Days in Jakzil

Mary Lou Larkin and Angeline's baby girl

The First Aid Play

Meeting with the teachers of the school Notre Dame de la Merci in Jakzil

by Megan Cavanaugh

February 14, 2010

Yesterday was a busy and productive first day in Jakzil. The clinic is closed on the weekend here and the government has declared Friday, Saturday and Sunday days of mourning in Haiti. It's the quietest I've ever heard it the night we arrive, even the dogs seem to know not to bark.

In the morning we walk to town down the dirt road as a group. We have already picked up some of our usual entourage. Today will be a day of planning and meetings. The mission of Haiti Marycare includes education and supporting the development of the town. This morning we are meeting with the three teachers who run the town preschool. We want to talk with them about involving the kids in an activity where we will create first aid kits for the town. We've collected all the materials- this was all done and planned even before the earthquake occurred. So now we want to tie this into a discussion with the kids about the earthquake, what an earthquake is, what happened in PAP and what they should do if an earthquake occurs. We want them to understand, because the fear of not knowing for sure, of their imaginations and things they may have overheard from their displaced relatives now arriving in town to live with them- must be scary for a kid.

We greet the teachers, people I'm starting to know pretty well- Ultide, Jose and Dosselin (Papito's cousin- he has a lot of those!). I love the two cheek kiss thing they do here, and that everyone says "Bon jour" when they pass each other. I see more of my friends throughout the day and am SO happy to see them but also SO happy they are OK and since I don't have the linguistic ability to tell them all this in good Kreyole I make sure they know it in my bear hug.

I see my friend Angeline, the laboratory technician at the clinic. Last year when I was here she was pregnant. Now she hands me this beautiful chubby baby girl in a little pink outfit that just makes me go to mush. She smiles at me, not afraid at all, such happy kid. I tell Angeline how gorgeous her daughter is and she beams. We have a lot of great people we work with here in Jakzil and each one of them comes to say hello.

Some of the kids remember my name, which makes my day, and they ask me for bubbles and dolls and balls- all things I brought last year- and I feel bad to tell them I couldn't bring them this year, we needed all the space for medications and such. Try explaining that to s kid who looks forward to bubbles for 11 months though.

Youdinx, who is a young kid from Jacquesyl, contracted polio at the age of 6. He is now 15 and was attending a school for handicapped children in PAP when the earthquake occurred. We want him to speak to the kids about his experience, but first we want to hear his story ourselves, since we saw his school and dormitory completely demolished in PAP, and all understand it to be a true miracle that he is unharmed. So we gather with the teachers and Youdinx under the shade of a tree behind the rectory and plan.

It takes longer than you would imagine when everything has to be translated into Kreyole and English. We have a plan for a play where the children will act out the importance and reason for having a first aid kit. Then Youdinx will speak and then they will go through an assembly line and each be able to create a first aid kit. So the floor is open to Youdinx. This kid, who I've heard speak before, is old before his time. Smart- he wants to be a doctor he told us last year, and I bet he will be.

So he tells us how he was lying in bed when the first three seconds of the earthquake occurred. Everyone starts running out of building and his instincts tell him he should too. So he gets himself into his wheelchair and as he gets out into the street he looks behind him to realize that the entire building, except for the one section of a room he had just been sleeping in, is completely collapsed. Six boys in the school lose their lives. He is unsure about the girls in their dormitory but knows they are mostly OK. I feel so twisted up inside watching him calmly relay this story when I can picture the rubble of the dormitory he was in.

The children are waiting, all 150 of them, in the courtyard when the first aftershock comes. Youdinx says the whole city began crying out, dogs barking, more buildings falling, it was the loudest noise he has ever heard. People in the street fell to their knees and began praying. When the first aftershock passed,the children realize the main exit of the courtyard has been completely blocked off by a building that has now collapsed. So they decide they better go out the small entry through an alley way before it's too late. They go out into the street and wait for an adult to come find them.

While they wait people began singing hymns and praying loudly. More aftershocks occur, the whole world rocking and crying and falling. They director of the school finds them and is amazed they are alive. The aftershocks continue throughout the night, they sleep outside. Some parents make their way to collect their children the next day. But Youdinx and some of the kids live far away. Eventually he gets through on a cellphone to his brother In Jakzil and tells them he is alive.

His brothers make their way to Port au Prince to collect him and eventually they are able to get their way back to Jakzil. When he is done with his story we are all pretty much crying. It is horrifying to hear such a personal account from such a brave young kid. We thank him for sharing such a frightening personal experience with such grace and wisdom. I will never forget this moment and I know it.

We break for lunch, setting up the first aid stuff and practicing the play. We have a meeting with the teachers of Norte Dame de la Merci who talk about how great it is that each child now has a book for each subject to study from. This was a big project for Haiti Marycare last year, one I was very proud to be involved in. It took a lot of hardworking good people to get these books into the kids hands!

When Youdinx shares his story with the kids in town later, after the play, he makes it more appropriate for the kids, and he has their complete attention. He tells them about what an earthquake is and what to do. He tells them that they can help. And he tells them that even though he is physically handicapped he is grateful for his intact mind and soul, because he knows many survivors will not be so. It's a pretty heavy moment.

The kids put on their first aid play to much laughter and applause. It's getting dark so we have to use our headlamps in the school classroom and guide the kids through the assembly line to create their first aid kits. It's a successful activity.

Long day, we walk back to the Caritas compound where we are staying with an entourage of children. It's dusk. The kids point at things and tell me the word in Kreyole and ask the name in English- "Roche" "rock", "ciel" "sky", "twal" "star". It goes on and on until we get to the gate of the compound and say goodnight.

At dinner Papito tells us there will be an old fashioned Haitian band playing in town tonight and he is going to go and play his saxophone. We all agree that as tired as we are it is something we can't miss out on. We shower and, with lamps and flashlights, walk the road back into town. There is already a big crowd gathered outside the house where the band has started playing. Someone has filled a huge white paint bucket with some type of charcoal and hooked it around the limb of a tree as a source of light. Creative and it works well.

Papito joins right in. There are drums, an acoustic guitar, a guy plays a tin can with a spoon, someone else plays percussion and another is singing. The music is AWESOME. We are swaying. Then we are dancing. I dance a few songs with someone's Aunt, twirling and just moving your hips and feet Caribbean style. I dance for a song with my friend Lilene. Honestly- It feels good to laugh, it's been a pretty serious few days and a longer and sadder period for all the people here. And its so awesome the way laughter is universal, it requires no explanation, we are just laughing together.

We stay for an hour dancing with everyone, listening to the music under the beautiful night sky. Then we make our way home again.

Today is Valentine's day. The morning is church. It's raining. We all pray it's not raining in Port au Prince. It has rained all day. We have a meeting with Father Anescar about the grade school that Haiti Marycare supports. We packed our things and climbed into an old Land Rover and crossed a few rivers and came up into the mountains.

We are staying at Father Dorcin's rectory in Roche Platte tonight. He is quite the amazing host. Earlier today we weren't sure how it was going to end up- but as of 7 pm tonight it was official- tomorrow we have a team of 18 medical providers coming together to do a day clinic in a town that has never had a doctor. There are 45 new families here displaced from the earthquake and almost every single one of them has a member that needs medical attention. So we are excited to get to work tomorrow and to be able to help all the people who need it.

Earlier today the mist came down the mountains and brought the rain, if you hadn't seen them before you wouldn't know they were there anymore. I hope it doesn't rain too much more since the old truck crossed a few overflowing rivers to get here today. Rain running down the mountain... Could make getting home a bit of an adventure. Mostly, I pray it's not raining like this in Port au Prince. I'm missing a good concert with Papito and Father Dorcin. They just sang a ballad about our adventures here this week, so I need to go. But tomorrow will be a good and busy day.

Bon nuit.