Notes from Leogane Part II: No. 16--Returning to Leogane

Dear Family and Friends:

(I have numbered this first 2012 Note as No. 16, to follow on the heels of the first fifteen Notes From Leogane (“NFL”) I sent you last year during my first three months stay at Hopital Sainte Croix (“HSC”) in Leogane.

I arrived back at HSC this past Friday after the quite common 25 miles but two-hour drive from the airport in Port-au-Prince (“PaP”).  I think it was good karma that Madame Bellevue was the first person to greet me as I walked into the HSC Guesthouse on the second floor of the renovated three-story north hospital wing. On the plane from Miami, I had been practicing my Kreyol greeting for Madame: “Mwen byen kontan we ou anko.” Accent marks omitted. (“I am very happy to see you again.”)

I didn’t tell Madame Bellevue that it took me at least one hour on the plane from Miami – quietly in seat 13G – to be able to speak just six Kreyol words without a 3 x 5 note card translation crutch. I had to reacquaint myself with the “nasal” way of speaking Kreyol. I like to think that the laugh by my first Kreyol teacher and friend revealed some measure of approval for my effort. After all, she did kiss me on the cheek and said, “Byen David.”

After I mentioned that I would be returning to Leogane for another three-month stint at the Guesthouse, a few of my family members and friends asked me whether I thought there has been meaningful improvement in Haiti since my Leogane stay ended last year on June 30, 2011. I cannot speak about Haiti on a nationwide basis; that is too daunting of a task. But as for Leogane in general, and HSC in particular, I can most definitely say that there are exciting signs of improvement here.

This past Saturday, I jumped on the back of Watson’s moto. A moto trip is almost always an adventure, weaving back and forth among the road hog tap-taps and larger buses headed to PaP, Jacmel, and places beyond.

I asked Watson to come with me to Santo to translate, should we be fortunate enough to find at home the two women owners of the houses I worked on for five days in November, 2011, with the other Habitat team members for houses 311 and 312. In addition to hoping to visit with the homeowners, I also was carrying a leather carpenter’s belt, hammer, two screw drivers and pliers, to give to Sheeklay (ph), the son of the 311 homeowner. Sheeklay was the tireless teenage worker who contributed “sweat equity” all week of the Habitat build on behalf of his mother. Watson and I were able to visit with Sheeklay’s mother and her neighbor, but Sheeklay wasn’t home. We left his tools with his mother. Watson and I plan to go back to Santo in a week or so to see Sheeklay and, with permission, take photographs of these houses and the surrounding neighborhood.

The Santo Community is part of the Leogane Region as is the Leogane City Center. Within this region, the City Center absorbed much of the brunt of the January 12, 2010, earthquake - with 20,000 people dying in this region, along with the devastating loss of life in Port-au-Prince. Each city was but 10 miles from the epicenter, in opposite directions along the coastline from the epicenter.

The New Santo Neighborhood and HSC Renovations  

As I noted in a previous November 2011 supplement to one of last year’s Notes, the Habitat build in Santo by more than four hundred volunteers resulted in 100 new homes being at least 90% completed for move-in.  Another 50 houses had been built the week before by two hundred volunteers from Haven, an Irish volunteer organization. Most of the volunteers were from County Cork.

After the departure of the November, 2011 volunteers from Haven and Habitat, a final wave of finish builders came to Santo to get all houses ready for move in. I’m happy to report that this past January 150 families moved into their new homes. Many had spent the last two years after the quake living in tent cities in the region.

Last Saturday Watson and I enjoyed the sight of how the new homeowners have been going about the pride -driven task of giving individual touches to their new abodes. Grass and landscaping is taking root in this neighborhood, and more growth is on the horizon. The Habitat International Jimmy Carter Working Project (“CWP”) will be returning to the same Santo neighborhood the Monday after Thanksgiving, 2012.  Overall, 500 new houses will be built in this new neighborhood. I should know in a few weeks whether I’ll have the opportunity to return for this additional Habitat build.

The three-story north wing at HSC has undergone a chameleon-like transformation. Perhaps the best way to underscore the changes on the Guesthouse floor is to review some “before and after” photographs.

Photo 0089

0595

Photo 0089 was taken in the main hallway in April, 2011. Photo 0595 was taken a few days ago. Photo 0134 shows a dormitory renovation in progress last year. The post-renovation dormitory condition of the same area is shown in photos 0600 and 0601, taken a few days ago.

Photo 0134

Photo 600

Photo 601

The last two days around 5:30 p.m., I have walked through every room on the three renovated floors of the north wing, to lock down any unlocked doors and windows. This evening tour has brought home how the hospital has shed its past and stands ready to move forward with a significant expansion of the medical services to be made available to those in need of low cost medical care in the Leogane region and perhaps beyond this region. For example, a new dental clinic is scheduled for reopening in the near future. The renovated wing has improved clinic and operating facilities.

After the operating hospital moves into the renovated three-story north wing, there are future plans in place to demolish the existing one-story buildings where the hospital now operates, and to then build new hospital buildings in their place; hopefully in the next few years or so.

New construction is ongoing at the four-year nursing college of the Episcopal University of Haiti in Belval, a Leogane neighborhood about a mile from HSC.

As I have traveled on foot and by moto around the City Center to and from Belval the last two days, I have seen several lots where new concrete foundations are being poured for commercial buildings and  residences. A new 10–12 rooms lodging business opened about a year ago three blocks from here. Hand demolition work continues in various parts of City Center to clear lots for new structures.

Various waves of determined efforts and cautious optimism are palpable and observable in Leogane.  I hope this continues. Leogane deserves these kinds of infections.

Some Things Have Not Changed
There are many things that remain as I remember them. The day unfolds outside my office and bedroom window much as it did last April -June. But a few examples come to mind as I type this Note. Rooster crows come from two or three spots across and down the street, at least one hour before sunrise. The ice truck still pulls up to make an ice block delivery next door. The driver still leans on his horn, even when the customer is waiting on the street in front of his/her dwelling; though the horn now blares around 6:15 a.m., not at 5:30.

Some of the same street vendors walk past my window each morning. I have yet to hear last year’s bread lady, who I remember calling out “achte pen” (buy bread) about every 15 seconds. The parade of school children in ironed uniforms remains pretty much the same. Patients still arrive outside the locked entrance to the HSC outpatient clinic 1–1 ½ hours before it opens.

At the HSC Guesthouse, Jeannine still leads the kitchen/dining staff. Yvette, Lozina and Geralda continue to work with her. Lozina and Geralda remain quiet, but smile from time to time. My ability to joke with Yvette has resurfaced in just a few days. Perhaps that flows from my improved Kreyol, as compared with my first month on the job last year.
 

Soup joumou– it’s pumpkin based – already has been served by the staff. It still knocks my socks off.  Jeannine had it served Sunday because two of her brothers and two nephews were visiting from Orlando, Florida.

There have been some changes. Jeannine has stepped up the pace of her cooking and baking classes. (She’s off all day tomorrow for a class.)  She has a thriving weekend catering business. On Saturday afternoon, she catered a wedding event for 100 guests.

Madame Bellevue still is the strongest 90 lb. woman I have yet to meet. Her grace and dignity remains true. 

Typanol will always be kind and shy. As before, he is the valued utility player at the Guesthouse. In the hospital, Ty Ty continues to serve an invaluable role for non-medical support. Bob and Robin Sloane confirmed during our “transition meeting” on Saturday that Philip still works his magic getting the HSC vehicles up and running to and from mobile clinic sites. Zoe still prefers the 45W generator for back-up electricity when we lose Haitian Public Power, but its out of commission. Perhaps he’ll shift his loyalty to the 100W generator we now use for back-up until the new and more powerful generators go on line.

Dr. Gladys Memnon contines as Hospital Director and Dr. Belanger as chief surgeon. I have been in email contact with the pharmacist JoJo (Vladimir Gestine) since last August and made a point of visiting with him first thing Monday morning. He and Ty Ty are as solid as ever.

Ra Ra bands are in full force as is the case every year during Holy Week. (More on Ra Ra next week.) And, yes, Dr. Livingston still roams and rules the Guesthouse. For newcomers, Dr. L is a most unusual cat.  He is extremely long in torso; so much so that he can stand on my office cabinet and stretch his head out the window for 5 minutes or so watching street traffic. We have a medical and dental clinic group from southwest Michigan staying here this week. Dr. L is upholding his tradition of greeting visitors by pawing their legs under the dining room table at breakfast and dinner.

Lastly, I would be remiss were I not to thank again my mentors, Bob and Robin Sloane, who returned to Ft. Worth yesterday, after serving as Guesthouse Managers since mid-January, as they did last year. The Sloanes mean so much to the success of the Guesthouse and the hospital. Last year,  they  joined with John and Suzie Parker–who were the Guesthouse Managers when the earthquake struck–to form a non-profit organization in the U.S. to assist in bringing a dental clinic back to HSC. That clinic should be operating within a matter of weeks. (John Parker was under Guesthouse rubble for five hours after the quake. Not deterred, the Parkers stayed at HSC for another 8–9 months to help get the hospital running and to reopen the Guesthouse at its current location.)

As I finish this Note, I continue in my admiration of the grit and reserved dignity of quiet dignity of the good folks at Hopital Sainte and Leogane I have had the privilege of meeting during my three trips so far to this area. Haiti has a way of pulling on your heart.

I hope this Note finds you and your loved ones in good health and spirits.

Peace,

David

3 April 2012