Clothes and the Beach

Yes we were wearing clothes at the beach! 

The title is 2 separate events, let me tell you about them:

 Thursday, we went back to Cabaret to a shelter where we had done medical missions the previous week to distribute clothes. It was a fantastic experience for all of us. Our kids came along as well as Diana our teacher. Patrice and Jocelyn (2 people that work at the mission) helped us with crowd control and interpretation. 

It was very rewarding to give out clothes to so many people who had lost so much in the recent flooding. Many people around here talk of their stories of waking at 2 am to yelling and screaming and the sound of rushing waters. Many talk about being slammed up again a tree, climbing on top of a wall or hanging onto a tree branch for survival. After what these people had been through, giving out clothes was the least we could do.

Giving clothes to 200 very needy people in a shelter is a very tricky thing to do. Imagine 200 people all crowding around wanting to get at the clothes. Well that is what we imagined too, so we planned it out in a controlled manor! We situated ourselves inside one of the school buildings with all of the clothes and had the people line up at the door. We then gave clothes out one at a time; men first, women second, and children third. It ran very well and Teagan was a huge help sizing up kids for their donated girl guide shirts!

It was kind of funny that many people got their shirt and then went back in line and tried to get in again. Some succeeded as we could not memorize every face, but some we caught in the act! At the end of the time, things started to get a little pushy as they knew we were leaving soon. Even though that all was a little frustrating, we could not blame them really, I think I would be pushy too if my whole family had lost everything. 

The highlight for me (Cheryl) was at the end of the day, many of my patients who recognised me came up to me for various reasons. One old man who can not walk well and who's eye had ballooned out with a hematoma after falling in the flood, came to show me how well he was healing after our team stiched him up. I was particularly happy to see him as I had brought a walker for him to use. He was so happy and walked away so proud! On the sad side however, 2 mom's with newborns came over showing me their babies that were very sick. One in particular was burning up with fever, the hottest skin I had ever felt! She desperately needed care. I had nothing with me and so I gave them a slip to come to the hospital the next day on my bill. They never showed up. I pray the baby survived.

Now for the beach. Sat. we made it to a little resort not too far from here (40min) for Teagan's beach day birthday. We had a great time playing in the pool and enjoying the ocean. It was nice for a day to relax and let the kids have fun in the pool. We had a great lunch and met people from Haiti, France, Brazil and New York. Our kids have been fantastic and it was great to see them having so much fun in the sun for a day.

Tomorrow starts another week. I wonder what adventures await!!