Political frenzy, voodoo parties, and cholera

So...the adventures continue!
Unbeknownst to us, this week was a defining week for Haiti in terms of the political reign. Haiti has undergone its first round of elections for a new president and there was disagreement about which 2 candidates would go on to the next round of elections. The popular vote elected 2 persons which they supported from 2 separate parties, but the government insisted that their candidate had more votes than one of the 2 elected. So after the results, the government announced that there was a mis-count and that in fact their man should be one of the 2 to advance to the next round. As you can imagine, this caused alot of people to be upset and they broke into the street and rioted, throwing rocks and attacking government officials. The international committee said they would review the situation, and the current government would announce the final decision on Feb. 2nd. Ebed told us all of this on Feb 1st!! He also told us that if they decided to keep the government's man in the running for president that there would be mass chaos, rioting, and danger in the city of Cap Haitien. And it was Feb 1st!!!
As you can imagine, we were not at all pleased by this news...
Anyway...on Feb 2nd we worked in the clinic again in the morning. We saw alot of people with horrible hypertension - as high as 240/130, who had strokes, were blind, headaches, etc. They had either never been treated or could not afford medication/doctors consultations so did not seek medical help until they heard that 2 American doctors were seeing patients for free. We also saw what we think was secondary syphilis. We had a woman come in with a horrible asthma attack that had been going on for 8 days!! She was so exhausted, she was too tired to walk. We quickly got her steroids and sent her to the near-by hospital for treatment. I saw a man with a disseminated rash most likely molluscum contagiosum, and a small girl with breath sounds that sounded like pleuritis.
After the clinic we went to the orphanage because they had not yet announced the results of the political election and it was still somewhat safe to be on the roads. The orphanage was amazing! So many beautiful children who were so excited to see us. They sang us a "welcome" song in English and 2 of the older children gave speeches about how happy they are that we are investing in their future and that we believe in them despite being from a different culture and a different world. One boy spoke of social injustices and racism and that we did not come to just look at them or "humiliate" them, but we came because we believe in them and we want to help to lift up the country as Haiti. They also gave us a bunch of plastic flowers because they said they had nothing else to give us but those flowers and their hearts. :)
Jenna and Anna were in tears, I must admit that I was choking them back. It was very touching.
We handed out Muscle Milk drinks and toys while taking turns interviewing the 4 students who are interested in going into the medical field. We had soo much fun with them playing jump rope, slap hands game, and taking lots of pictures.
Then Ebed came to get us and drove as fast as he could to get out of town before the election results were announced. We made it home and then heard the announcements...the government has relinquished their position and have agreed to allow the other 2 candidates to proceed to the final election!! This was such an unexpected result and all the people of Haiti were ecstatic!! They were all smiles and waving after this was announced! We were so happy as well...I think Jenna may have been happier than Ebed! This is a huge accomplishment for their country and a huge step forward after all the corruption and dictatorship! Yay Haiti!!
Today we worked in the clinic in the morning and I had my first cholera case. A boy of 18 who came in with the classic diarrhea, vomiting, chills and weakness. His stools were maybe not rice-water, but he said they were white... So I took him down to the UNICEF cholera clinic where we were able to meet a nice doctor from Columbia, trained in Cuba who has been working in Haiti for 9 months. He is only 2 years out of medical school and running a cholera clinic by himself in Haiti! Pretty crazy and impressive. It was interesting to see the cholera clinics set up in big tents with IV bags hanging from the metal bars.
In the afternoon we toured around the rural villages and visited schools. It was great to see the way very rural communities are living and surviving off the land. There were so many adorable children who ran out naked from their houses yelling "Blanc! Blanc!" (white) when we drove by. Ebed said these villagers maybe see a white person once a year, so it is very exciting for them when we come to visit. We drove through numerous rivers and had to get out and push the car only once when it couldn't make it up a hill. We learned how to make the local bread from a tree root and we still decided to try some even after they told us that the liquid in the root is poisonous and that if they did not properly squeeze all of its natural juice out before cooking it that we could get very sick. Jenna refused to try until she saw that my Dad and I were still alive and we played the card "you don't want to leave Haiti and regret not trying it". That one always works on Jenna... ;)
On the way home we drove by a Voodoo festival with hundreds of people milling around. I learned more about Voodoo and the origins for the belief. Then a fight broke out and people started smashing bottles, so we got out of the area quickly.
This evening we went to Ebed's church and taught lessons about Cholera. We told them about preventive measures and signs and symptoms of the disease. Then we opened it up for questions. Jenna and I were both extremely impressed by the intelligent, insightful questions that they asked and I felt that we really were able to make an impact.
Tomorrow we are teaching at schools in the morning and hoping to visit the Citadel afterwards. We are all having a great time and starting to feel very comfortable in this country. I can definitely say that there are some amazing people who have touched my heart and left an lasting impact on my life. It is such a beautiful culture with genuine, loving people and I feel very humbled to be able to work alongside them.