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Joanne Eno Oden

I will enjoy those often repeated memories (much to the credit of the patient people I tell).

The people of Haiti whom I admire for their tenacity and bravery despite one set back after another, will often bring a smile when I remember them.

Time and again, they shared both what little they had when I appeared in need. Like the time I brought no food or water with me to climb the mountains to one of the outlying dispensaries. I don't think it was the farthest like Bastien, but time erases the details. Nonetheless, the supervisor who guided me beyond several mountains and across several streams and rivers patiently waited until I could catch up with him. I decided I was holding him from doing his job so I told him to leave me at the base of the last mountain until I could rest and catch my breath.

The people along the way assisted me with getting water from the cisterns even though I was hesitant to drink where the little fish wiggled in the water. I was much refreshed and able to eventually make it to the dispensary. However, returning was another matter. By the time I made it back to the HAS truck, the sun was setting and the people were patiently awaiting the trip to the hospital compound, but they said nothing as I finally climbed aboard tired, but happy and proud to have seen the work the staff was doing away from the hospital walls!

I had completed my short time there on the Medicine Ward at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer as the head nurse. It was time to return to the different world of California in Torrance.

I shall never forget the generosity of the Haitian people--I survived because of them as they would share their last bit of food and scold me for not wearing my hat along the long and dusty roads or for coming in too late into the city of Port-Au-Prince when the dogs would be out protecting the homes and bite my ankles.

Thank you Mennonite Central Committee, my church who sent me, and the family I had who supported me financially and in so many other ways.