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least a year i guess it is a reasonable time frame for a similar project to get off the ground but it seems so slow when there is so much energy and momentum now and they have had to turn away people for lack of work as well there are so many ngos working on supplying food here though few that i ve seen who are working on making sure people have long term access and the knowledge to grow their own food the gendered society certainly contributes a lot of extra challenges there don t seem to opportunities for single women to own land or run businesses or even work outside of the home in rural areas other than to sell food or clothing by the roadsides a relatively unreliable income there is a high percentage of women headed households and children frequently live with their mothers often without support from any father figures the rural women i ve seen in the mobile clinics or at the hospital and even the students in our program seem to be very limited by their gender socialization in terms of accessing upper level schooling or training in trades with a few exceptions i know that the projects of micro credit in the mountains have been empowering women in starting their own fruit transformation businesses but the schools don t seem to value educating girls beyond elementary school the political system seems to reflect this gender bias not surprisingly and though one of the two candidates in the presidential run off elections is the only woman i believe from the original list of over 50 candidates many people with an opinion said that they wouldn t vote for her because she will be ineffective simply because of her gender this despite the fact that her main rival is a popular singer with very little experience in politics her presence is significant on the radio and in the streets in both posters and banners i hope that means that some are thinking differently the young women i ve talked to of course with some exceptions seem to have less conceptual and overall analytical skills than guys the same age and learn more by rote it seems like this may be one of the barriers while adapting different midwifery curriculums to the haitian setting not to dumb down the information but to figure out how to teach those analytical skills to women who haven t had as much experience as their male contemporaries thinking and learning that way especially as the goal is to have the graduates working independently and for some even to set up their own birth centres mobile programs as well included in the gender piece is the healthcare setting which is culturally very top down authoritative and the authorities tend to all be male as far as i ve seen i don t know how reflective that is of health institutions in general but there is a sense of everyone towing the line whether that is the fallacy that there is always enough medication for all patients in the maternity area or that the pride of the institution gets in the way of patients getting proper care by refusing to accept that others may be doing a better job in some areas the couple of difficult situations we had working within the hospital highlighted for me both the internal particular challenges that the organisation m4h faces having chosen to work in this community as well as the incredible challenges of different organisations trying to partner with each other and support the public health care system for example a different organisation an american ngo that funds a good portion of the hospital staff also provides medications through a depot unfortunately the way the hospital pharmacy is stocked is that they have to put in daily requests and frequently stuff goes missing on the way from the depot behind the hospital or they don t order enough and they run out including of basic supplies such as iv fluids and antibiotics often the depot is not open for restocking by that time and the individual departments such as maternity can be low on stock themselves as they are also supplied through the same system however the hospital finds it difficult to change the system because then they would have to admit to the donor organisation that not all the patients are getting the medications they need while in hospital even though that s their commitment our organisation works within the hospital and attempts to advocate for better systems as well as pays for midwifery staff and brings in donated supplies when there are none still there are women and babies very very sick because of lack of either pregnancy care or spotty or unavailable services once they reach the hospital it s a really complex set of challenges this trip i ve also been seeing more how work happens on an organisational level within m4h beyond the day to day teaching and clinic work of the volunteers in any organisation making and supporting funding and partnership connections needs to happen both at a broad organisational level and on the ground and it does for example this week i was interviewed by a film crew from the rotary club who were documenting our work in distant mobile hill clinics after partially sponsoring the new jeep for accessing those communities for the jeep even the incredible barriers at each level of government to get it through customs and on the road as much as the need for it is so clear so much legwork and so many pieces to be thought through like if someone is offering to partner on building projects is the priority a birthing centre or more high risk facilities and how do those fit with the goals of the organisation over all this all has to happen while supporting the work of 3 4 volunteers a week 40 50 weeks a year just at the one site i was trying to help with that while i was there for two weeks also by translating from french the notes that are made in hospital and clinic charts so that other volunteers can read them and so that we can make sure the new students are learning how to write accurate and complete notes as they learn so much from the staff nurses and graduate midwives already working at the hospital i also used my experience working with interpreters and my french to develop some norms to begin to try and evaluate and standardise the interpreting services so vital in an organisation that works with volunteers the majority of whom don t speak the language like so many other ngos in haiti and elsewhere again there is a gendered piece as there are fewer available experienced female interpreters partly i think because women are less likely to be studying english or working at a higher level in that language or in french at the same time there is an absolute rule about no male interpreters in the delivery room at this hospital and more generally culturally i ve heard a double standard as all the obs seem to be men so for both cultural reasons and for practical reasons this small organisation with few on the ground resources needs to develop and maintain good interpreting services both men and women our team became pretty passionate about it especially as it touches so many aspects of being advocates for women if their health care providers or some of their mentors instructors in the case of the student midwives don t speak their language they get and give less good care it s something i struggle with in toronto too so that part at least was rather familiar february 28 2011 could i have some more vegetables sir posted by jenni under uncategorized leave a comment i ve realized how hard it is to find vegetables when poverty combines with a recent cholera epidemic and chronic food insecurity it s not that we ve eaten extremely bland foods or even the same thing every day both here and in hinche however the starch content is high potatoes sweet potatoes plantains rice mais and pasta in different forms at every meal and the protein options few and not really what i m used to since i ve been here in petit trou we ve had lots of tasty fish but in the mountains it was almost exclusively goat and pork with a bit of salami having not eaten meat regularly from 14yrs old until about a year ago i have been making myself eat it when i can i did have eggs though many of them already fertilized and they have a lot of beans in rice or in soup form to go on the mais though i end up eating more food than i would normally eat to get enough protein and it s all highly salted i ve managed especially with the incredible peanut butter we were treated to in the house in hinche organic local peanuts roasted by our cook duny who also roasts the best coffee that with the local bananes figs bananas has been an unexpected and wonderful treat the local tomatoes are quite lovely also and we sometimes manage to get dishes with spinach or watercress like greens in them almost all the greens are cooked especially since the cholera as well there are tons of a type of grapefruit called chadek in season and everyone makes them into juice which has been my mainstay for the last two weeks especially when i was sick and marmalade the starches are tasty too if very salted and we all gobbled up the fritay at the maison in hinche including deep fried potatoes and sweet potatoes and fish oil fried fritters luckily it always came with the one raw dish that is common here called picklies it s a mayonnaise less version of cabbage salad with carrots and citrus and hot peppers that and the cooked beat and carrot salad that appears once a week were definite highlights for me as was cooking with parsley bought at the local market it helped me find alternates to the white bread and pasta including mac and cheese it does make me appreciate how accessible green vegetables are in toronto even if they seem sad and are so expensive in the winter as gillie said this week i could totally be in love with haiti if i could eat a little differently here i am in love with the beauty of this country and try not to let my white north american expectations get in the way of feeling comfortable here my stomach is coping so far february 27 2011 and travelling to posted by jenni under uncategorized leave a comment my first experience in public transport in haiti thank god for mackenzy who met me at the end of the drive from hinche we took a crowded papadap van sized with twenty people on barely padded benches with the luggage on the top from port au prince to miragoane and i alternately dozed and watched the beautiful little 8month old in front of me with his tufts of fluffy hair floating above his head in the breeze from the windows initially however i was fascinated by the people crowding the cars at every speed bump they sell everything cell phone minutes bread a sort of odd patty made from vegetables and spices water packages and cold drinks sweating water into the open windows they were present and persistent until west of leogane about an hour and a half from pap where the concentration of houses started to get less and people were more occupied off the road than on it tons of traffic the whole way though we got off at miragoane to change to the moto and i was very amused and pleased by the careful arrangements that was getting my bag on the back of the bike getting the three of us also on there for the 70km ride was a different story sandwiched between the two guys mackenzy and his friend who drove it definitely seemed to involve a combination of yoga and circus contortions pretending i had no bones and can bend every which way and also be strong enough to hold myself on insisting that i really weigh nothing at all my sit bones are still remembering every rock however the ocean views much of the way made up for it and in some places we ended up driving directly on the dark beach sands as well through two or three feet deep rivers in from the ocean it was definitely an experience driving through the palms and arriving at sunset at the small house of mackenzy s family with so much dust in my eyes i couldn t really see as everyone was introduced to me i ve still got to learn the names of the little ones he has nine brothers and sisters and i ve been introduced to at least 5 other people feels right at home a beautiful dinner of fish and plantains and potatoes awaited us after washing and after driving all day we definitely needed it all because of the lack of electricity in most of the village at the house here they have one small solar panel only the stars are amazing and the ocean is only 150m away i m looking forward to visiting and exploring tomorrow such a short time here february 26 2011 riding away posted by jenni under uncategorized leave a comment i m feeling no less heartsore but it s starting to be less raw today riding away for me is about getting close to leaving this lovely community and all the incredible experiences i ve had these weeks as well as referring to all the travelling around i ve been doing here both weeks i have been on the mobile clinic team at least one day and i ve loved it despite the ever present and ubiquitous dust i like travelling in the benches of the open pick up truck second time was a land cruiser following the new pink jeep mostly because it usually means we re leaving town for the beautiful hills of the central plateau we leave town through the streets in the lower half of the market area that part of town is thick with motorcycles parked 5 deep on the roadside and multiple vendors who lay out their hinged wooden display boxes so that they seem to be floating on the side of the road sometimes perilously close to passing vehicles the river also runs through the east side of town and arriving back into town at sunset both from one of the mobile clinics and from the waterfall trip we did one day makes the whole ride worth it as the warm light bathes the river and the small figures all down it with this orange purple glow crossing the river on the way out however we take a sharp turn straight up and procede in to the steep hills along the road that is basically masses of dusty bare rocks that form the road my bruised back knows them intimately lined with trimmed cactus hedges and barely wide enough to admit the truck and a motorcycle and 2 donkeys trying to pass each other at the same time the road dips down occasionally into a green valley and the truck or the jeep trundles through the usually metres wide river at the bottom spraying the muddy water everywhere as the locals who ve gathered to wash their kids themselves their motorcycles stare after our large beast and the blancs holding on in the back all the drivers honk continuously also as blind corners are every corner and because so many animals need a little encouragement to get off the road during yesterday s 2hr drive each way we nearly ran over 3 chickens tail feathers under the wheels and a rooster at least 2 donkeys turned sideways in the road as their owners tried to guide them with palm fronds and various oxen nevermind the small children the land cruiser and trucks travel indiscriminately back and forth across the road and frequently with little success...