A trip out of Port au Prince

This morning the CBU nursing team went to St Vincent's to have clinic, and Sherye, Sonya, Brittany and I went north out of the city. We travelled to Cabaret and Leveque along a now very familiar well paved road that goes past the airport and up the coastline.  Magnificent views of the ocean to the west, mountains to the east, and miles of rocky dirt fields in between.  Lots of banana groves and what looks like cultivated crops, then open empty fields with the occasional donkey or goat.  Villages have market stalls, filled today with mangoes, plantains, car parts, tires, clothing, shoes, stereo equipment, mattresses, furniture, sheets, juice or soda in bottles, sugar cane in wheelbarrows.  Then there are the SUPER LOTO stalls; small wooden buildings only big enough to hold one person.  Brightly painted green and yellow and orange, they are everywhere.

 Looking for a church and school community called CPR3, we drove past the Monroe's tire shop which was our landmark.  Stopping to ask directions, we turned back and found our way.  The tire shop was still there but had a different name, and the small road turnoff was hardly visible through the palm frond gates and cactus fences along the roadside.  Sonya had special shoes to deliver to a little girl named Wes.  Wes had a problem walking when she was very little and was seen by our podiatrist Dr Bheki Khumalo last year. Plans were made for her surgery, money was raised and Dr Bheki came back to Haiti last August with arrangements to take care of this little girl along with nine other children with foot deformities. Much to our delight, Wes had grown and was walking much better and the decision was made not to operate.   Corrective shoes would be sufficient!  So we were delivering some very particular shoes to a very special girl today.

Shoe delivery