Hospital Co-pay $1.25

Two of the pictures are taken at Indigo Beach. The other 3 were taken at the Melon Home and the Hopital Albert Schweitzer- The tree in the yard that was planted as a stick in 1958, Kathi and I in the swing and the cost of visits / services in the hospital. A referral in the district is 50 gourdes. or $1.25. Out of district is 1000 g. or $25. A big difference but apparently the Melons wanted to serve the people in the area first.
The hospital itself at this time appears a little shabby and in need of attention- repair, paint etc and looks like most hospitals I've seen everywhere else in the country. I've heard that at one time it was considered the finest in Haiti. We met Mr. Melons' niece and she told of how he was inspired by Albert Schweitzer and became a doctor in his 40's. and established this hospital. The book Song of Haiti was written about him and this history.

I've sort of come to this weekends posting a bit backwards as we did this tour Sunday afternoon after being at Indigo Beach all day on Saturday and Saturday night. Driving through the Artibonnite Valley from St Marc to Deschappelles and Mirabalais is very similar to Willamette Valley on a much smaller scale of course but I've never seen rice grown in Oregon. The mountains of Haiti raise up around the valley floor showing all their starkness while the farmlands are still green even as we are in the heart of the dry season. We see many mango trees, banana trees- I'm not sure if they are the sweet kind or the plantains and other fruit trees that we can not identify as we drive along. The roads seem in a little better condition from St. Marc to Deschappelles and it still takes us 90 minutes to drive.
We meet up with Shaun on the road and get our tour and history talk before leaving about 5 pm for the 3 hour trip home over the mountain. Before it became to dark we saw damage from the hurricanes and evidence of road repairs- much of the road home was newly paved for which we were very grateful. We arrived home in time to avoid a 20 minute downpour! Very tired from the drive but happy to have had the time on the beach!