What’s that smell?

October 3, 2010

They are getting the best of me.  Smells that is.  The smell of burning trash.  The smell of heat.  The smell of me in heat.  The smell of everyone else in heat.  The smell of my clothes in heat.  The smells! I wish there was a way to document them.  I’m sure the images and videos I’m using will fall short of capturing reality, but I can’t even begin to capture the smell.  If you are interested, I will happily send you my dirty clothes once I get back!

They are saying the heat is worse than most years.  I hope so.  It is sweltering.  There are beads of sweat on beads of sweats. However, there is relief in site, as we are heading to the mountains on Tuesday and they say it is “cold” up there.  I hope so!

We went to church this morning and it was enlightening to say the least. Haitians live a very difficult life, but they know it is only a journey on the way to eternal happiness.  I will never look at my trivial problems the same.

We started to help some of the children today.  It started very promising, as we noticed ring worm on the cutest little boy’s scalp and gave him some medicine to apply.  But things became more discouraging with our next “patient”.  She was complaining of aches and pains, sweating profusely and breathing fast.  We gave her some ibuprofen, which seemed to help, but can’t pinpoint her ailment.  Could be malaria, or could be a virus.  Either way, we can’t do much, as we weren’t able to bring malaria meds with us.  UGH.  I hate this helpless feeling.  Even worse, another girl came down with the same symptoms.  I hope we aren’t on the beginning of an outbreak!

We tye dyed shirts today and the kids loved it.  Well, the adults loved it too!  Not surprisingly, the kids are very needy.  They cling to you every chance they can and just absorb any form of love we can give them.  It’s heartbreaking to say the least. My hands were blue –like smurf/avatar blue- and the kids took turns with a toothbrush trying to scrub them clean! 

Alright, this was interrupted by a surprise visit with a gigantic, huge, large, gigantic cricket and beetle.  I quickly scurried two mats over and watched as my reliable teammates rescued me and took care of the pest.  Whew…I’m going to need some help sleeping after that!