Infirmary Day 4 - March 6, 2008

Today was a rather quick day at the Infirmary because the all ages school was letting out early today and we needed to get some work done on the computers before we were locked out of the lab.

Liz and I spent an hour or so saying hello to some of the residents, and visiting with some of the men with whom we hadn't yet spent much time. Since there are only two of us, and since we're only doing half days, it's been hard to juggle spending time with those we already know well and meeting some of the new residents or spending time with those that are less interactive.

When the Matron arrived to work, Liz went to have a meeting with her, and it seemed to be very productive. Liz is going to work on drafting a public service announcement and a letter to different volunteer organizations and churches in the hope of better connecting the community to the infirmary. The Matron seems happy to have the help, we think, and we're looking forward to moving forward with this step.

While Liz was in the meeting I decided it was time for some balloon animals. The Jamaicans at the Infirmary do seem to love the balloon animals. I think it's a mixture of the bright colors and the giving of a gift that is created right in front of their eyes. I have a book that gives me directions to make about a dozen animals, but I'm a master at the dog. And so today, I think I tied about two dozen dogs with varying neck and torso lengths. Karen helped me in my task, walking around with me, making sure that every woman got one, and then helping to hand out the animals, or putting them in a safe spot for the women who couldn't really hold on to theirs. When we return I'll ply my skill in the men's ward.

We went again to the school this afternoon to troubleshoot some of the lab computers. We thought we might have to install operating systems on most of the machines, but to our surprise, most of them were ready to go. There are still some problems with some of the keyboards, monitors, and mice, and some of the machines were either damaged in transit or should not have been donated, but overall things there are coming together.

After school we decided to walk the 4-5 kilometers back to the Harmony House. Liz had done the walk before, and we were both eager to be on foot for awhile, since we don't seem to walk anywhere anymore in Indiana. It was really ejoyable to be outside, the colors and scenery so much more vibrant than from behind a windshield. We couldn't walk very far without running into someone we knew, and so we stopped to chat with people along the way. We even ran into the brother of a Jamaican whom I've known since my first visit to Harmons, and whom I've kept in touch with for several years. My friend moved to St. Maarten about a year ago to take a job as an electrician, and through some phone number mishaps, I haven't talked to him since. But his brother called him up right then, so I got to have a long distance phone chat with him, which as a lot of fun.

Tonight Liz and I have been invited to a traditional Jamaican dinner of fried chicken and rice and peas with the missionary couple who lives at the house. We're looking forward to a night off of tortellini and green beans.

Tomorrow should bring an interesting post as we're headed into town for a day of shopping at the MayPen market. This is no tourist craftmarket, so we're interested to see how it goes!
Ryan & Liz