Back at last in Leogane

It's been almost exactly a 2 months since the earthquake now here, and a little less than that since I left.
 Returning directly to Leogane from the airport today, there was a lot going on. First, the airport is no longer under US Military operation.  No longer the Kafkaesque ghost port that is was when I left on the military flight in January! There was a live 'jug and drum' band playing at the bottom of the concourse as you entered the building,and there were throngs of people out front waiting to help you with your luggage, just like any other third world port. The traffic was actually not as bad as my last drive, and the most notable new thing was that there are large  groups of Haitian citizens out in the streets in bright yellow or baby blue t-shirts, working for the city--making repairs, clearing debris, hauling lumbar, and correcting drainage shoots. It was optimistic.

I arrived at about the same time as two other doctors, Janice from Memphis, and Linda from Boston.
We drove through town to the new (new to me) site of the Port au Prince Heart to Heart Clinic. Previously, we had worked out of the main soccer stadium along with many others giving aid, and it was hot, humid and less than ideal for anything other than disaster medicine. Now, it is in a 3-story church building that remained standing right in the middle of theBelAir district.Despite this, it is a little cramped, as the only places to set up patient exam areas are on the catwalk above the main floor where the pews still sit. People are of course sometimes still afraid to enter a building like this, and would rather not be seen than enter. But many, many people do come inside for help.  From here, we said quick hellos to those inside, dropped off Janice and Linda in the clinic, and 'took' Matt (Paramedic from Kansas City) and Tricia (nurse from MCDH with me) and jumped back in the truck toward Leogane.

 On the way there we stopped at La Catedral, the city's main church and one of the most symbolic landmarks. You can see why. It has taken a beating, but has not crumbled. Half-broken, formerly great stained glass window florettes seem to stand up of their own will against the sky. They are still beautiful, even with jagged edges and peeling iron. Next to it, a children's school and empty lots where men are clearing tangled rebar and rubble, and other men are coming up to ask you for work or water. We have no work to offer them right now.

Passing by the presidential palace on the way to Leogane, it remains alone in its green manicured lawn, surrounded by iron picket fence and still looking as if the crooked caps will come crashing down and spill onto the vast pretty lawn at any moment. Surrounding this, the tent city is even more expansive than before.

There are more white people, for sure. It almost looks like families touring in DC for a split second. Women in skirts and nice necklaces, carrying their oversized purses, with the teenage daughter slouching in her jean shorts and t shirt, and the middle-aged father tagging behind looking at the buildings. I am actually not sure who the people were I saw there or what they were doing. I wonder if they were missionaries or just curious people. Maybe they are here to adopt a child? Maybe they are providing food, or shelter or clothing somewhere. It was strange. But there are so many people here from all over, for so many different reasons. We are well beyond the need for medical care being foremost. It's time to rebuild.

So, no stop at the Port au Prince compound was in store for me today--whisked straight to Leogane--arrived about 4pm, where I met my friend Allison Trowbridge at the end of her stay as the only doc on the lot. Wish we could have had more time to catch up, but we spent the hour we did have doing an impromptu debriefing--trying to get updated on how things are going here, where we are holding clinics now, who we are paying for what work and how much, and just a whole lot of 'need to know' kind of info passing before she had to get in the car I just got out of and head back to the main compound in PAP.

Most of our info here in Leogane is on a collection of scraps of paper, and in people's heads. Installing and maintaining a system of operation here is difficult with such frequent turnover of staff and the ever-changing needs of the environment. Alli had clearly been working hard the whole time she was here, and I am so glad she was able to give me the run down. I would have liked to be at the main compound tonight before brining an all new team here; to sit at the evening meeting and transition over and take part in the discussions--to have a better idea what is working, how it is being organized, what is not working, and what the evolving goals are. But, not to be. Just have to wing it.

Walked through town before dinner, and I showed the guys the soccer stadium here where we'd worked on my last trip. The 'clinic' site had been at the corner of the giant stadium tent city, and after asking a couple people sitting around, some Creole chatter occured, and a phonecall was made to somewhere deep in the tent city we stood on the fringe of..and then one Miss France Remy, the Haitian nurse who has pretty much been the only medical provider to stay the duration here at this site, emerged from the sea of blue plastic to meet us. She lives there, too. We saw that where our trash-strewn site with blue tarps and smoking garbage hole in the ground had been, they had recently built a wooden structure to use as a real clinic. With 3 exam rooms, a pharmacy room, and real exam tables and chairs!
France is amazing with what she can accomplish. I don't know how she does it, really.

Then, dinner at camp, and the cold shower that I've never been so fond of before. Still staying here at the Mennonite compound, and there are large tents with cots set up for us already!
And, there is a wireless signal. YES!

So, tomorrow I will have more of substance to report, hopefully. But tonight we settle in for probably a week at least.

It's good to be back. Missing you all, but hopeful; and thankful for the opportunity to return to this haunted but magical place.

-Jen