A Day of Rest

Sunday morning everyone assembled at 7:15am. Except our volunteer breakfast chef who arrives a little late. Acceptable for the weekend but we are hopeful he will be prompt the rest of the week. He is profusely apologetic to the point that it just gets funny. All is well over coffee, cereal and fruit. We head up to the clinic, a short walk with one bad ass hill on the way. The gate into the clinic, patchy green quad between the buildings. Crisscrossed by the paths worn between the two buildings over the past decades. Spindly trees reach high above to patches of blue sky. Providing shade. Obscuring electricity lines.

It's warm and the day quickly heats up. We are in setup mode. Find. Unpack. Assemble. Organize. When a person finishes one task they move to the next. It is a team effort and as one machine assembly proves problematic the extra hands are pulled in to take on that project. Sony plays a blinder all day, his experience in the Haiti clinics and all the challenges they entail now come to the fore. Anne has delivered as promised. The electricity is back. And we clean and sanitize the morning away. Hours into the work and it's still only 11am.

We switch people around to let Eric finish setup so that optometry suite will be fully prepped. Thats when we discover the carefully packaged slit lamp is damaged. It's not repairable on a sleepy Sunday afternoon in El Remate so the portable version will have to suffice. These set backs take a while to get over, equipment is valuable and in short supply. The reality is we just have to get on with it. The important piece we need to work is in the surgery and that being functional makes or breaks the week. Deanna and Jair work on the layout of their area.

After midday and things start to look good for go. We know there will likely be small adjustments after Day 1 but the main parts are all in place. Just to test the equipment in surgery to ensure all is operational. The local contact Alex, will not be here until 2pm so we split up. Four of the team wait back to test and if necessary troubleshoot. Seven of us head to Isla de Flores for a beautiful lunch and a short boat trip on the lake. We have time to talk about expectations for the week. Mindful thoughts to hold on to this week when the days are hot, the body and feet will be tired. Some perspective on why we are here.

The clinic update is that all equipment is working, to cheers and relief all round. We can relax, take the time for a short hike and head back to our hotel by 9pm. Spirits are good.

It is the biggest team Cheryl has ever organized and based on today's performance it is already highly functional.

We have made an unofficial curfew of 10pm for the team and in respect of other hotel guests. We are a lively group when we are all together and goodhumoured. You can always tell which is our table by the eruptions of laughter. It has been a good day. This was our rest day, the real work starts tomorrow.