We made it to Baradères and unloaded our stuff into rooms in Fr. Jacques’ house. “Le presbytère” or rectory, is more than just a house for the priest. It is also a guesthouse. The rectory is where I stayed before on my first trips to Baradères with my church in Silver Spring.
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| Fr. Jacques and Madsen |
My favorite memories of those trips was sitting on the upstairs porch of the rectory after a long day of work, drinking a cold Prestige. and talking about the day. Now I was drinking a cold Prestige on the porch with the UF-Christianville team. Jacques and Madsen talked and the rest of us relaxed. They hit it off immediately. I thought to myself, with this pair, it is the start of a great partnership. After a while, Sr. Denise called. It was time to head over to the clinic for lunch.
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| Dale and me on the porch |
Sr. Denise greeted us and I introduced her to the team. We washed our hands and sat down to eat. Sr. Denise is a wonderful host. There was soup, chicken, salad, rice, even a bottle of wine. It was a working lunch. Each person explained their background and their role on the visit. Fr. Jacques and Sr. Denise fired questions at everyone, trying to
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| Hôpital Baradères |
learn everything they could from us. That was my goal and one of the reasons each person was here. I wanted my UF-Christianville team to share their expertise with Baradères and see where and how we might be able to help them in their projects.
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| Sr. Denise |
Both Sr. Denise and Fr. Jacques were in awe as Solomon described what he could do with foam core panel construction. It really is absolutely amazing and a lot less expensive than conventional concrete block construction (which is the typical construction material in Haiti). It is also more wind resistant and seismic resistant. I would really like to see Solomon bring foam core construction into Baradères. As Solomon spoke, I watched Denise and Jacques. I could see in their eyes that they were thinking about how they could use this remarkable building technique. Next, Madsen spoke of his work in Haiti (remember he is Haitian, went to medical school in PAP, and led the lymphatic filariasis elimination pilot program in Léogâne that went national a few years later). Then he talked about the lab in Gressier and let Meer talk about the on-going projects and recent results.
After lunch (there was dessert also; a delicious cake), Lamothe went back to the rectory to do some re-training of the Baradères Water Technicians. Sr. Denise took us out on the landing of the steps that lead up to the dining room and showed Dale and Solomon a space on the roof that she hoped could be made into an apartment. Dale got out his tape measure and started measuring. Solomon explained to Sr. Denise, no problem, the addition could be done with foam core panels. Dale and Solomon will put together an estimate and we’ll let her know approximately what it would cost.
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| Dale on the roof |
Next, we walked across the courtyard to the building where we will build the new lab. Dale pulled out his tape measure again and began writing down numbers. Madsen, Meer and I talked with Sr. Denise about the room and what we could do.
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| Sr. Denise on the roof |
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| Madsen and Meer on the roof |
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| Solomon on the roof |
Then Sr. Denise took us up on the roof. Here again was a space that Sr. Denise hoped to turn into an apartment. Dale pulled out his tape measure (I don’t think he even put it away after we left the lab space). Solomon spoke with Sr. Denise while Dale measured. Foam core panels, no problem. It can be built relatively easily. Dale laid his tape measure on the roof and showed us several possibilities on where the entry door could be, where he could put a common room, two bedrooms, bathroom, etc. I think Sr. Denise was pleased. Now we just need to get a budget and figure out how to make the apartment a reality. This apartment could be where we house the people (UF people, me?) who will work in UF-EPI Haiti Lab 2-Baradères.
Madsen had also asked Sr. Denise to invite the three lab technicians she had recommended for a tech position in the new lab to come for an interview. We did that next, Madsen, Meer and myself.
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| Candidates waiting for their interview |
The interviews went well. Neither candidate spoke English so Madsen translated for Meer and me as he conducted the interview in Kreyol. They also spoke French so I asked them some questions in French. When we asked about typical lab tests that they do, I was surprised to learn that they do test for trichomoniasis, one of the STIs that we will be testing for in our surveillance study. And both techs told us in their interview that they see “a lot” of trichomoniasis. This comment is interesting especially since they are probably only testing women. We have no idea how much trichomoniasis might be out there among the men and we need to get numbers on the “a lot” in the women. So much work to do.
We were running late. Fr. Jacques had two candidates he wanted us to interview. They were waiting for us back at the rectory. Sr. Denise’s driver took us back and we interviewed the two candidates.
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| Lamothe and Madsen on the porch |
Before dinner, the team met on the rectory porch and we had a debriefing on what had been done that day and what needed to be done the next day. We made a plan for the next morning’s activities and set a departure time of 1:00 pm for our return trip to Christianville. Soon dinner was on the table. Fr. Jacques led us in prayer and we enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by the women in the rectory kitchen. After dinner some of us watched an American disaster movie, Volcano (Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche; A volcano erupts in downtown L.A., threatening to destroy the city; very forgettable), on a Dominican TV station on the TV in the hallway. This was the same TV that I had watched the Super Bowl on back in February when I was here with my daughter, Odile, and my friends from St. John the Baptist in Silver Spring.
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| Me and Dale on the porch |
Time for bed. It was a long and tiring day but I was happy. We accomplished a lot.
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