Tough Gig!

Today was the first day of water therapy--yea!  Since I was the only one able to go, I took only two kids--Alain and Christine.

Waiting to get in

I have to admit, I wasn't real sure of what I was doing.  I tried to Google some videos on water therapy, but the results weren't very helpful.  I had two very basic goals--get them used to the water and see whether they would kick their legs on their own.  At first, Christine was pretty hesitant.  I couldn't tell whether she liked the water or was afraid.  I think she was reserving judgement.  She didn't cry, but she didn't really relax either.  I held her, had her float a bit on her back, and had her sit on the steps.  I then switched her out with Alain (he had been waiting in the wheelchair).

After the swim

Alain resting

Christine on the second go round

Alain did not like the water.  He cried from just about the moment he got in to when we left.  I did the same things with him that I did for Christine, and he looked more scared.  He didn't cry loudly, but I'm still glad that no one else was there.  I would have felt bad if we had disturbed others' peach and quiet by the pool.

After Alain, I brought Christine back into the water.  This time I put a flotation device on her so that I could be a bit farther away from her.  She loved it!  I could pull her along, and she would kick up a storm!  She smiled. She even splashed some with her hands (and it's not easy for her to use her hands).  I didn't have time to give Alain another go round today, but next week I'll have him go first.  Maybe today was just a bad day.

I may not know what I'm doing with the water therapy, but it's not too bad hanging out in a pool at a quiet resort while figuring it out!


I really like the Caribbean Lodge (if you're ever in PAP, I recommend that you go), and I've been thinking about heading over on my own some Friday afternoon.  It's my day off, and I could probably get there by taptap without too much problem.  They have pretty good wi-fi connection, and they serve real Diet Coke!  And there are no kids!  What more could I ask for???

As I was heading out to do therapy for Chi Chi, a white truck pulled up to Gertrude's gate, and a Haitian women leaned out and asked whether I was Jamie.  Totally surprised me.

"Yes," I answered.  "And you are . . . ?"

"Margaret," she replied.  As if that explained it all.

Turns out she had Shirley's birth mother with her in the car.  Now, I knew that Shirley's birth mother was coming, I just didn't know that I was expected to do anything.  I had them park inside the gate, and when they got out I asked, "How can I help you?"

"You can introduce us," Margaret replied.  Okay.  Well, I could have figured that one out on my own--I was thinking more in terms of paperwork, getting the child, etc.

Turns out Gabriel was the one whom Margaret really needed to see, not me. Which is good because I certainly couldn't communicate in Creole.  I did stay to observe the proceedings, however, just to see what it was about.  Pretty much what Margaret needed to do was take photos of Shirley and her mother, take saliva swabs from each of their mouths for DNA testing, and have pictures taken of her while she was taking the swabs.

Shirley had been told that the women was her birth mother, but I don't know that anyone had explained what would happen or why it was happening.  She looked pretty scared the whole time.  Of course, I don't blame her.  She's only about 5, and some strange lady was taking pictures of her and swabbing the inside of her mouth.  I'd be scared, too.  I just wanted to hold her in my lap and hug her, but that wouldn't have been okay.

I learned something today about the legal system in Haiti (and no, it's not because I did anything wrong).  When a person dies, before a death certificate will be issued by a judge, the family needs to take photographs of the dead body to send to the judge along with the application for a death certificate to prove that the person is actually deceased.  Gertrude explained that they are concerned about fraud, so a judge can't (isn't supposed to) issue the death certificate with out identifying pictures of the body.  Seems odd to me.