Jerry's Newest Long Update

So I wrote most of this like 3 days ago but I am just posting it now.

Hey there. So heres some updates on what I have been up to, a part of and seen lately. A couple days ago there was a knock at the door of Bumi Sehat and so I answered it. About ten people were all making a human stretcher to carry a man who had been in a motorcycle wreck up the street. I was like Holy Shit! Let them in and some of the medical folks here went to work on him. He had bad road rash all over his arms and legs. There was this one spot though on his thigh that was gashed open and some of his muscle was ripped. It looked pretty nasty.

Everybody worked on cleaning his wounds, and I got to help grab med. supplies and tape bandages on him. And I went ahead and rolled up some baby clothes and put it in his mouth while the wounds were being cleaned so that he could bite down on something and scream. I had never been a part of any kind of bloody medical response like that before. Someone offered to drive him to the hospital after the initial cleaning and bandaging here so that he could get his leg stitched up.

He’ll be okay. But taxiing people around town on moto’s is how a lot of folks make there money here though and now he will be out of work and possibly out of a bike now and that’s probably gonna be the worst part of it for him, more so than the physical pain. I really hope things end up okay for him.

Yesterday was the opening ceremony for the birth center dome. People from local government came and spoke. Sixty women who MESS helped to bring and translate for came by for prenatal appointments. The coolest part was that the night before the Haitian crew getting paid to work up there worked for 27 HOURS!!! To make the place look good. They are really proud to be a part of something for there community and be able to get some doe for there families in the process. 27 HOURS. Those guys just have a groove going that is unstoppable.

To celebrate a whole truck load of the crew went to the beach and got a lot of bottles of liquor, shish kabob, coconuts. We went swimming and were just generally really loud and really ROWDY. It was nice to get to hang out with the work crew out of the worksite. How open everybody is to take you out and have a good time, when you can barely speak and you are a weird foreigner is the best. It’s a whole different type of friendship that forms when that is the case, and I am happy to have made those types of friends in my life. It was awesome times on a beautiful tropical beach. Jacmel!!!

We visited some water falls called Basin Bleu. It’s a series of blue, blue, blue pools that lead to one major waterfall that is really powerful, and gorgeous. You can jump off some rocks near the top of the falls about 25-30 feet up. Ivy, Zacha, me, and Michael all went and met up with a new friend Cara. The motorcycle rides we took up the mountain and back to go to the falls was all part of the fun to. What a good view of the city from up there.

Bumi Sehat had it’s first birth today on site. Not quite at the birthing clinic but at the house where everyone stays. Nadedj (one of the women in the work crew) who is always bringing folks down to the house for they and their kids ailments came on down with the woman. She had labored all night and was almost ready to push when she got here. There was definetly not enough time to get her back up the hill to the dome. So right in the living room on a mattress with the assistance of two volunteer midwives she quicly and peacefully birthed her third healthy baby.

When I arrived at the house to work today they were cleaning up the blood and getting ready to get her upstairs to lay down through the night and breastfeed and spend time with her timoun (child). The baby is totally adorable. It was a great thing to walk in and hear.

Now are you ready for this. I GOT A FUCKING BIKE! Yes. Me and this kid Stanley fixed it up today. Reggie hooked me up with his old bike and I rode around a little today. I’ve been shredding this city to pieces with it. As soon as it was fixed I took an epic 5 mile ride to the beach through hilly, bumpy terrain and met folks at a beach I had not been to before. Then after swimming, eating grilled conch, and drinking a wee bit of scotch I biked back…FAST! EPIC! I have been aching to ride a bike and I’m doing my best to make a few of my own gapping potholes in the street.

Well that’s all for today folks. Take care. Jerry