Today we began the day with an advocacy workshop with two members of the Mennonite Central Committee; Ted and Katherine. If you had told me I was going to spend two hours discussing advocacy, I would have told you "that's not gonna fly" but it actually turned out to be extremely informative. It may have helped that we took this advocacy lesson out of the classroom and into the picturesque mountain tops just outside Port -Au -Prince. We discussed Haitian politics as well as the goals of advocacy. Who takes part in advocacy? How does advocacy present itself? We were surprised to learn that it occurs all around us in many different forms. Afterwards we hiked partway down the mountain and then stopped at a restaurant that gave us a spectacular view of Port-Au-Prince. Brent was nothing short of flabbergasted by the pure tastiness of his papaya juice as he contemplated the complexity and contrast of the beautiful restaurant we sat in and the struggling city in the view below. But we couldn't leave until receiving more haggling lessons from the tricky Haitian street artists. Lezah learned the hard way that these artists can be pretty persuasive.
After lunch we ventured into downtown Port-Au-Prince and met with the director of St. Francois de Sales; Dr. Wilfred Cadet. He discussed the rebuilding of the hospital following its destruction after the 2010 earthquake. He also discussed his hopes for the hospital's future as well as desires for future partnerships with doctors from around the world. The passion that he had for his job and the positive attitude he carried while giving us a tour of the updated facilities was inspiring for both the doctors and non doctors in our group alike.
A good bonding moment for the AB Haiti team occurred on the car ride to the hospital. We sang a song of blessing for the food taught to us by our guide and friend Patrick. We also ended up singing it at supper before we ate tonight's meal.
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