The way some people around here keep their sanity... ;)

My past week here working at the CTC has been very interesting, to say the least!  I must say I didn't know quite what to expect coming here to Haiti to work with Cholera...but thankfully I had a very good teacher (Virginia Rudolph) who showed me how to give IV's, change IV bags, empty buckets, give medications, chart everything, and on the list goes. At first I didn't know if I could quite handle dumping the buckets of waste, but I remembered my mom's advice to "not gag the first time or else you won't be able to stop and then YOU'LL be the one throwing up!" So, I just gritted my teeth the first few times, and it really wasn't all that bad if you just keep your face away from the bucket as the contents splash into the bleach water. :)

Jared Stump came up with the idea for some of us (whoever wants to) to read through the New Testament in one month's time...the nights sure do grow long and dreary in the CTC sometimes trying to stay awake and looking for things to do to keep our minds busy. 

I'm really looking forward to it, and I'm growing more thankful each day I'm here for what we have in the Word of God as our Solid Foundation...His grace is sufficient for ALL our needs!  

Let's see, last night was pretty interesting...Virginia and I were on 12-8am shift...and I just was NOT feeling very tired...?? Not sure why, it's not like I've been getting my normal amount of sleep lately! But anyways, so I just sat in a chair and doodled for awhile on some cardboard while Virginia conked out. ;)   I got up every once in awhile to check IV bags and make sure everything was ok...5:00am came around, and then I was starting to feel sort of sleepy, so I wrapped myself in a great blue blanket to keep the bugs away from my head and was just going to la la land when I heard from the doorway 

Wilmon

"Miz....babble babble blabble...." I don't know what all she was saying so fast in Creole, but then Wilmon, a 55 year old Haitian man who knows English pretty good (photo of him waving in a white shirt), came and interpreted for me...saying the IV came out of someone in the second room in...we both rushed in there to see what was going on, and here of all things! The poor old lady (the same one Thea just wrote about) had pulled her spike out of the IV bag when she got up to use the bucket, and she had blood in her tube also. Poor Wilmon seemed quite upset about it and started clucking his tongue and muttering to himself...I went to wake up Virginia because I didn't really know what to do in a situation like that. It was 5:30am and we replaced the tubing and got things in order and all settled once again...then we started the chores of emptying buckets, filling ORS and water bottles, cleaning up, etc. 

You all may think this is kind of weird, but I'll just tell you about it anyways. :) 

One thing that I've actually enjoyed, is going on PD (which is emptying about 35 gallons of cholera waste into a big pit)...and no it's not the emptying of the buckets into the pit that I enjoy, or the splash of the stuff as it hits the bottom of the pit like the sound of a mini-waterfall. :)  I really enjoy the ride in the back of the truck, hanging on for dear life as we go up muddy places slipping and sliding every which way...gets pretty exciting sometimes.:) It's a very nice break getting away from all the smell of cholera and bleach to be in the fresh mountain air! 

The picture of me in the big kevet of water washing my feet was taken after getting back from an exceptionally very muddy trip to the cholera pit. :)

So anyways, that's just a bit of what's going on...seems there's never an end of things to be done around here. 

There is only one cholera patient in the CTC currently. PTL! :) May God bless each one of you for your prayers. They really do make a difference! 

A follower of Jesus,

~Meredith Keller