Haiti Olympics

Well… we hosted our first ever 2011 Bercy Cholera Haitian Olympics. Team Ringers Lactate vs Team ORS. And I have to say… it was quite a success!

As per my previous blog… the days continue to be long and hot. And the patients fewer and fewer. We have many staff within the confines of the clinic and a big open field (flat dirt) where tents used to be. And yes, dare I say it… sometimes I am bored. You can only double check an IV drip rate so many times before the Haitian nurse thinks you don’t trust her.  Or walk through a tent and smile at everyone and say ‘Salut’ before they start to think you actually speak the language and begin dialogue with you… And you smile and nod as they talk frantically at you and you think you are doing a good job faking the language until a translator walks by and tells you that you have just agreed to bring home four children. Oops.

So that leads us to Olympics. After a survey of the area I realized I had a) a megaphone – a must have for any sporting event, b) a plethora of balloons for 1 paediatric patient who seems to be terrified of them c) willing participants.

Agenda:

1. Water bucket races

2. Water Balloon Toss

3. Wet rag contest

4. Hockey

1. Water bucket races. I thought this would be a brilliant idea. I have seen countless Haitian people walking around with a bucket on their head and quite frankly it looks like a piece of cake. Of course in making the rules we decided that it will be a no hands allowed race to which I readily agree seeing as I expect to be a pro at this from the get go.

Notice how Antoine is showing off by doing a jig as he carries his bucket hands free…

Yup, definitely cost my team some points on this one. Surprisingly not as easy as it looks.

Moving on…

2. Balloon Toss. Sounds easy enough. We did not have many water balloons so we kept our 2 teams and had to create a relay where we threw the balloon to your teammate and ran to catch it and so on…. the first team to break their balloon loses. So much fun! Except the balloons would not break! I literally slammed one onto the ground and it just rolled away. I seriously think the condom company needs to collaborate with whatever balloon company made these balloons. Notice the little cuts in the blue tarp surrounding the ‘arena’? If you look close you will see little tiny faces peering through. In retrospect it might not have been such a good idea to make cholera look so fun!

We ended up giving the balloons to the kids over the fence. I am sure they are still playing with them!

3. Wet rag contest. This is exactly as stated; take a bucket of water and a rag, and try to fill an empty bucket at the other end of the playing field with the water from the rag. First team to fill bucket wins. This game was a huge hit! One of the players would take the rag soak it and cup his hands with the rag and get a double load. Brilliant! I was thrilled to be on that team which of course won! So Dr Fritz decided we needed a rematch and his team won. As he stood celebrating a poor sport dumped a big bucket on water on his head! (yes, I was indeed that poor sport).

4. Hockey. This was our fourth and final event… and for all of them the first they had ever heard of hockey let alone played it! I guess I need to clarify what ‘hockey’ was by our standards. Mop sticks and an empty pill bottle. And so much fun! We divided them into Team Canada vs Team Haiti… it came down to a shoot out and unlike our Vancouver 2010 Olympics where we cleaned house… Canada did not win this game. But they sure had fun playing it!

 

It was a fun afternoon to say the least. Not to mention a nice change of scenery for the patients who came to watch since we held them in their honour. They sat on cots in the shade with their portable IV poles and laughed along with the rest of us.

 

 

At the end of the day as the sun was setting and our shift drawing to an end we had a closing ceremony. Since the Team Haiti beat Team Canada in the hockey we felt it appropriate to sing their national anthem. And it would not be a proper day in the life of S. Brown if tears did not fall, as they did when listening to the volunteers, staff, patients, and all the people outside looking in sing with pride, with hands over hearts. Once again, in that moment I was filled with hope for this country.

I know she will rise.

 

One Love, ♥