Tracking Ed Monroe as he travels to Haiti and other exotic(?) places

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Sunday morning

Wow, I slept in today as it is almost 6 AM. I did not get my planned nap yesterday so I will try again today while many of the group makes the trip to the waterfall. Saturday was a short day at the clinic and we finished at the pharmacy at 12:30 PM. For those of you keeping track, we treated 142 on our first day, 324 on the second day, 342 on the third day, 293 on the fourth day, and 200 yesterday. That totals 1301. So we have done some good work and, at that pace, should see over 2000. As I feared, we will have to limit the adult vitamins but I expected that. I am not sure that my scoop method works well for those tiny pills. I had extra help again as the time to close drew near and they are more experienced in what goes on , they are swifter and have less questions. The doe chart for the chloroquine liquid saves time, pre-filling the vermox oral syringes saves times, and the pre-printed bag labels are still a blessing. Last night was our trip to Jacmel. The first wave left the compound around 2 PM to shop at the art stores and experience the city. I have been warned NOT to make mention of any purchases of paintings, statues, and jewelry, so in keeping with my promise I will not even begin to have you imagine a US dollar figure that might have boosted the Jacmel economy. For those who have been here, Boyer’s brother Jacky, stopped by yesterday and invited me to come outside the compound gate to look over his selection of paintings, statues, and jewelry. He has about 20 oils and some of them are eye catching. Donna has already warned me not to buy any as we have no where to hang another one. Jacky’s prices were $ 20, $ 40, and $ 60 for the paintings. We will likely see more merchandise for sale this afternoon at Ti Moulage, the beach where we will swim and have our Sunday dinner. I’m not sure what time today we will have our prayer service but I imagine it will be early as they will have to leave for the water fall before 10 AM. Today will be a busy day of rest. Ha
During our meal at Ambians last night, a storm came in from the east. Weather here comes westward off the coast of Africa. I watched the clouds roll in and wondered if and when it would rain. Fortunately it occurred while we were eating. I was sitting in the row closest to the street and felt an occasional spray from the hard rain. The storm had a nice variety of lightning but I did not notice a string wind. There was a limb down in the road on our way home so there must have been some wind. We watched in sadness as the rain washed the garbage down the street and knew that it would soon end up in Jacmel bay. The team has spent enough time together that any and every one is open to be teased at any time. I took some teasing about my pretty pint Jacmel shirt and that was one of the reasons that I brought it along. There continues to be a tease about some undergarments and I would just love to name names but I fear retaliation or Haitian revenge. I’ve told my new pharmacy helpers that I plan to spread the word that they did drugs while in Haiti. Our visit to Ambians was much better that in February. We had the place to ourselves except for a few others during the evening. I did purchase a bottle of Argentine Chardonnay and shared it with any willing takers. I also had a rum punch and a Prestige. Serving the dinners turned out as usual. First the rolls, then 10 minutes later the butter, then 10 minutes later the salad. You begin to see the pattern. When the entrĂ©e was served it came out in shifts and they substituted some plates as they did not have enough of something, but I’ve forgotten just what that was. I had ordered the kabob and it was a good as ever. Luckily the rain stopped and we made it home fairly dry. As we drove down the lane from the main road into the compound we did get sprayed from the wet tree limbs. It’s time for me to help set up the prayer service so I’d better close this and get a move on. Thanks to those who have submitted comments to the blog. The only one I rejected was the one I could not translate but it appeared to be an advertisement or a link to who knows where so it will remain unpublished.

1 comment:

Linda B said...

Ed,
We enjoy reading your stories & blog journal. Feels like we are there with you!
Kent & Linda