Cap Haitien

Where am I?

So I’m sat at the table in the partial light of our luxury flat (relative to local standards) in Cap-Haitian. I don’t want the bedside light on too much otherwise the local mosquitos might get too excited and the fan is on to blow around warm air instead of opening the door to allow in more local friends! I am sweating, this is not unusual. I have just had a shower which consists of pouring cups of chlorinated water over myself in the bathroom under torch light. They drilled the holes for the lights and wired it up just never got round to fitting the lights! This too seems not unusual.

What’s it like?

Travel to Haiti was without its hiccups, Robyn was there awaiting us at the bus stop. We only had to get off the bus twice at border customs to have our bags checked. The Dominican border control was a respectable building, the Haitian a metal container with a door cut out. I’d heard the litter around was bad, I can confirm it is bad! The Haitian government provided skip bins on the roadside; they were filled then set alight and uncollected. The rest lie at the port unused. Let me tell you about the cholera. To date I have seen no evidence of people with Cholera what so ever. This comes as a mild surprise as I know people with cholera are around however they are not allowed to be admitted to the hospital and therefore will not be referred to the Physio department. By all accounts there is a large cholera treatment centre on the outskirts of the city where all people are sent. It seems all the relevant aid agencies have done an effective job of education, rehydration and hygiene. There is apparently a very catchy ‘Mr Cholera’ TV advert that all the kids love which helps. The fanciest building I have been in by far is the mobile phone store. It is slightly strange stepping off the main street of mud into an air conditioned modern shop. More people have blackberry’s than I have seen in any other country I have been in. The fact that I have spent most of my recent years in NZ either reflects well or badly on NZ dependent on how you look at it. Everyone here has mobile phones. I’m afraid to report though that the health system has not quite kept pace with the digital telecommunication advancements in recent years. The contrast of consumerism versus infrastructure is notable. Crossing the road is dangerous, road rules do not exist, and neither do car warrants surprisingly. I haven’t yet been in a taxi that I could open the door of or that didn’t have a smashed front windscreen. The only vehicles that would pass an inspection are aid trucks. They are all white land cruisers with their respective emblems on the side and darkened out windows. I don’t know who drives them. UN, Medicine Sans Frontiers, Oxfam, Red Cross and UNICEF all have a presence here. I have a quick game of basketball before work at 6am with some local friends of mine outside the UN Nepalese head quarters. There is an election currently going on. Quite what will happen following the results due shortly no-one can quite tell me. I don’t know whether this is good or bad.

What is the work like?

Well that is another whole blog in itself. Unsurprisingly it is unlike any other physio work I have ever done. . .