Arrival - Saturday January 17, 2009

Let's start with what may have been obvious already, access to the Internet is limited. The immediate cause is that Hopital St Croix is not functional. The building is here but the supporting staff is limited. One has the impression that things only happen on request. This is a change from four years ago, when the hospital was functional. More on this later.

Our morning started early but we were late. We didn't reach the airport until 4:30 am. Given that our flight was departing at 6:00 this was close. But we got everything checked, got through security (with a 2lb jar of strawberry preserves), and even had time for coffee and a breakfast snack before boarding the plane. Good thing we left out of gate T.

Our flight arrived pretty much on schedule in Port-a-Prince. New travel documents are in French and Creole, i.e. no English. We are met before customs by Mr. Murratt . Who whisks us through customs and on to baggage claim. We wait, while his staff collects the bags. We came with 34 bags this trip. After much delay it is determined that one bag did not arrive. We can only hope that it is enjoying an extended stay in Miami and might join us before long. Due to restrictions on checked baggage, we all had to check a variety of our personal belongings. The missing bag has most of the clothing and toiletries for two ladies in our group.

So here we are in Leogane. At the end of the day we have unpacked the drugs, medical and dental supplies. We brought 34 bags or about 1,500 pounds of drugs and supplies for our team to use this week. Withour a current inventory of the drugs on hand we choose to bring a wide array of medicine and spplies for the dental clinic. Tomorrow we will attempt to go to church, there is some question about the time of the service. But before the day is complete a number of our party drop in on a salsa dance club!

It is one more of the interesting contrasts that make up Haiti. In a country where the the average income is only $300/year, there are still people with disposable income. Even in Haiti there is a need for a break from the routine.

While the hospital is closed; the street outside the gate at the guest house is the hopping place to be. Music, dancing, horns and the underlying current of conversation fill the air and the street at 10 PM. I suspect it will continue for some time.

Don't know when I will get to post this but we will see.

Let me conclude with a short video clip taken from the back of our Land Rover while driving through Port-a-Prince on our way to Leogane.