This is the courtyard just outside of my room. Lots of tropical plants and flowers, along with lots of bugs, spiders and lizards :) It is about 93 degrees today and the Haitian people tell me that this is cold for them! The compound is made of cement, with 1 story and there is a wall with a gate around it. We had to ask for special permission to come home at 10:30 Friday night from the birthday party because the guard locks the gate at 9 pm each night. The Haitian people actually go to sleep early and get up early. I found out that many of the patients won't even come to therapy at 3 or 4 pm because that is when the rest, like a siesta, they call it "kabicha".
This is my room, I actually will post another picture from other side, as I moved there today after my roommate left to return home. The bed was fairly comfortable, but I was also very, very tired.
This is the dining hall. I thought it was monks that were here, but it is nuns. Actually, this is where they vacation. They are all very sweet and speak Spanish. Lots of different languages are spoken here. Monday, I will start taking Creole lessons!
This is the therapy gym. I was quite surprised at how large it is. People have donated so much equipment that the OT, Claire and I, spent the morning opening boxes and organizing things so we have access to what we need. Until last week, the other OT here was seeing 14 inpatients and 8-10 outpatients BY HERSELF! Here, we are considered "physiotherapistes" and PT/OT treat any type of patient and condition. No separation of arms and legs, or fine and gross motor. Interesting! Well, off to the water tower to take pictures of the mountains:)
If you can learn Creole, that will be a key to success down there. From January through May of this year, my job was to find military skill sets and personnel to send to Haiti as a part of the relief efforts. Speaking Creole was one of the most common requests. Oh, and I understand the kids love to play soccer...don't think they play much volleyball or basketball down there.
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