'Retou a la Vi: Ayiti Pap Peri' ... 'Return to Life: Haiti Has Not Died'

After a wonderful day in Leogane -- I was involved in a gas stove fire that evening. I was incredibly lucky because it was a pretty big blast that literally set my whole head on fire. But other than a bad hairdo and a few pretty minor blisters-- I'm fine. The two remarkably quick thinking NPs that I was fortunate to be working with threw me in the shower and the medical director for all of Haiti was, amazing as this sounds, 10 minutes away by car so he came over immediately and whisked me back to PAP to be seen in the ER. IMC truly has it's volunteers backs--- before he even got to me, Zurab had arranged for transport and burn care back in the States which, fortunately, I didn't need.

I spent the night in PAP and the next day - IMC and I jointly decided that it probably wasn't smart to be back out in the field with a wound that could potentially get infected. They offered to let me stay & work in the office which, I'm sure, would have been fascinating but ultimately not why I went to Haiti. So with quite a few tears and a jarring lack of closure -- I came back home. Kathy, God love her, decided to accompany me so I wouldn't have to travel alone. Got home in the middle of the night, talked Chuck's ear off (While driving back to PAP -- Zurab calld the ED and told them my injuries were much more minor than he had feared and that it appeared I didn't have any inhalation burns because I was talking "too much"!), and fell asleep for hours.

As the plane left Haiti, I watched the row of tents lining the runways and had myself a good cry. The picture is literally right outside of the airport. The title of this post is from a banner that hangs outside of the hotel that serves as IMC's headquarters in PAP. I pray it's prophetic. The resiliency of the Haitian people is beyond description. With the support of the world community -- they have the internal resources to build a nation that will be better than before. Thank you to everyone for sharing my trip with me. May take me a bit of time to readjust to home..........but I'm grateful to have a wonderful home and family and friends that will, I know, ease that adjustment.

Renmen anpil (Much love),

Laurie