Calling all Cars!

Yesterday was possibly one of my favorite afternoons to date during my month in Haiti so far (tomorrow marks one month that I have been here!!) Yesterday I got to ride as a passenger and then also drive a 4-wheeler through Haiti countryside.  It was incredible!  Taking in the mountains all around me, weaving down trails impassible by car, cruising past small villages along the way, feeling relaxed and calm and cool in the breeze.  It was perfect.  The experience was likely enhanced due to the stressful events leading up to it, but that makes it all the better. 

Carla, our social worker at COTP, and I were driving the 4-wheeler to the Hospital in Milot to deliver medications for a baby we had brought there the night before.  That's how the hospitals work here...they admit the patient and then write up the meds and supplies that will be necessary to care for the patient.  Then you have to go to the nearby pharmacy and buy those things for them to use.  In our case, one of the requested meds was not available at the hospital pharmacy (??) so we had to go to a pharmacy in a different city to get it.  Sounds simple, right? 

Well...commence story of yesterday's morning.  Carla found me to let me know she was going to Cap Haitian to get the med and then going to Milot to the hospital.  Lagosette is in between the two cities.  I decided to go along, both to see and experience the Pharmacy and to see how the baby was doing at the hospital. We were cruising along in the back of the truck and had made it all the way to Cap Haitian when something breaks off from underneath the truck.  Knowing and experiencing everything these vehicles go through in this country, it's always a risk that this will happen.  So we waited on the side of the high traffic road as guys who were nearby when it happened climbed underneath the car with our driver and their tools and started working away.  But as I was waiting there, I realized how calm I felt.  I began reflecting on times at home in America where I have had car issues and how stressful those situations were at times, even with AAA or my dad just a call away and the ability to tow the car to a shop.  Maybe I wasn't feeling the stress because I wasn't the driver, nor the one having to figure out what to do.  But I also realized how much emphasis is always placed on going and doing and accomplishing when I am driving at home.  The day is scheduled out to the hour.  Have to meet someone somewhere at a certain time.  Have to be there and then there and get this and that done.  But all I could do in that moment was sit and wait and watch everything going on around me. 

Eventually, our mechanic from COTP arrived with a different car and a different driver so that we could continue on our way to the Pharmacy.  We arrived to the pharmacy, picked up the med we needed, and started the trek to Milot. About that time, our replacement car began to struggle.  Something with the clutch (I'm really not a car person at all) but whatever it was, we were hardly moving more than a few miles per hour.  Just chugging along.  We decided to ditch Milot and just try and make it back to Lagosette.  In the meantime, two motos driving right next to us side-swiped each other and went down. We stopped briefly to get out and check if everyone was okay before continuing on.  Also came across a slight incline to a bridge that the car couldn't get up, so we were out pushing so the car could get enough momentum to get up the hill.  The driver praised us for being strong women!  :)  We finally made it back safe and sound to the COTP complex.  Grabbed some lunch and then hopped on the 4-wheeler to make the journey to the hospital to deliver the medicine. Felt so amazing to speed along in that 4-wheeler after crawling along in the car previously! And like I explained earlier, such a beautifully refreshing ride. Just what I needed.  So three vehicles and about 6 hours later, we had accomplished our task of picking up the medicine and bringing it to the hospital.  This is Haiti. 

The events of the previous day, including why the baby was in the hospital in the first place and my experience with that, are for a different post.  But for now, I'll leave you with a prayer request for that little baby - 20 days old today, severely malnourished, a fragile little life.  Pray he grows stronger every day and that we'll soon be able to bring him back here to COTP where we can make sure he grows even stronger before we reunite him with his grandma (his mom died in childbirth).

Si Dye vle! (If God wills).