After our folks returned from the shore yesterday, I grilled everyone about how things went. I got some of the info, but probably not everything...but here's what I did get.

Our guys took off from here about 8:30 or 9:00 a.m., headed for the shore. Prior to boarding their transit boat, they grabbed their bottled water and MRE (meal-ready-to-eat) from the passageway. After about a 25 minute ride, they arrived on the shore and waited for their gear to arrive. After some time time passed....approx. 4 hours....the gear arrived and the ceremonial group had to rush to get seated and begin playing the Hatian and American national anthems for the ceremony that was already delayed by one hour. They of course, wowed the attendees and were even praised by the American Ambassador to Haiti when she said that their version of the Hatian Anthem was the 'best she'd ever heard'! How awesome!

After the ceremony, the crew stayed ashore for a few hours awaiting transit back to the ship. While there, everyone took lots of photos. The few that I saw were pretty sad. There was one particular pic that stood out. It was of a few children playing on what looked like a mound of dirt. But when I asked what it was they were standing on, they said that it was a heap of burning, smoky trash. They said that the stench from the trash was overwhelming so it certainly was even more unbearable up close and as it burned right? Maybe to someone who is less exposed to it...yes, but to someone who is around it everyday...maybe not so much....especially if they were playing in it. That made me feel bad.

After they got picked up and headed back to the ship, they spotted a drifter in the water. The man's boat had broken up and his life jacket had floated away. They of course stopped to try to flag someone down to come help him. But the man tried to swim to the boat they were in. Of course they could not take him aboard, so Jason (our saxophonist) said to him in French that he could not come into the boat. Of course this made Jason feel terrible...and I don't blame him. I would have felt awful too:( But there are laws and rules that we have to abide by. They were able to flag down a sailboat to get them to help him. And after two failed attempts to pick up the drifter, the man was eventually picked up by the sailboaters. Everyone made it back in time for dinner...and I greeted them all with a smile.

At dinner tonight, I spoke with one of the ladies from my berthing area at dinner. She serves in the Canadian Army as a dental technician. She was out all day cleaning teeth, fighting infections and all the other grand things they did today. She said that there were lines and lines of people waiting to get seen in hopes of getting fixed up. Well as you can imagine, at some point they have to stop the line or there would be no end in sight. As they stopped the line, they gave the people who were in front priority for tomorrow. She said as the interpreter told the woman who was next to be seen that she had to come back tomorrow, she politely nodded and grabbed her bracelet and paper to be put at the front. As she turned to walk away, the Canadian dental tech saw the side of the woman's face. It was completely swollen from all the infection going on in her teeth and gums. She said that this sight brought her to tears thinking about how much pain the woman is in. My Canadian neighbor is going back tomorrow and said she hopes she'll be the one to help relieve some of the woman's pain. I can't wait to talk to her again tomorrow night to see if she got to help her.

Today we had group rehearsal which went fine...then Aaron and I rehearsed our duo stuff that we will do for the patients coming aboard. Speaking of patients, the first one (a little girl) arrived today and I just came back from where she is staying. I was hoping to sing her a song tonight, but she had fallen asleep...so maybe we will go tomorrow and sing her a lullaby...She was a precious little thing and seeing her made me think of my nieces and nephews and how much I miss them. Seeing little ones when they are ill breaks my heart. I just hope the ones that come can be cheered up by a little song and dance:) Tomorrow, Aaron and I will definitely start playing for the inbound patients. I can't wait to get started and I only hope that we can bring a smile to their faces in the midst of some confusion and a bit of pain. I'll be sure to share the outcome of tomorrow as soon as i can.

Until next time friends....
Thanks for stopping by....
Keisha