It’s quite a sight up here on the roof of the clinic we are staying at. To the left of me is a small tent city with about 100 tents. As we were landing in Port-au-Prince Sunday, I saw hundreds of blue and white roofs from the plane, which to me looked like houses. It wasn’t until we were almost on the ground that I realized they were actually tents. It is hard to imagine how entire families are living in tents about the size of my bed at home. When the wind blows by and the tents flaps are lifted, I sometimes peek inside and there is barely anything inside other than sleeping space. On the other two sides of this roof is rubble and buildings that have completely or in part collapsed. It is hard to imagine that these buildings were once homes. The homes of the people now living in the tents.
Yet, life in Haiti is surprisingly bustling. It is very alive with things constantly going on. Outside our window all day we hear motorcycles honking and people talking. Then at night the dogs start barking and the roosters start early in the morning. We went to the market today and it was so lively! It reminded me a lot of the markets in India. People are really friendly…almost everyone we make eye contact with, a “bonswa” (Haitian greeting) is exchanged, which is very different from the states. As we walk on the streets, all the kids call us “blan” (white), yes, even I am called “blan because they call all foreigners blan. We are trying to practice our Creole, often with kids. I personally did not realize how significant the language barrier was going to be because I have never been to a country where I didn’t speak the language. But people are really friendly and encouraging us to speak in Creole. Another thing, the fruits in Haiti are amazing! We have been drinking all kinds of fruit juices like cherry juice that tastes like strawberry juice and passion fruit juice. From the roof up here you can see several fruit trees including a enormous mango tree!
We haven’t started our projects yet as we are just acclimating. I have to say, it is much hotter than I expected. I am not used to sleeping in a mosquito net in the heat and wearing bug spray even when I sleep…it makes me feel icky all the time. I never thought I would be taking showers with a flashlight and would crave for coldness. After tenting at Duke, I hated the cold. But now a freezing cold shower is what I crave and this morning, when I woke up because I was cold, I was shocked and didn’t want to put my bed sheet over me just because it was a rare feeling here…I didn’t think it was ever possible to be cold in Haiti.
Today we went to visit the children of this school in Leogane. It was such an amazing experience. The school was wonderful, all the kids dressed up in cute uniforms, and very polite when we entered. Then when we started to play with them they went absolutely crazy! They took my soccer ball and were running around everywhere. Of course I never got the ball back. And all of them wanted photos taken of them…”pran foto, pran foto!” they would yell. When I showed them their photo, they would yell “mwen mehm, mwen mehm!” (its me, its me!). I started to tie one of the kids shoe laces and when the other kids saw, they immediately began to untie their own shoe laces so that I could tie theirs too.
Bonjou!
My name is Shilpa Agrawal and I am a rising junior at Duke University. I will be spending this summer with 2 other Duke students in Leogane, Haiti! Why Haiti? Well…
Even before the earthquake that struck 5 months ago, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The coastal city of Leogane, where we will be going, was at the epicenter of the January 12th earthquake. Approximately 80% of the city was destroyed. Most people are currently living in tent cities that have sprawled across the city. Many are without adequate shelter and with the official start of the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season yesterday, there is the threat of even further damage.
Knowing this, how can one say “no” to an opportunity to help out in Leogane? This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity not only to help out, but also to learn from people who have suffered more than I can even imagine.
So a little about our project - We are going as part of an organization, Family Health Ministries (FHM), which has been doing work in Haiti for 17 years. Our main project will be assessing the causes of maternal mortality in Leogane through verbal autopsies. This will hopefully lay the groundwork for interventions to help reduce maternal mortality in the community. We will also be working to update the GPS map of Leogane, created by students last year, by surveying what still remains post-earthquake.
4 days till we are in Haiti! I’m super excited!
Shilpa
