![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.volunteerjournals.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/haiti_flag.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
[Deutsch unten<\/a>]<\/p>\n 8 November, 5pm<\/em><\/p>\n As we had hoped, the hurricane didn\u2019t hit us directly, only bringing us strong gusts of winds and rain but not doing any damage to our house except for a bit of leakage. And while our neighbours in the camps got soaked through, at least their tents remained standing, and a lot of people found shelter in houses like the church\/school next door. Several houses sustained flood damage, however, and I know there were some casualties in other towns in Haiti.<\/p>\n We did take in one family we know, because all three kids (Kevinson, 5, Miloga, 3, and Mimi, 1) were sick, especially the baby, who was in such bad shape the first night, our nurse wasn\u2019t sure if she\u2019d make it. Therefore it was especially good that we were able to spend our time outside in the alcove with the big table, because two days trapped in the boarded up, dark house (there was no electricity) with those three would probably have been too much for any of us, even if the three little ones are the most adorable, sweet and funny kids.<\/p>\n We stayed in our little enclave for two days, talking, reading and singing (all three male volunteers play the guitar) – much more comfortable that expected. We even got our food delivered and therefore didn\u2019t have to break out the emergency rations. We weren\u2019t supposed to waste our water supply, so on Thursday and Friday most of us took at least one rain shower – cold but very refreshing.<\/p>\n Still, when Saturday dawned with the first bits of blue sky, we were all quite excited and headed to Cap Lamandou, glad to be out of the house. Everywhere you looked people were taking advantage of the sunshine to spread out their wet belongings, and in the evening power finally came back on and things were back to normal, including dinner at Rendezvous.<\/p>\n On Sunday we started taking down the boards, finally allowing light and air back into the house, and we said goodbye to our little family. We all fell in love with them, though, and really want to do something to help Esther (the mom) and Titi (the dad) get their family out of their tent into a proper house.<\/p>\n I would have liked to go to Cyvadier beach on Sunday afternoon, but no one else was up for the excursion, so before dinner down at New York Yard I spent some more relaxed hours at Cap. I didn\u2019t go swimming this time, which saved me some money, as rather unexpectedly the hotel suddenly decided to start charging us for the use of their pool, which they\u2019d never done before.<\/p>\n Altogether last week was probably the best time for me to get sick, although walking around in a surgical mask to avoid infecting the kids wasn\u2019t fun. However, it was rather a pity for the two-weekers from the latest rotation, who missed out on a good chunk of project work (as well as any weekend excursions) and are therefore doubly determined to make the most of this week.<\/p>\n