Medical Clinic in Chambrun

One of the clinics that our team worked at was an established clinic in the rural area of Chambrun. (Half of my team would go to Chambrun, and the other half to the mobile clinic each day.) The Chambrun clinic really felt like it was in the middle of nowhere, even though it was only about a 40 minute drive from where we stayed. The clinic was in a really dry, dusty area, surrounded by fields of cacti. When we first drove up to the clinic I was sure that it wouldn't be a very busy place, as I couldn't really see many houses (or areas where it would look like you would want to put a house) nearby. But apparently this clinic is one of the only health facilities in the area, and so it was quite busy. People walked for a long time to get there, and they must have started at dawn or before because they were all there waiting for us when we arrived in the morning.

The clinic was pretty basic - a couple of treatment rooms with beds (like the beds that are in your doctor's office), a pharmacy area, and an outdoor waiting area. This is the waiting area.


The pharmacy. There was a ton of stuff in it, and we spent a lot of time trying to get it organized.

Seeing patients in the hallway...trying to be efficient!


This little guy was really really sick when he first came in - totally limp and not moving much because he was so dehydrated. We put an IV in him and gave him some fluids and some antibiotics. He came back a couple of times to get more fluids and antibiotics, and by day three he looked great - interactive, playful, and pretty much back to normal.



One of the things that I really didn't expect in Chambrun was how much of an impact the earthquake would have had on people's lives. Chambrun doesn't have a lot of infrastructure, and most of the buildings are single story and made of mud bricks with an aluminum roof. Hardly any (if any at all) collapsed during the earthquake. I knew they would have felt the earthquake, but I really didn't expect it to be so central to their lives since there wasn't the physical reminder of collapsed buildings everywhere you looked.

However, I found it interesting that many of their health problems were referenced to the earthquake. Again and again, people would come in, tell me their complaint, and when I asked how long it had been going on for, the answer was usually "since the earthquake." This was especially true for people with headaches, abdominal pain, and trouble sleeping.

One lady brought her three kids to the clinic, and when I asked what was wrong, she told me that the baby is having trouble walking (the baby was about 18 months old). I asked how long the baby had been having trouble walking for, and the standard reply came back - since the earthquake. So I asked why the baby was having trouble walking, and she told me that the baby was scared of the ground shaking and was scared to walk. The baby looked in pretty good shape, and eventually I saw the baby stand and take some steps, so I knew that there must be more to the story. The translator and I did a bit more questioning, and we found out that the real concern was that the mother was widowed, had lost her mother in the earthquake, and was now unable to provide food for her kids and they were hungry.

My interaction with this lady made me a bit sad...here she is, trying the best she can to get help for her kids after experiencing such huge personal loss, spends all day waiting in line to see us after walking who know how far with three kids, and we couldn't really do much for her other than give her kids some basic medications and connect her with the local pastor. This was the case with many families that we met. To me, she was also a clear example of the earthquake's far reaching effects - she didn't live in a tent camp, yet she had been hugely affected by the earthquake and had similar needs to those that did live in the camps. She and many other people that I met in Chambrun reminded me the importance of making sure that support continues to be offered to those who are in need in all parts of Haiti, not just those in Port-au-Prince.

Thanks for reading! Next up...mobile clinics in the tent camps...

Tent cities.

In addition to the huge loss of life due to the earthquake, people have also lost their homes. Many homes have collapsed. Some homes are standing but the structure is damaged. And some homes might even be safe to live in, but people are too afraid to sleep indoors. As a result, people have been forced to find shelter elsewhere.

Many Haitians moved to other parts of the country if they were able, but thousands remain in and around Port-au-Prince. Those that have stayed have created tent camps. Some camps are big (thousands of people), some camps are small (hundreds of people) but you see them everywhere.


All the tents are strategically placed so that should another earthquake hit, nothing will fall on them. This is important - at least in their tent, they feel safe.


The majority of the tents are made of sticks and sheets, and some of them are covered with tarps. Real tents are making their way into Haiti, but the need is far far greater than the supply.

The make-shift tents, even if tarped, are not exactly waterproof, and that means that rain gets everything wet. The tents are also extremely close together and many people share each one.


As you can imagine, hygiene and sanitation in the camps is and will continue to be an issue (and a bigger and bigger issue as time passes, especially during the rainy season). The first big rainfall happened on Friday, March 19 - check out the story here. Sounds awful (and that seems like an understatement). A fresh water supply is being provided in some of the bigger camps via water bladders from Oxfam.


A couple questions often come up when I tell people about the tents. While I can't give definitive answers, I can tell you my thoughts...

Why are so many people tenting in the city? Why don't people just leave Port-au-Prince?
It's their home... Their life is there, their friends and family are there, their family members and friends are buried there. There is no guarantee that life would be better elsewhere. And many of them have hope for the future - for the rebuilding of the city, for the rebuilding of Haiti. The buildings may have fallen down, but the people have not given up hope...

Where are the real tents? I/we've given money...
Good question! I can only hope they are coming...that somewhere in the world, people are frantically making tents (if tent supply is really the issue) and they are being shipped to Haiti as fast as possible. There are a few camps that have been supplied with real tents, so I can see that it is achievable... Hopefully media coverage of the rainy season will pressure governments to get moving on this.

Next up...medical clinic stories! Thanks for reading!

First Impressions

A few thoughts about my first impression and experiences in Haiti...

My team of 17 flew in to Haiti from the Dominican Republic on a United Nations Humanitarian Air Services flight (piloted by Canadians that day). It was a bit of a panic getting on the plane, as we were only allowed one 20kg bag each and most team members had packed huge hockey bags of medical supplies. So our medical supplies stayed in the DR overnight (and fortunately made it to Haiti the next day without issue). Here's me and two of my teammates getting ready to board the plane.

Flying over Haiti, I expected to be able to see evidence of the earthquake as we neared Port-au-Prince. From the air, though, all we could see was the occasional tent camp (the bright blue tarps over the tents made them easy to see) and a huge Red Cross hospital ship in the harbour. Other than that, Port-au-Prince looked pretty unremarkable from the air.

We landed at a UN compound, which was interesting. No immigration, no customs - just got off the plane, walked across the tarmac, and went through a little portable building to enter Haiti. That is probably the only time I will ever have such a straightforward experience entering another country!

Driving to our accommodations, I expected to see destruction everywhere I looked. However, while there were some collapsed buildings, many appeared unharmed from the earthquake. As I began to look closer, though, I could see that while many buildings were standing, lots of them had huge cracks running up the walls. Fences and walls were often leaning at unusual angles, and piles of bricks were everywhere as cleanup was already started in the area (we were in Tabarre). Here is a picture of one of the first buildings that I saw that was completely destroyed - this was a hotel.

While I expected to see more destruction during my first few hours in Haiti, I knew that there was probably a lot more to see and experience that would go beyond my expectations. This was was true. Two things that were beyond what I expected were the epicenter area of Port-au-Prince as well as the Haitian's stories about the impact of the earthquake on their lives (more to come on these topics...).

Thinking back to that first day in Haiti, I realize that at that point I was focusing on the wrong part of the story. My initial focus was to look for destruction, and I was wrongly assuming that if houses were standing the impact of the earthquake on its inhabitants wouldn't be as great as it was for those living in tent camps. In fact, the impact on everyone in the Port-au-Prince area is great - greater than I really anticipated. And while collapsed buildings are dramatic and shocking to see (in person as well as in photos), I found that after a few days I had almost stopped noticing the destruction along the roads we frequently traveled.

While pictures illustrate the destruction more powerfully than I can describe in writing, I hope to communicate some of the stories of the survivors in posts to come...not only stories about loss and struggle, but also stories about resilience and hope.

Haiti - where to begin?

Over the past two weeks I have seen and experienced so much...and I'm not sure I'm ready to put all those experience to words just yet. So, I will start with some pictures...


Signs like this are all over the place. Many of the smaller IDP (internally displaced people) camps will post one, and the cell number is usually for one of the camp leaders.


The plants still growing on the porch of this house/hotel stuck out to me...


Collapsed building, market stall...


An IDP camp...most of the tents in this camp are made of sheets and sticks, with the occasional tarp. (I'll post more on IDP camps later...)

Soldier, public transit (Haiti style) and UN trucks. There is a pretty heavy military and United Nations (UN) presence in parts of Port-au-Prince right now - lots of military vehicles and blue helmets (UN soldiers) driving around.

More pictures and thoughts to come...