"Derirye mon gen mon," Beyond mountains are mountains.

   Mountains Beyond Mountains is the biography of Dr. Paul Farmer, who is a Harvard-trained epidemiologist famous all over the world for his work to combat diseases like tuberculosis and AIDS.  He and some friends co-founded Partners in Health, an organization that helps to train local workers as teachers, medical aides and social workers.  Because of their strong policy of collaboration with the people they serve, their hospitals are said to be among the best in Haiti.  The title of the book is from a Haitian saying, as in, 'There's always one more hill to climb.'  On Sunday afternoon I was a few miles north of Saint Marc and was able to take this picture of the mountains just north and south of the town.  In the foreground you see Jean Rony, one of my friends here and a teacher at Bons Samaritains.  Saint Marc is behind the first mountain you see, and before the blue one in back of it.  The Caribbean Sea is off to our right.

   The piece of land that I mentioned in an earlier post is directly to the right of Jean Rony.  I did not intend to ride a motorscooter here in Haiti, but Jean Rony was curious to see the piece of land and offered to take us there on his Honda.  Fortunately he is a careful driver and I did not fall off.  

  As we were driving north out of town he asked me if I would like to see the hospital, so I said sure.  We walked in and out of all the small buildings on the campus, right through emergency and all the inpatient wards, which were full.  

   Going to the hospital in Haiti is more of a family affair than it is in the U.S.  It is your family who brings you food and cares for your general needs, so you can imagine the wards are a lot more filled with people than they are in the hospitals back home.  Also, privacy is a lot less of an issue.  When I asked about labor and delivery, Jean Rony and I were led back a hallway, through a room where one woman was just about imminent, then through a doorway right into the next- which was accouchements, the delivery room itself!   The midwives were on duty at the foot of the bed, again, family members were there to hold hands, and two women were about to give birth.   I thanked them for the tour and left before the blessed events took place.  I told Jean Rony that was the first time I had ever seen that; the other three times I was in that room I was the woman on the table!

   Shortly after I arrived here in Saint Marc, I had heard  that Partners in Health was helping them to enlarge and improve their hospital.  I had forgotten all about that, but I could see there was a lot of construction going on around the hospital.  I'm sure they will be glad for the space and the improvements, it was a very busy place!