Where He leads...: What a week!

What a week!

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Excited and a bit nervous. That’s the best description for how I felt when my boss told me a few weeks ago that I’d soon be spending a work week in the mountains… leaving early Monday morning and returning on Friday. The task: Overseeing that our mobile nutrition program gets off to a good start.

If I am asked whether I like to camp—having grown up near the Smoky Mountains (and proud of it!)—my answer is instinctively yes… though I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve camped for longer than one night at a time. Hiking has always been an enjoyable hobby of mine, though the hiking I’m used to back home is a bit different than what I’m growing accustomed to here. For starters, there are a lot more trees in the mountains of Tennessee as opposed to hiking in the direct Haitian sun, the paths are generally better maintained, and though I’ve been on some lengthy hikes back home, most are quite leisurely and include a picnic near a waterfall as a reward.

I’ve been anticipating “the week in the mountains” with excitement, realizing that it will be a great personal challenge—dealing with the unknowns of how long and difficult the paths will be, what it will be like sleeping in the homes of our monitrices, bathing, eating, “bathrooms”, and so on. And I’ve been anticipating “the week in the mountains” with a bit of nervousness for those very same reasons. I consider myself to be a strong, flexible, and adaptable person… but this would be a great test of those characteristics.

Monday morning at 5am I set off with Mismerique, our nurse who has been training with our nutrition program for a month and a half in preparation for her to take on the project of reaching the remote mountainous areas of Leogane with our nutrition clinics. My boss Kerry’s husband Lionel also went with us as additional support. We were dropped off by the riverbed at the foot of the mountain leading to Chevrine. And from there we began our ascent by foot. Each day we would set up our nutrition clinic at a different location.

Monday = La Tournell

Tuesday = Campam

Wednesday = Degendre

Thursday = Ti Harpon

(And I found out on Tuesday that instead of coming home on Friday, we’d be able to be picked up Thursday afternoon and head on back.)

This is the route that Mismerique will be traveling every week. Although as the rainy season is fast approaching, we will reverse her route so that she will start at Ti Harpon (high altitude) and end at the riverbed, so she won’t have to risk crossing the river on her own before daybreak.

My job was to ensure Mismerique had all she needed for each clinic, to take copious notes describing our travel, the locations, how the clinics went, the problems we ran into, our time in the homes of the monitrices, etc.

In a week’s time we hiked a total of 7 hours, rode motos on rough mountain terrain for over an hour, saw over 80 children, and admitted over a dozen of those into our nutrition program. A couple children were so undernourished they were referred to the stabilization center, though it is difficult for the mothers to actually get their children there as it is so far and they often have other children at home to care for as well. While I was encouraged by the many children who we found to be in good nutritional health, there were many that are definitely in need of our program. I’m so thankful for CNP’s programs and for our ability to extend our services to these mountain regions.

Mismerique, our traveling nurse!

For our first two locations we had sent supplies up by mules. The final two spots are reachable by vehicle.

On Tuesday we woke before the sun, started our hike with my dim flashlight, and kept climbing and climbing and climbing. Despite my exhaustion, I managed to enjoy the spectacular sunrise as best as I could. See that white patch in the distance? That's the riverbed where we started our hike on Monday!

Word of mouth, referrals by our monitrices, and apparently this guy with a megaphone = some of the ways people in these mountain regions hear about our mobile nutrition program!

The children are weighed, measured, and compared against the "norm". If they meet criteria either by being underweight for their height or by having a mid-upper arm circumference measurement below a certain number, they meet criteria for our program, begin treatment from our Plumpy'Sup or Plumpy Nut (peanut butter type supplement), and come for regularly scheduled follow-up visits until, hopefully, they are discharged from the program.

This is one of the children we saw who was especially underweight. He has a number of other health concerns as well, but getting him to the stabilization center is the first step. We hope the mother will actually take him there.

Like most kids, they don't appreciate all the poking and prodding! We get a lot of tears and occasionally some screamers!

We ate WELL all week! The monitrices are all excellent cooks and had a feast for us each night. My body appreciated the refueling!

Always interesting to experience the various "bathroom" situations in Haiti, especially in the mountains. We had everything from a hole in the ground to a bucket beside our bed. I've learned that any latrine with some kind of a seat is a luxury.

Our "shower" at one of the homes. This was the only time I "properly" got clean with soap and water. Despite some peeping toms, I made it work. Other than that... baby wipes. They are my best friend for weeks like this!!!