No work...

Thursday and part of Friday were rather frustrating.

We can choose each day where we want to work. And seeing as I am a doctor, I want to do something medical. The post-op ward was an option but so many people are in and out of there all the time I thought I should do something else. So I decided to give the mobile clinics one more chance. Off we went. Unfortunately after 3 hours of driving around, along the same street over and over, taking multiple side streets to find our destination, we gave up. We could not find it. This mean that we would not be able to set up a clinic. Because by the time we got back to the police station where we pick up guards, we would not have been able to go out again. Ugh. Frustration. We did however go to the Police station clinic (across from the palace) and looked around. And then a missionary here treated us to lunch in probably one of the only fast food places left. And we then needed to pick up some supplies- in the only supermarket still standing in town. Strange thought. After that we headed back to our base.

I was frustrated but figured Friday would be better. A new chance. We went out again Friday morning and quickly realized that many people on the streets were wearing white. The government had called a 3 day prayer and fasting event in Haiti. Amazing in itself! Apparently this is usually the time of Carnival - drinking, sex, partying, etc. and now it was being used to call upon God. Very cool! Anyway, because of that the clinic was closed till 1pm. So we were heading back to our base. Again a disappointment. And due to security our leaders did not want to go to the clinic at 1. What to do.

I really felt like I was supposed to be in Haiti and just wasn't finding a spot to actually help the people. I felt like I had come all this way and wasn't getting anything done. Not a great feeling. Something had to be done. One of the other options was the Miami Hospital set up at the airport. That sounded very daunting to me from the beginning, because although it is not as well equipped as a US hospital, it's way better equipped than anything in Sierra Leone was. But I figured I have to bite the bullet. I had to seize the opportunity. So I decided to go with some others on Friday afternoon and register at Miami. The question was...what would I do? With medical training but no official pediatric residency. Time would tell. I must say I was nervous on the ride over there...