Last Day of Mobile Clinics - K-Moncil

by Kate Saunders

On the last day, we had our final prayer circle reciting the Lord's Prayer in both English and Creole. We then piled into the three vans/trucks and headed out past the farms and into the country near the water. The last day was by far the most scenic with amazing views of aqua blue water stretching all around us with a few fishing boats crawling across the water. There were stacks and stacks of incredible conch shells and women walking by with baskets of flip flops to sell. It was a great place to take a lunch break, have some quiet, and look at the indescribable beauty that is Haiti. It was also in my opinion one of the poorest places we have visited, a few children without any clothes or just a long shirt.

 We quickly set up within the local bar/cock fighting ring, since we were all pros now and we ended up seeing about 170 people during the day. We found that most of the backup was with the dentist who had a line circling all around the storage unit next to the beach chair he used as a dental chair. We figured this was due to all the sugar cane stalks the people chew on, which inevitably destroys their teeth. Once we saw our last patient, we went around and asked all the translators to fill out a pharmacy card with anything they needed. We had ran out of some of their requests, but we were able to decrease our inventory a lot and also help provide vitamins, tropical creams, toothbrushes and medicines for our amazing translators and their families back home. It was a great feeling being able to help them since none of this would have happened without their talented ability to translate between the Haitians and us.  We also presented our remaining children’s vitamins to the local agent santé.

 
A few of us then went back to the beach to see all of the fishing boats come in after a long day on the water. They pulled the boats up on the beach side by side and then cleaned their catch of the day. The fishes they caught and cleaned were amazing neon blues, pinks and purples. The children were also running around, playing with their new plastic bottles from the pharmacy, and wanting us to take their pictures.

 It was hard to believe that this was our last day and we were able to help so many people, physically and mentally, over such a short period of time. The time spent in this country has given me so much. It is without question, a third world country and very poor, yet I have not seen one Haitian feeling sorry for themselves or wondering why they have so little. Instead, everyone I encountered, from the very young children to the old farmers, are such joyful and happy people. They are quick to show a smile and wave when we drive by. It was also great to see how all the Haitians, especially our translators, interacted. Driving to our mobile clinics, you would see the translators in the back of the pickup joking with each other and laughing so hard that they sometimes had to hold on to each other to keep from falling over. It is very inspiring and makes me in awe that people in such terrible conditions can still find joy and laughter and continue each day, one foot at a time, even after terrible struggles and conditions. As Steve Gross mentioned a few days earlier in one of our nightly meetings “They have been beaten up but not broken down”.