Another walkthrough of Deschapelles but with a Native

Because our housekeeper heard about our interests in exploring Deschapelles, she decided to take us to this new plaza that opened up near-by called “The Fantasy.” She said it’s a plaza that has a movie theater, beauty salon, barbershop, and a restaurant. When I translated for the housekeeper, everyone seemed interested but quite skeptical. They kept asking “Where is she taking us again,” hoping that the description of the place I kept saying would change. I believed that this place could exist. The members of this community need a place like this. Ms. Rosaline, our housekeeper smiled and waved at everyone in the community as we strolled through the community. When we arrived to the place, it felt like a palace. Although, it was still being built, it was complete. At this point, this entire place needed was the finishing touches! We ate popcorn and toured the place! Check out some photos below.

Deschapelles Walkthrough

On a Sunday we walked around Deschapelles to see everything! Here are a couple of photos.

When the possibilities are actually endless..

When I first received my project from Rachel, or project coordinator from HAS, she said, “You can make this project as big or as small that you want it to be.” These words have echoed in my air every time I seek to start up my laptop. Here is picture of me at my office desk:

My office space, like my project will not be confined— it being as wide or as small as I want it to be.

I never believed in boundaries because they have to be set. In terms of a dream or goal, I believe that they sky is always the limit. There is power in determining your future and clarifying the details of your “limitations.” I have always been asked the question about what pushes me, or motivates me? This question always stumps because I never know what to say. It seems like when the question is asked, the secret of the world is trying to be discovered. Overall, what pushes me is my desire to transcend beyond the boundaries that is placed upon me. I never want to feel sad or misplaced because of the circumstances that have inflicted upon me. I seek to rise above and soar over. This statement is easier said then down because I often experience so much pushback in doing-so. The real test of persistence is when the “push-back” occurs. What about my pushback? That is the real question. I might sit at my desk, but I know that my work transcends beyond any four walls because I can make this project as big or as small that I want it to be. My “push-back” is my product. The stuff that is occurs after the equal sign. Like folks say back home “The proof is in the pudding.” In time, my pushback is in the pudding. I know everything that I am saying may seem cryptic— it should be. Currently, I am still working on the details and ironing out the kinks.

When I see my desk in the SCI center, I am happy. I have nice fan that blows cool air over the warm air that often evades into the corners the SCI center. Often times, a lot of community members stop by desk thinking that I am the one that has the answer to their question. I wish I had the answer to their question, but I do not.

When you know better, you tend to do better

Currently, I am focusing on the population of Bastien. Bastien has a large rural population of 17,680 members. Most of which are without any job or any day-to-day activity. Often times they are left with nothing to do and no place to go. My job is to input data from a survey that is taken after a 2-5 day government mandated window after the mother deliver her child. The community health workers often take these surveys into their respective communities and fill them within this two 2-5 government-mandated period of time.

The community health works are truly the back-bone of the their communities. They are often responsible for different zones throughout the community. They are responsible for visiting each pregnant woman each month and make follow her throughout her delivery. They are to encourage the community to get vaccinated, to take care of their nutrition throughout community education sessions. These agents are trained to give encouragement to the mothers to practice family planning, to practice proper breastfeeding practice (providing breast-milk only for six-months), and to practice proper hygiene, etc. However, amongst all the education and hard work that they are doing, the important documentation is often left uncared for (A crucial piece to my research). Some of the registries are often ripped, dirtied. I can imagine traveling from home to home filing out these registers. Often times these questions will not even be filled completely. Although we understand the difficulty of the job they do for their respective communities, they have a responsibility to uphold the work that they are doing to maintain its efficacy. I always wondered what these Community Health Workers looked like, where they tall, skinny, short? Did they wear glasses? Were they all women? I have seen their handwriting, and read it page after page, but who were these people?

It was not until I entered  House 7, where annual reunions are held that I witnessed the diversity of individuals in the room. One may ask: "how can a bunch of Haitian people in a room represent diversity?" I’d say simple: "they  represent different communities, different pathways, socioeconomic statuses, different ages, and different histories." These community agents were dressed in their own unique styles, asked questions in their unique voices, sang songs, and lifted up prayers. To my surprise, there were a lot of men who stepped up to the plate for their communities. They work tirelessly as community health workers to insure that the pregnant women in their community are receiving the care that they need. This is a rarity amongst my community back home.  I rarely see men stepping up, leading movements, and mobilizing their respective communities. We have to step up for our . The idea of “our” is important because it signifies the erasure of lines between him, her, his, or mine. We must step over the threshold that allows us to embrace  the “We." Overall, there was no way to package and describe these community agents because when they gathered together, they crossed the threshold. When they ate together after their meeting, they communed.

Up until now, with my presence, they see that the work they are doing has value. The work that they are doing can be inputted, tabulated, calculated, and analyzed. There is something powerful when your work has meaning. After a while of observing during their monthly “Reunion,” and seeing the agents complete their calendaring, I felt like an outsider looking in. I wanted to connect immensely with these Community Health workers. However, I was introduced as more or less as the “Error finder,” the one who finds all of their mistakes and reports them. In the Haitian culture, these people are referred to as “Chef.” Chef has multiple meanings; it can mean head of household, boss,  CEO. I guess, I am “Chef.” However, I did not want to come off this way. I spoke to Ms. Rolene about what I can do to make the community health-care workers more comfortable with me, she practically told me: nothing. However, I plan to visit with these local community health care workers throughout my time here at HAS.

Unconscious Experiences

I started working on my first registers in the SCI building! We were inputting so much data and it didn’t occur to me that these were living breathing documents that community health care workers have actually filled out. These are documentations that were completed in 2015, a snapshot of a moment in time of a person’s most happiest moment. These community health care workers are able to share excitement and happiness with these families who have just given birth. These surveys are filled with questions regarding the health of the mother after birth and the health of the baby. If any of the questions are answered in such as way that reflect any sickness or disease in the health of the mother and the baby, they are immediately referred to their respective community health centers. Often time in registers, I see that these births are preferred to have taken place with local trained and untrained matrons. The names of these matron’s often appear multiple times throughout each ledger, as they are popular throughout their local communities. Another pattern I have witnessed is that they often take place at “Lakay” or at home, finding that these places are often easier to deliver the baby because of the length of travel required to go to a hospital. Inaccessibility to the hospital is commonality that links these families in their respective community. Therefore, the work that the community health care workers are during prior to their community is very important. These community workers are often responsible for providing Vitamin A, checking on the mothers each month, making sure the matron will have the tools that they need. Every one of these registers reveals information about a new life—a changed state of family. Even one of the surveys revealed that twins were born—one boy, one girl. Another survey that struck me the most was one of child that didn’t survive birth. Within some of the surveys, the child maybe found to have malformations. These infants are often found to have trouble breathing within their first days of entering into the world. Some of these issues such as trouble with respiration can easily be avoided just by having access to the hospital. Often times, babies can die just from having mucus in their nose. Dr. Farah, one of the residents of the hospital shared with me a common home-birth practice that occurs when the infant may have trouble breathing such as putting the baby underneath a pot and banging it until the baby wakes up. It may sound funny, but these are the common “Lakay” practices that take place. It reminds me that the work that I am doing is important to maintain the programs that these community health care workers provided. Linking information surrounding the pre-natal care to the post-natal outcomes of the child. Attached below are a few pictures of me after my first official day of work!

This morning, the bus waiting on us to travel to the next village picked us up in front of our house. We went to Saint Marc for groceries and the NatCom store to purchase our wifi-hotspot. Although the lights kept flickering on and off, Jean-Claude was able to help us out and get our Internet set-up. There is a lesson and blessing with everything that I have encountered thus far. I was able to meet up with Jimmy, our driver and he told me about the violence that he has experienced traveling. Jimmy is an older Caucasian individual who has been working with HAS for a long time and is in charge of all mechanical operations. As a Haitian-American traveling in Haiti, I have been blessed to not experience any violence within my traveling experience thus far. Sometimes, you forget about the privileges and the blessing you have just being able to travel to a country without any fear for your life.

Coming back from a long day at work, I was met with a smell that I couldn’t even describe. Today seemed like the smell of all smells. As normal, the aroma of the food travels throughout the house. Most of the time, the smell of the food makes special trips through the corridor of my room and slips through the cracks in my door. I quickly put my bags down and rushed to the kitchen to see what was for dinner! To my excitement,[wpvideo OO6ti5AG] pizza was on the menu. Not just any pizza, as Madame Rosaline called it “Pizza Creole” or “Haitian Pizza.” This pizza was unlike anything I ever had! She said that she would teach me the recipe when I get the chance! I have never made a pizza before, but I would like my first handmade pizza to be a Haitian Pizza. Below are pictures and videos of the pizza.

[wpvideo OO6ti5AG]

Silence

I am determined to make sure that these posts will go up despite pushback from the Internet. This morning I woke up to find a visitor of the Kay Alumni journaling during her last day of the trip. We shared our interest in capturing and treasuring the moments that we spend each day in Haiti. I was explaining to her my slight frustration with the Internet and she told me to “Learn to appreciate the slowness of things.” I’d like to modify her quote to something that resonated within me to the core “Learn to appreciate the silence in things.” Even travelling to the hospital, there a sign that says “Silence Hospital.” This sign represents the quietness and stillness of the surrounding area of a hospital. After my journaling session, I ate breakfast with my Kay Alumni family. After which, I went to “Morning Meeting” or “Report du matin” inside of the “Bibliyotek” or library. Resident Dr. Farah Bien-Aime, presented on Smoking and its effects.. Referring to her presentation as “Smoking and its Effects” is a mere understatement because her presentation was so layered and rich. Dr. Farah was so poised! I actually saw her working on her presentation until about 12 in the morning. She has also been instrumental in finding a better way to word the question for the survey! She has become a reference for some of the medical questions and finding out what their leading

Today, I was introduced to where most of my work will be done throughout my time here at HAS. From what I understand, there is a lot of wonderful work to be done. The Community Health Center or the “Service Communautaires Intégres” (SCI) is a powerful tool for HAS. I would describe this portion of the Hospital as the backbone of the hospital. It is shocking to me that this place has the least amount of funding from donors. However, this place is responsible for the mortality of new life in the community, the sustainable development of the community, and the welfare of the community. SCI, as it is more affectionately called, employs matrons throughout the community that are responsible for the education of women who are pregnant, have delivered, and are caring for their children. I will be working in the 1 of 4 SCI’s (the Deschapelles Location), and observing the practices of the other three.

So far, I have been given a task that requires no boundaries. The possibilities are endless and I am thankful that HAS entrusted me with this project. I can mold and sculpt this project to be anything that I need it can be. My first task is complete data entry of the government mandated post-natal visits after 2 days of birth. The matrons are to complete a survey and make recommendations for the mother depending on the responses. Even within the government-mandated surveys, there is room for improvement. For instance, the questions are not clear, and there is little to descriptive state of the mothers and their newborns. One of my goals is to change the standards of these base-line surveys. I want to expand it to also assess the mother’s state of being—this means understanding if the mother is in a depressive state. However, first things must be first, I must focus on the inputting of the data! Afterwards, we can complete all the analysis in the world!