Medical Team - Days 1 & 2

The medical team is adapting well to life in Haiti. They saw 2oo patients yesterday and today at the school. And today they did 10 operations! The clinics have run very smoothly and although the team members are quite tired at the end of the day, they still have energy to eat and spend some time in devotions. I was hoping to translate at the clinic but we have enough translators so I just pop in from time to time to see how things are going. The way the clinic works, is that in the very early morning people start lining up (like about 5am). When Guerdson, the gate keeper, opens the door he starts giving out numbers. He writes their number right on their hand with a marker. If we give out papers, some people will sell their paper to someone else. After 200 numbers have been given out, we will not take anymore patients for the day. Guerdson does all the hard work of giving out the numbers but in the afternoon he has to go to school so I took over for a bit. All you have to do is open the gate and call out numbers, but occasionally there will be two people with the same number... strange how that works, I guess we're not the only ones with magic markers:) And sometimes people will try to sneak in when you're not looking. Some people get tired of waiting and actually leave before their number is called. Today after all the numbers were called there were four people standing outside without numbers, and because some other people had left already we took pity on them and let them sneak in. Tomorrow will be another clinic at a church on Delmas 10. I hope to tag along for a bit to check it out.
On a sad note... the air conditioner in my car died today. This is very sad for me, but I guess I deserve it since I tend to brag about my car's wonderful air conditioning to people who's air conditioning doesn't work. I knew it would only be a matter of time before it died but I didn't think it would be so soon! I guess I'll be breathing in exhaust and a lot of dust in the near future, just like everyone else.
We've been having a fair amount of rain the last few days, as the rainy season winds down. This is nice in that the temperature cools down considerably after it rains, in fact I've been sleeping with a blanket lately! The down side is that the rain washes out roads that were already rough to begin with. There is one road that I take to work most days, right after it's been "fixed" it's not bad to drive but after a few rainstorms in a row, it's get pretty washed out. My car has no problem getting through, however, people with small cars and enourmous trucks also try to use this road and cause massive traffic jams. I've been avoiding this road and taking alternative routes until they have a chance to put a bit more gravel down once again. Ah, life in Haiti.