Last Day at Lotore!

Monday, October 13th: Day 5

I had a great night sleep and was the first girl to wake up this morning! I am not a early riser, so this is a big deal. I woke up at 5:15 am! I stepped outside our room and took a deep breath, enjoying God's beautiful creation. I am in awe of the beauty here! This place is so unbelievably beautiful. Some people have said that God has forgotten about Haiti, but I know now from being here that this is far from true.

I got dressed, packed my last minute stuff, and rolled up my sleeping bag. While packing, I started getting sad. I knew that we would be leaving soon. Too soon for me. I have not even left Haiti yet and I am already missing it!

We all gathered for breakfast and enjoyed our last meal in Lotore!

Everyone is bright-eyed and bushy tailed this morning!

Chris and Brian joking around.

Everyone got a good night's sleep, so we all were in a good mood!

The topic of conversation this morning was how well did everyone sleep last night with all of the new arrangements. Brian got a very restful and undisturbed night's sleep. Sadly, I cannot say the same for the other guys. Last night as Matt and Chris were resting happily with Brian now out of the room. They were awoken to snoring, again! Chris got out of his hammock and searched the room for the culprit. He thought it was Ed so he shined his light in Ed's face and woke him up to tell him to be quiet! Poor Ed. So Ed turns over on his side and Chris goes back to his hammock. As Chris was getting back in his bed, he heard the snoring again! He then realized that is was not Ed that was snoring, but Dave! Chris decided to give up after that! Poor Ed was woken up for no reason and accused of something he didn't even do! Of course it was not funny at the time, but when the story was told at breakfast, we were rolling with laughter!

Cynthia's air mattress survived the night and was fully inflated in the morning! She slept on a cloud! Laura did not fall out of the dental chair, so that was good!

The ladies made a special breakfast for us this morning. We were a little unsure and didn't know what it was. It looked pretty harmless, so I tried some first! Yeah, a huge step for me. I know!

It was like a porridge or cream of wheat. It was a thick consistency that had a slight sweet taste to it. I don't think we ever found out what it was made out of, but it was pretty good!

Ed obviously was very excited about it!

During breakfast Brian said, "Carrie, we have to find you a goat so you can get your picture". I couldn't believe that I almost forgot and that Brian actually remembered! I went with Brian outside, put on some gloves (you never know what kind of diseases these animals may have, no matter how precious they are!) and searched for a baby goat. Those suckers are fast! Brian finally grabbed one and handed it to me. He was bleating and scared, poor thing! I repositioned him and Brian took the picture!

I am so excited I got my goat picture! Thanks again Brian!

Before we knew it, there were tons of people waiting to be seen. We were scheduled to leave at noon to return to Lotore, so we had to get on the ball. We all manned our stations and assumed our positions!

Before we got started, we noticed the children playing in the courtyard. They were playing/dancing in a circle and holding hands. Leslie joined in on the fun!

Laura had the opportunity to give a donkey his vaccination!
Go Laura!


Me and my friend/interpreter Jean Louis

We had a very busy morning and saw many patients. I saw one man who had a nasty cut to his finger. You could almost see the bone! I irrigated and cleaned it as best I could. I called Matt and Chris over to look at it and to see if they could stitch it up. They said that they couldn't put sutures in it because the wound was too old. The only thing I could do was clean it and put a dressing on it, so I did. I gave the gentleman an antibiotic and some supplies so that he could do some dressing changes at home. Even though this was a very minor situation, it felt really good to physically treat this man and get my hands dirty, so to speak.

We finally finished seeing all of the adults. We then moved on to the school children and performed well child checks. Mandy, Billy, Matt, and Chris saw all of the children and then they came to me to get stickers and t-shirts. Mandy was given a ton of t-shirts that were left over from the Murrells Inlet "Blessing of the Inlet", so we were giving them out to the school children!

Our little patients sitting and waiting so patiently!


All of the school children lining up to be seen.


Aren't they so funny!
This little girl was so sweet!

While I was sitting next to the windows, little girls would stick their hands through and I would paint their finger nails! I brought some nail polish with me, but never had the chance to paint any one's nails until now!

Aren't their nails so pretty!

I didn't have the chance to do very many nails, but I did give the polish away to the little girls.

After all the children were seen and all the t-shirts were given out, we were able to gather all of the children together to get a group picture!

Rounding up the kids!

The school children in their new shirts! Look closely,part of the team gathered in the back!

Looks like a storm is brewing too!

I was blown away by the children. They were all so well behaved, never complained, cried, or fought with one another. Some of the American children need to come to Haiti to learn how to behave!

Before I knew it, the big truck was here and we were packing up all of our stuff. The big truck was loaded up quickly and the majority of our team wanted to ride in the back rather than in the ambulance. I guess they thought it would be an easier ride. I however was totally happy to ride in the ambulance (really a Toyota 4 Runner, if you were wondering). Because so many people were riding in the big truck, I was able to sit in the front seat all by myself. Of course Arturo was driving us!

As I got situated in the front seat, I turned around and noticed that I had an audience!

I think this picture is so cute!

Matt, Cynthia, Chris, Webster, Mandy, and Jean Louis riding in the big truck!

Laura rode in the big truck and was able to get these pictures.

Cynthia, Matt, and Chris.

Laura, ready to ride!

Let's go Leslie!

Before I knew it, we were pulling away from Lotore! I can't believe that our trip is over and we are on our way home already! The big truck was in front of us so the ambulance was stuck behind them. We could see everyone in the big truck, and they had a full load!

This one guy had to hang onto the back of the truck standing the whole time!

As you can see in the picture above, the big truck is open on the top and very tall. As they were driving, all the people in the truck were getting beaten by tree branches. They kept having to duck and dodge all the branches! From the ambulance point of view, it was really funny to watch. Especially because people thought it would be so much better in the big truck. Sorry, but it was funny!

We finally got a chance to pass the big truck and Arturo took off like a bolt of lightning. Well, maybe more like a fast turtle. Anyway, we got a huge lead on the big truck!

What a beautiful mountainside!
I gave Jean Louis my visor to keep. So he is now doing some free advertising for my Brother-in-law's landscaping company! I don't know how in demand landscapers and irrigation systems are in Haiti though?

A house on the side of a cliff!

Webster, Julie, and Mandy crammed in the big truck!

So as soon as we got our lead on the big truck, what do ya know, we got a flat tire! We all bailed out of the ambulance and Arturo kicked it into high gear. He was like a one man NASCAR pit crew! He changed that tire in record speed! At least it felt like it! Well the other men did help him, but still he is a machine!

While I was using my "girl card" and being useless, some little children came running up being curious. They started yelling "blanc, blanc"! They were so excited to see us. I waved at them and they came over. They were so cute and funny! They would come over to me very slowly and cautiously, like tip-toeing. Then they would reach out their hand to touch mine so slowly. Then they would quickly tap my hand and run off laughing and screaming! They were so hilarious! I felt like I was a circus side show!

Before I knew it, the tire was changed and the guys were yelling at me to get in the truck! As I was jumping in the ambulance, the big truck came barrelling around the corner! Arturo kicked it into gear and we were able to stay in front of the big truck! We were able to gain our lead on the big truck again. Before I knew it, I couldn't even see the truck again.

The trip down the mountain was long and bumpy, but also sunny and beautiful! I had taken Dramamine before we left and I actually started to fall asleep a couple of times! Can you believe it! I was able to get a couple of pretty pictures though.

God's beautiful masterpiece!

On the drive down, Ed kept trying to take pictures of the "road" to show how bumpy it is. For some odd reason though, in every single picture he took, the road would look completely flat on his camera screen! We have no clue why that was!
This one I took turned out pretty well, don't you think?

Before I knew it, we had arrived back in Anse-a-Galet! We drove in the gates of the compound at St. Francis church and parked. It was so nice to be "home". I was totally exhausted, sweaty, and covered in dust! It was a good day!

Coming up next...Last night at the compound