A free public education for all the children!

I jumped for joy yesterday when I heard that the legislature had passed a bill providing a free education for each child in Haiti. This will lay the gound work for change in Haiti as nothing else can. I am just so happy that come October all the children will get up and walk to school and I can watch them pass by. I know we will all be smiling a very special smile. All the marines in the world can not bring about democratic change as well as an army of dedicated teachers who love their students.

This is me with a new baby. mom, dad and Udel who is a traditional midwife who came and stayed and worked with me  This is the postpartum room

Many people make up my home in Haiti

It is 9:30 am and two mamas and babies are resting in the postpartum room on clean sheets with plates of fruit and porridge. It is Sunday morning and I tell the new Haitian midwife we are training that birth is a way of knowing and thanking God, in our own private way; for the miracle of it and that so often it all goes so perfectly. For the hope and possibility of that sweet new life.

In the place I live, everyone who is here, works to make that possible. There is Jason and his son Junior who bury the placentas and answer the knocks on the gate or call for transport to the hospital. They live in very small, tidy rooms outside and are a constant presence. They help with the garden and our the security which often means sitting outside by the gate visiting with those who pass by. Santo, the community health worker lives here and Marie the Haitien midwife and then any volunteers. Everyday our numbers swell with moms and babies, visitors and guests. I live upstairs in a dorm like life with communal meals and beds here and here. We move from our "home" to work in an instant, never knowing what will come our way or what the next moment will bring. The cook and the person who cleans and washes the clothes and sheets come each morning and stay until late. They sing and laugh and I can hear them chopping vegetables during the day. Their children come to and play here as well.

We all dream big dreams for Haiti and her children. We try to learn to talk each other's language and to make birth for the babies in the surrounding villages a safer, sweeter part of life.
I am never alone even when I am sometimes lonely for friends and family and those things sweet and dear to me.

Santo's graduation

Yesterday Santo, who is the much loved translator here, graduated from a health outreach program put on by the United Nations for him and about 20 other health workers in north Haiti. It was a six month class to help with issues of public health. Santo, amongst other things, will run a family planning clinic here one morning a week and do immunizations.

It was in Cap Hatien at a Hatien fancy venue with lots of US elevator music and pomp and ceremony; a part of Haiti I had never seen. Many people from NGO"s with the person their organization sponsored. Networking is awkward but I am desperate for resources and information. They made up their own version of We Are The World - about their work in Haiti which was moving after hearing others sing for and about Haiti in the United States.

There was piles of food, caps and gowns, speeches and picture taking and supplies from UNICEF to take home. Even electricity the whole time!

It was a moment of hope and pride as we all happily made our way home over bumpy roads; the car packed with people and chatter. I noticed keresone lanterns lighting small groups of people who gathered with friends in the cool evening air; small fires cooking the nights meal and children playing there beside them.

I am most often on call at the clinic and so it was a much appreciated outing. We came home and put on head lanterns and told good stories of the day before each found their place to sleep which changes with the weather.

Not yet born

Yesterday a laboring woman was brought to us. I walked into the birth room and saw that the cord was hanging from her and the baby had not yet been born. She had walked here this way. I tried to save the baby but deep inside I knew it was too late and that the baby had died some time ago. The cord was not beating and was cold in my desperate hands. I tried to tell everyone what to do but they didn't understand a word I was saying and really it didn't matter.

Later I just laid down on the floor and watched the storm come in and could not do anything at all but watch the sky and surround myself with quiet.

Prayers

How many prayers do we get in a day or a night? If I use them on one baby do I still get more, later in the day when I need them again, when I don't have the right tools or medicine or hospitals and I feel alone except for that spirit that stays beside me loving and calm and reassuring.

Unexpected twins !

A mother arrived yesterday with one baby on her chest still connected to the cord and another one on the way. She was having her baby at home with a local TBA and when they realized it was twins and decided to carry her into us. So much to consider so fast in such a little amount of time. I cut the first baby's cord and gave her to Zeenia, the naturopathic doctor who has been here and is soon to leave. Listen to the second baby's heartbeat. Great. Head down. Great again. No contractions. The mom asks if she can get onto the floor and stands up and the second baby swooshes out and I have to scoop him up off the floor; all wet and crying. The two placentas lingered and the thoughts that there is no ambulance and she is bleeding filling my head but all went well with prayer and pitocin and in time, mom and the twins were tucked into bed and the family was washing the sheets out back. I was thankful that it was still light out and we did not have to do this by lantern and thankful that they were all well and healthy and everyone worked together. I went upstairs and took a much appreciated bucket shower and laid down outside with much gratitude.