had taught them. In one short afternoon genuine connections were made and I am so thankful for Nadia, Solange and the rest of the women for reminding me that we are not defined by our circumstances. It may have just been an English lesson for them, but it was a personal lesson that will forever stay in my heart.