February in Haiti

Whew it's been a busy few weeks and I have not been able to write a new blog in a while. Here are some highlights of what I've been up to:

• The main event for Haitian Kanaval was in Cap-Haitien this year and we decided to brave the crowds. Imagine big busses driving down the street with the most popular artists standing on top performing everyone's favorite songs. All around the busses are LOADS of people dancing, singing, yelling, pushing, shoving, etc. There is so much energy and you can barely speak to those around you because it is so loud. Not something I would do every day but so glad I got to have the experience!
• My birthday was during the week so we opted to celebrate the following weekend. We had the opportunity to take a boat to a private island and spend the day swimming, laying in the hammock, playing with the resident dog and eating some of the best fish I've ever had. Such a great day!
• We have been working as much as we can to fix up the rooms where our volunteers stay. We are resurfacing the roof to prevent it from leaking, building a kitchen and laundry space, painting, fixing windows, building benches and tables as well as an shelter out on our patio where we can eat in the shade. It's shaping up well though we need a plumber to install some missing pieces in our sinks and showers.
• We had 9, fantastic medical students come down to volunteer and had a fantastic time together. They were so eager to jump right in and work hard. We saw nearly 170 patients in 4 clinic days and we were so impressed with their level of skill. 
• We are now ready to start our refeeding program for malnourished kids using Plumpy Nut/Medika Mamba, a fortified peanut butter supplement made at a factory about an hour from our clinic. The factory is run by an American NGO called Meds and Food for Kids. We were able to tour their new factory on Wednesday and are so excited about the work they are doing.. It costs about $70 to treat a malnourished child using the product. If you would like to save a life in this way, you can make a donation on our website here. 
• After touring the MFK factory, we visited SOIL, an NGO working in Haiti to turn waste into something useful. They mainly make compost toilets and then use the compost that is created at their organic farm. Visiting their site inspired us to create our own compost pile for our kitchen and garden waste. Wish us luck that it goes well!
• We almost have our first garden plot cleared to start our community gardens and have started to clean out the pool in preparation for building the Garden Pool in April. I can't wait for fresh, organic, crunchy vegetables!
• We finally took a day yesterday and went to the beach with some friends. It was so nice to recharge our batteries a bit.

That's all for now. I will write again later.

Thanks for reading!

Dokte Sarah