Monday, April 16, 2007

Traveling to Bod me Limbe

We met in the hotel lobby at 5:15 this morning and loaded our many bags and boxes, generator, and meds aboard the bus to the Fort Lauderdale Airport. We checked in, or rather weighed-in, literally each of us was weighed-in with our carry on luggage. This would be a flight on a fifteen person aircraft. As we approached Haiti we looked through the clouds and Karen Cimer spotted Bod me Limbe just as we flew past-a great photo op! Upon arrival in Cap Haitian we disembark the craft into a humid 30 degrees with full sun at 9:00am. Okay-hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen-we are ready. On to customs where all eyes watch as bags and boxes clear customs (a curious process). The returning Team Canada members remark how much easier this route was than going through Port au Prince- by a long shot. We are greeted by Jo Barbosa our formidable host/guide/chef./everything. The bags are moved to three awaiting Tap Taps (taxi pick-up trucks) that would carry the 11 of us and luggage to Coco Beach where we would meet the boats to take us to Bod Me Limbe (BML).
Cap Haitian was bustling and to the new recruits this was memorizing as we watched the people go about their daily routines in a city lacking basic infrastructure-most of us were left speechless and shocked by the abject poverty.
After a 1 hour dusty trek through the hills we arrive to met other support people and Labadie friends. The boat ride to BML was another 1 1/2 hrs on calm seas.
Then they spotted-the people of BML- many gathered on the shore to greet us. The children especially cheered and raised their hands greeting us and helped us to unload. We set up the clinic, unpacked in our rooms, met with the 9 translators and, after a delicious meal of fish stew and rice, we were exhausted. It was 6:30 pm! Most of us went to off to bed to spite the heat, while others worked on well into the night. (That would be Tiffany!)