Day 4 & 5

Sunday was our day of rest and relaxation. A couple of us met up on the roof for a devotion and prayer time. The students had been to church the Sunday before and didn't exactly have the energy to sit through another 3 hour service in a language they don't understand. I don't blame them. It was nice getting to know another side of them in that way. Later on we visited the Arts District in Jacmel and got to buy some souvenirs. All the stores were filled with these crazy masks they use during the yearly carnival. 

Scary right? We were able to walk around an art gallery and see some of the local artists at work. One guy told us that he used his hair in his art work (kinda gross). Upstairs were all the studios where the different artists worked. The wall was broken in places so the ocean could be seen outside. You could hear the waves the ocean was so close. It was beautiful.

The artist told us he also ran an art school and taught painting, drawing, and photography. 

We ended the day at one if the nearby beaches. It was beautiful. There were people playing soccer on the beach, the water was warm, and music was playing. It was perfect... Except for people coming up to you constantly asking if you wanted to buy things and not leaving. Oh well, we had fun anyway!

 

This morning, we split up in groups again and I led a group of three students to Pazapa again. There were more kids there this morning than the last time we went.

They have a huge storage room with donated equipment and I saw this guy hanging out in the corner (Lisa, can we work on getting one with an actual seat :) )

We got a chance to try some new techniques today. We did some sensory integration activities with our one little girl who is developmentally delayed.

We did some chest PT on a little boy with chest congestion down into his lungs.

We educated the caregivers again on things they could do at home to help. One thing that particularly pains me is the way that all of them feed these children. Hardly any of the kids have mature chewing or swallowing patterns. Some of them don't chew at all and their parents force the food in. There heads are fully extended during feeding and sometimes they are reclined. They only have rice and beans and sometimes crackers, cookies, or Cheetos to feed them with water or milk to drink. There is no puréed food or thickened liquids. I didn't know how to help this and it was frustrating as they don't have the means or resources to get appropriate food. The students and I taught them the importance of sitting them upright and giving them small bites and sips. Speech and occupational therapists are greatly needed here. 

After that we went to the clinic and treated a couple patients there. There was a little boy with a total SC joint separation. Another lady had brought in X-rays of her family member and asked if we could help. We looked over the X-rays and noticed a complete fracture below the head of the femur. We told her to take the lady to a physician. After an hour or so, the clinic closed and we went to another building and saw more people in an empty room with some folding chairs. One man had had ankle surgery months ago and was still having pain. His ankle was giant and swollen with very limited motion. We taught him some exercises to improve his range and increase his weight through the joint in standing. Another boy we saw had a deformity of this hand. His dad stated he had surgery a while back and now his hand is crooked. Well turns out , we couldn't feel a whole intact radius. The surgeons had removed the radial shaft, only leaving the distal and proximal ends. Wild stuff! Only in Haiti. 

The days are winding down and the students are still trucking. They are doing a great job in taking on so much information in such an extremely difficult and emotionally draining environment. I'm proud of them!