We’ve just returned from our 2nd day working in one of the tent camps & the Naturopath group has done a drinks & treats run so I’ve snuck off to the internet cafe, the first time I’ve had real access since arriving here (although interestingly I’ve been able to exchange a few e-mails with the Acupuncturists Without Borders women).

I met up with my colleague Beth and the Naturopath Internationals Docs in Florida on Monday morning & we flew over the blue Atlantic over mysterious islands to land on this one.   We’re fortunate enough to have a Haitian-American doc in our group and we have been staying with her family in a lovely house in Belvil, Port-au-Prince.  Although it’s a lovely house in a charming neighborhood, electricity is extremely spotty and water has been in less than abundance.  The whole family is still staying in tents outside (as are we, and most people in Port-au-Prince) because everyone is nervous about another quake.  Almost every person I’ve spoken with lost classmates, work mates, family etc. in the earthquake, and people talk about feeling traumatized.  Even though the earthquake was several months ago, the devastation is still in evidence everywhere, from the tortured and flattened buildings to the scores of people with recent scars, burns, and amputations.  It is in fact remarkable how much normalcy is in evidence, as people do their best to continue life and all the activities that entails.

We’ve worked at two different tent camps so far, and made a lot of contacts and inquiries toward providing a training next week.  We’ve seen literally over a thousand patients, and several hundred of those received NADA and/or body acupuncture.

It’s been interesting comparing populations from the US, Uganda, Kenya, and Haiti.  I’d never seen needle shock in Africa, but we did have one case yesterday.

It’s incredibly hot and muggy also though, and most people are pretty dehydrated, so that can’t be helping.  It’s about all we can do to keep enough water in ourselves, and we usually take only a few minutes for lunch to guzzly electrolytes and eat power bars.

After leaving them our drive Nixonn (no, really) took us to a private beach, teaming with Haitians enjoying sun and surf.  We road the azure waters in a little boat, ate some shellfish cooked on the beach, and enjoyed ocean breezes.  Such a welcome respite after workng n hot tents in the cty most of the week!

Later we drove through Port-au-Prnce, our first time into the city center

Standing at an internet kiosk in the LA airport at 4 in the morning, on my way home from Haiti.

It was a good feeling to have accomp0lished what we went for:  providing treatments and a training.  The reality is, of course, that this was just a drop in the bucket of what’s needed:  infrastructure, healthcare, education . . .

The fact that we were able to go without much more than experience, materials, and intention, and then hit the ground running was largely due to a little organization called Grass Roots United.  We’d heard about them from a couple of other ngo’s working locally.  GRU connected us with other people and organizations who were  able to help get our ball rolling, and did so with a competence and good cheer that was almost disorienting in a place where even basic tasks can seem insurmountable.

Our NADA training finished on Thursday, and in  the end we certified 24 people; among them were doctors, nurses, medical students, and some very dynamic community organizers.  We have a memorandum 0f understanding with a local foundation that is to act as our local umbrella, and we’ll see where it all goes from there.

Saturday we finally managed to catch up with Acupuncturists Without Borders in Leogane, where AWB has a treatment site at Mon Petit Village.  Leogane is about 18 miles out of Port-au-Prince, or 2 hours through creepy-crawly traffic and over rough and tumble roads.   Leogane was near the earthquake’s epicenter, and consequently had a lot of damage, so the drive out was both horrifying and beautiful.  Horrifying for the crumbled and flattened buildings lining the seaside road, and beautiful for the long stretches of farmland, palms and mango trees stretching into rolling green hills.

It was great to see the AWB team in action, and absolutely wonderful to receive treatments from the team.  Sally, Helen, Dina and Joseph had come for from all over the US to provide treatments through AWB, so it was nice to hear how their various paths led them to Haiti, and to have some acupuncture shop talk.

Afterward we stopped off at a private beach, which means pay-to-enter through a gate marked “interdit aux armes a feu” or “no guns allowed” which – as we had cause to know – was a good and relevant rule.  There were scads of Haitians playing soccer, having picnics, and enjoying the water.  It was enormously refreshing to take a boat ride on the azure waves, and feel some ocean breezes after all the diesal fumes and smoky particulates we’d been inhaling over the past few weeks.  We relaxed to the slap of the waves on the hull, watching a lightning show over the distant hills, and eating shellfish cooked on the beach and soaked in hot pepper and lime juice.

On our way home we drove through downtown Port-au-Prince.  I’d seen TV coverage of the post Jan 12th city, but the devastation is still jaw-dropping.  Whole blocks are little more than rubble, with bits of car poking out from under great slabs of cement.  Vast tent cities stretch across all available land, squeeze between buildings and down the middle of major roads, and the governmental buildings like the National Palace looked like fallen wedding cakes, all white tilts and crumbles.

Haiti was and is a challenge.  Beth and I are circumspect about creating new treatment and training sites, as it implies a commitment to ongoing support for each new project.  I’m hoping, and will work to assure that we can sustain the project we’ve begun here, and that the seeds of these past two weeks will grow into something useful for the Haitian people, who are graceful, resilient, and surely deserve better than what recent and distant history have delivered them.

I’ve already begun receiving e-mails of thanks from some of those we trained and treated on this trip, and through them see that the seeds are sprouting.

Beth and I are on our 2nd day of NADA training.  We’ve had a stellar turnout, with 26 people gathering from various agencies & organizations to learn the technique.  Most are medical students from a couple of Port-au-Prince medical schools, nurses and doctors, but there’s also an actress/singer, a journalist, and the head of a local ngo.

We started yesterday, and Monday we joined Dr. Decker at yet another tent city; this one perched on a hillside in seeming defiance of gravity.  Beth and I were thrilled to have a tin shack church to work in, with rickety wooden school desks and 2X4s stretched across seat-less chairs, and plastic roof stretched over raw timber - by far the most ideal treatment space we’ve had so far.  In five hours we were able to treat over 230 people, and as usual it amazes me how easily people “get” this protocol.  Midway through the day we felt a small earthquake, and before it had even registered in my mind, most of our patients were on their feet and on their way out the door.  The after effects of the January 12th earthquake run deep and strong in these people.

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We’ve spent the last few days working at a small-ish camp here in Belvil, continuing to treat in all our various modalities.  There is a woman who heads up a local ngo overseeing this and other camps, and she has taken us under her wing, helping us to network, transport, and arrange.  Through her we have finalized our training plans for this week. It sounds as if we will have doctors, nurses, and community “animators” participating, and possibly over 20 trainees.  It’s curious to work with so many unknowns, as we have to stay very flexible and follow all possibilities until things lock in.

To this end, Beth and I took a motorcycle taxi across town on Friday to attend a meeting of the animators at Haiti Response Coalition.  In retrospect, this was probably the most foolhardy thing we’ve done so far, as moto taxis are notoriously dangerous.  My inner adolescent was thrilled at the many near death experiences, however, and the exhilaration and the views were amazing.  I think my ribs may still be bruised from where Beth was holding on to me, and we both thought this form of transportation would put the thigh-master exercise tool out of business.

On our return from that meeting our driver took an alternate route to avoid afternoon traffic and we ended up rising into the hills and riding along the rims of the hills around Port-au-Prince for views that were both beautiful and horrifying.  We saw a lot more destruction of homes in all kinds of areas, from tenements to fancy skyline neighborhoods, but there were also incredible views of green hillsides staggering away into the distance.

Last night our new patroness picked up our little team in a convoy of Hummers and SUVs, and drove us out to a fancy hotel for a buffet meal, to thank us for the work we’ve been doing in her foundation’s camps.  Haiti continues to impress me with its dichotomous nature and unpredictability.

I was able to reach the Acupuncturists Without Borders team this afternoon (they arrived in Haiti yesterday), though we were talking on cell phones through a thunderstorm and it sounded like Sally, my contact, was standing in traffic, so it was still challenging to actually communicate.  We’re hoping to meet up with them on Friday or Saturday, as it would be nice to tag team with some other acupuncturists.

I’m hoping to post these last two entries tomorrow morning, but I’ve been forestalled in my efforts to post from Haiti so far.  Today we walked up to a restaurant to wait for the cyber café to open (it being Sunday it opens late), had grilled chicken, rice &  beans, fried plantains, and what Beth calls ‘hot slaw’ which is very like cole slaw but has super spicy peppers in it.  While we ate we watched the Latin dance lessons being given in the little restaurant, and when we finally got back to the – now open – cyber café, they had sent someone to get gas for the generator and didn’t know when they’d actually have computers or connections available.  So we came home and watched lightning streak across the sky, putting buckets under the eaves to catch the rain.

Although it’s quite a nice neighborhood, there still hasn’t been more than five hours of electricity a day, and the lack of infrastructure in Port au Prince can be felt even here. Nonetheless, it’s been a terrific bastion for us to come home from long days to hearty meals and friendly folks. Our first few days have been spent at a tent camp behind Matthew 25, run by a Catholic Sister. There are (I think) over a thousand people in the camp, and it’s really pretty nice – very clean, a water filtering station, lots of ngo’s coming in to provide services. It’s still a tent camp though, with back to back tents (some of those provided through the efforts of Sean Penn, I hear) and lots of people in every public space.

Acupuncturists Without Borders gave me the introduction here, and –as in all places we have visited that they have preceded us – people smile to remember their acupuncture treatments. Beth and I have done over 150 treatments in the last two days, and the NI team is doing homeopathy, hydro, acupuncture, minor surgery, and have some supplements for use w/ all the infections we were seeing. We haven’t seen a lot of recent trauma, but there are certainly a lot of people with amputations, and it is still a bit shocking to see a 13 year old who – up until 3 months ago – was playing soccer and chasing her siblings now getting used to crutches. We haven’t been a lot of places, but I haven’t seen any prosthetics yet.

Today we’re touring other camps, and Beth and I are still looking for the venue where we can do a training. We are getting lots of help in this direction from Grass Roots United, who operates as a hub for ngos to network and apply themselves. They’ve just moved down next to the airport where they will build some model housing using appropriate technology, and one of our team, who is a US contractors, is consulting with them on building methods.

In preparation, I have been reading and watching anything I can find about Haiti, a fascinating country with a rich history.  There is an excellent overview of the earthquake’s aftermath and some of the history and evolution of how aid and interference have been applied here at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/haiti/ .  I’ve downloaded Creole lessons, with the somewhat fantastic idea of becoming conversational in this language to facilitate our work and training.  I’ve also downloaded Mountains Beyond Mountains, about Paul Farmer who is the rock star of healthcare applications in Haiti.

When I was returning from Kenya and passing through Miami on my way to the NADA conference, I struck up a conversation with a woman in line behind us.  She was just returning from Haiti, and was my first sign that life would soon be taking me in this direction.  She spoke about the warmth and beauty of the Haitian people, who have surely suffered more than their fair share in recent and distant history.  Her enthusiasm and dedication to her volunteer work at an orphanage there, and obvious love for the Haitian people, has been a common theme of those I’ve met who have been to Haiti, and I look forward to experiencing the reality of being there.

Beth and I have been working together on various projects in East Africa since 2007.  We’ve done relief work and trainings at a variety of venues in Kenya and Uganda, and find that our working styles complement and ‘synergize’ well.  We met up at the NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association) annual conference in New Orleans last month, which I was able to attend on my return from working on the coast of Kenya.  We also met, and were inspired by the usual stunning array of NADA superstars and heroes who are doing amazing work all over the world.  Among these was Julia Raneri, who had just returned from another trip to post-earthquake Haiti.

Julia is the Ground Operations Manager for Acupuncturists Without Borders in Haiti, which has mounted the profession’s biggest relief effort to that country, sending in teams of acupuncturists who have provided thousands of treatments to alleviate pain and suffering for physical and psychological trauma.  Julia and her AWB colleague Diane Eggleston have been an invaluable source of information including how to most effectively provide service, local contacts, procedures for interfacing with the UN and local government, and how to personally prepare ourselves to maximize our usefulness there.

Also at the conference, we met Emmanuelle Mouy and her colleague Dr. Gilbert Grossman, of NADA France.  Emmanuelle has been pivotal in helping us to translate our slimmed down NADA manual into French.  On the internet, I found my way to Marie-Therese Laminet of NADA Switzerland who had published some documents about NADA that she was generous enough to share with us.  And rounding out the French manual translation team, Dominique Druguet, a friend of mine who is something of a renaissance man (dentist, farmer, world traveler) has been very patient with my late night, last-minute translation and editing requests.

For the Creole version of the manual, we relied completely on people I’ve never met, but who were referred to us through folks like Emmanuelle who brought on board Genevieve Greveche, who did the bulk of the Creole translations, and Philippe Moutama who helped with editing.  Leila Laraque graciously joined our efforts through messages passed through Pascale Piquion, Jennifer Walker, and Ryan Bemis of NADA.  It really has been incredible how this network has developed.

Louise, from Imagik Office Equipment in Florida, has provided printing services for our projects several times, and again came through by printing the various versions of our manual for this trip.

Naturopaths International is our host organization.  They are allowing Beth and I to tag along with their team of doctors who will themselves be providing service in Haiti by taking in medical supplies and setting up a mobile field clinic in Port-au-Prince in collaboration with Grass Roots United and Burners Without Borders.  Their level of organization and preparation is impressive, and allows us some peace of mind in regard to security, lodging and logistics.

Garth Van’t Hul was a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa with me a million years ago.  He is now working for CARE, and has lived in Haiti and been there after the ‘quake, so he had some very useful insights into what we can expect and how best to prepare.

Donation of materials has come from far and wide.  Ruchira Ananda is the founder/director of Abha Light Foundation in Nairobi and has provided us with various medicinals so we can stay healthy, and to bring to the people of Haiti.  Huynh Quang, the dynamic spearhead of NADA Vietnam has provided bead boards (for putting together acupressure beads).  ACP has also donated needles, as have a number of people from the TCMCH community.

Other friends and family are providing other items and services to make my trip smoother.  My sister Sara, who has been helping me with preparatory errands and moral support, will be taking care of my son Judah while I’m away.  Rick Cole, Beth’s husband, is doing the same sort of preparation support for Beth in Florida, and has generally been a facilitator for our trips.  Pamela Perkins is a long time friend who somehow has a knack for donating supplies that come in extremely useful in my travels.  For this trip she is providing things like my sleeping bag and water filter.

Of course, none of this would be possible or happening if it hadn’t been for the vision and dedication of NADA’s founder Dr. Michael Smith, who has developed this simple and effective protocol so useful for such a broad swath of health issues.  We are thankful for this opportunity to bring it to the people of Haiti.

The conference celebrated NADA’s 25^th year with the theme “Recovery, Rebirth and Reunion,” and was held in New Orleans, where NADA played an important part in the area’s post-Katrina healing.

Conference participants came from all over the world to discuss their use of the technique for treatment of addictions, as the protocol was originally designed for, as well as disaster relief, sickle cell anemia, mental health, and  post traumatic stress disorder.  A group of medical doctors from NADA Germany discussed their findings in obstetrics, first responders from Katrina described their first experiences with acupuncture and subsequent conviction in its usefulness for post-disaster settings, and Susana Mendez described a fascinating collaboration between her agency which supplies NADA, and the Texas police force, the FBI, and homeland security as they search for serial killers who prey on prostitutes plying the  trucking routes in that part of the country.

Janet, from the Philippines, described their post-flooding response, and Quang introduced his father who is holding down the NADA fort in Vietnam, where volunteers are encouraged to come and participate in various clinics.  Tomas – who provided a training to staff at The Omari Project last August (Omari is another TCMCH project) and his colleagues from Ireland talked about their experiences at public health clinics in Belfast.

At the conference, Megan met up with her colleague Beth Cole, and they began planning a trip to Haiti where they will be providing acupuncture.  They also met Julia Raneri who is the Ground Operations Manager for Acupuncturists Without Borders, Emmanuelle Mouy of NADA France, and other key persons who have been contributing toward the success of the upcoming trip.