Hey everyone. Some days are up and then others are reality checks. Full of hope ad excitement, I rode a particularly painful ride to Port au Prince today. Five hours of the worst, with a bump against my back that left me with bruises. There were 11 people in the max 7 van, plus luggage. Add heat and it's not pretty. I mean a van organized like Tjitske's limo, with the benches on the side. Minus the champagne and beauty.
We had left HAS at 5 am and were in PaP by about 10:30 am. The driver dropped everyone off, then took me to UNICEF. That sounds simple. It isn't. Nothing is simple here. After waiting for over an hour (so did the driver) I was called in only to be told by a secretary that it "impozzible " (French lady) to get the PlumpyNut today. She needed three signed copies, and why didn't I know that (nobody emailed me that info, nor to Erlantz. Etc etc.) I was about in tears. Finally one of the two people in charge asked me to join an interesting meeting. And indeed it was. It lasted an hour and a half (couldn't find my driver to tell him) and was held by about 20 people from many nations. It was in French, but I could follow most of it, and easier as time went on. The organizations were Save the Children, Catholic Youth Services etc etc etc. Each wanted to coordinate efforts to help the children caught in the hunger and hurricane devastation (many go hand in hand). I had no intention to open my mouth, but when they asked I was surprised and proud how much I have learned these last 2 weeks (1 week??) and how many statistics I had correct. They were 'impressed' with the severity of our situation. Right now we have 19 severely malnourished children (ages 0-5), two intermediate and one critical.
For us the situation was just utterly frustrating: "but you need this form, and that paper, and this letter head, and such and such in triplicate..." It all made sense, but why hadn't they told us? I again stressed the need and severity. Now we need a specific letter and when we bring it next week (we're going Tue) we will get the PlumpyNut for the severe patients, and MP3, which is a highly enriched milk product, for the intermediate malnourished children. And that is more than we have now. MUCH more. Betsy: I'm using your money to transport the PlumpyNut. Thanks!!!!
After that we went 'bump' in the night, all the way home. My driver ended up patiently waiting until 4:30 PM and then took me - what all women in frustration apparently do: shopping!
I went to the international supermarket (Starry's request) and bought ham, Dutch cheese, tostido chips and salsa, wine, beer, whatever. A big box full and my gift to them for staying here. I hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday and was S-T-A-R-V-E-D.
Many funny things happened today on the way, but I am too exhausted to remember them now.
Except the 5 tiny goats butting and playing in the middle of the road. We were going 90 mph and the driver honked loudly. All the little goats jumped 1-2 feet into the air and then scattered. We all burst out laughing! Tomorrow more. I am taking a day OFF! (It's a holiday here)
My kreyol is really improving! I could speak a little and now, through all the confusion of languages, I know nothing. OK. Au whatever. Love you.
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For those that haven't been there. Haitian time is someone 10 minutes away tell you they're on their way over and arriving 2 hours later with a smile on their face and no feeling that they're late. Haitian time is going to the next town which is really close - only an hour drive. Haitian time is when they tell you it's dinner time so you politely wash up and go sit down so you won't hold them up or let the food get cold but dinner isn't actually served for another 45 minutes. Everything works slower than we're used to so when they say right away or soon, it really has a different meaning than it has for us and it's much harder to get used to it on a daily basis than you would expect. So when you hear one of us speaking about "Haitian time", that's what we mean.
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