There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but
there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel
This month has brought a huge number of visiting teams to
the villa where we live, which has been both rewarding and challenging. It’s always interesting to meet new people
and to hear about the great work they’re doing here, but it can also be exhausting
to have a constant parade of strangers coming in and out and to keep having the
same conversations over and over (and over) again. In general, though, it has been a good
opportunity to reflect on the many things I’ve learned in Haiti and to refocus
on my long-term goals for my time here.
Having short-term visitors working in the hospital has been
especially eye-opening. Some of the
short-term visitors have displayed a dismaying lack of sensitivity—visiting nurses
have come to our NICU to see the unit and to “help,” which is both well-meaning
and completely inappropriate. No nurse would
ever think of entering an ICU in the
United States without prior authorization, much less expect to work with
patients there. I have witnessed nurses
walk onto our unit, ignore the staff (because they haven’t learned any Creole),
and start touching our babies (without permission, without scrubbing, and without
bothering to wash their hands between patients). While it’s true that Haiti is a poor country
and many foreigners come here to volunteer and offer aid, this does not mean
that standard rules of conduct are obsolete.
Other visitors have made much more of an effort to engage with the staff
and speak the language, which is a great start, but I still feel like there is
a lack of understanding in their judgments of our NICU—these people have not
taken (or had) the opportunity to begin to comprehend the culture and the life
here. It’s easy for outsiders to come in
and point out all of the problems on our unit, but the issues that I have seen—lack
of resources, staff shortages, poor and uneducated parents—are endemic to
Haiti, and not ones that can be effortlessly solved in two weeks or one
month. Every time I hear the statement,
“They just don’t care,” I cringe. While I
am aware that there are many nursing practices here that could be improved, I
have also worked shifts alongside the nurses here and can honestly say I have
never worked harder in my life. No
matter how much you care, it is physically impossible for one person to provide
good nursing care to five or six critically ill babies all alone.
However, I have also been grateful to have these visitors—it
has made me realize how much I’ve learned about Haiti thus far, how many wonderful
friends I’ve made here, and how much my Creole has improved in the past four
months. In addition, having new people
on the unit has forced me to think again about why I am here and how to keep
making progress. I am looking forward to
the rest of the year and to the many rewards and challenges yet to come.
