Before I get all serious on y'all with my Haiti blogging (which I will) I thought we'd continue the conversation with some "ou fou" moments. We learned this phrase early on and began using it liberally. Here are some of our best ou fou moments for your reading pleasure:
- James was on our team. His nickname quickly became "Sweet Baby James" then shortened to "Sweet Baby."
James' roommate was Johnny.
The two of them became fast friends and decided to do something absolutely "fou" the last night in Haiti. These boys thought it would be a good idea to go swimming in their clothes. Not so fou. But at night, in Haiti, there are hunting bats. Yes hunting bats that fly over the water. The boys are in the pool and think it would be a good idea to try to be bat-bait and then dive underneath when the bats came swooping over the water. You can ask them how that went for them. - OU FOU
- Yours truly made multiple announcements to our crew during training regarding deet, percentages of deet, all things deet-pertinent. My biggest caution to them was DO NOT put 98% deet on your face. Ever. I had made that mistake and after over an hour in a facial, they were able to get "almost all of it" off - the dead skin that the deet killed, that is. Who accidentally forgot to look at which deet she was spraying before putting it into my hands and then on my face? Good thing Groupon has 1/2 price facials - OU FOU!!!!!
- Sarah has some medical issues - she gets light headed from time to time & has on occasion been known to faint. We know this about Sarah, accepted it going into the gig and were glad to assist should this happen in Haiti. I mean after all, we had 6 registered medical professionals with us. Bring it on. And that she did. She was PHENOMENAL at loving people on spending herself on behalf of those who most would find unlovely.
Mostly Sarah had ups, but a few times she had downs. One of those times was right after we went through security at the Port-Au-Prince airport. We were waiting at the gate & Sarah proceeded to lie down on the floor & take a little time to recover. She was ready to get on the plane but just needed a little assistance standing up/walking. We offered her a wheel chair - she declined.
Two of our super buff medical men were walking on either side of her helping her along. We were about to enter the airplane when a woman who worked at the airport stopped them. She made them say what was wrong with Sarah - told them they were lying about being medical personnel and made them pull out their medical licenses (which my boyfriend forgot his - OU FOU). They had to have our physician prove to her that this was a pre-existing condition and that she did not get sick in Haiti and need to be quarantined - how do you prove this?!??! She was threatening to keep her in country. I was standing in the corner praying my guts out.
After much ado, some medical licensing & Dr Miriam (with her back of my bear cub) voice, we all got on the airplane. If you're ever in the Port airport and you're not feeling well, fake it till you make it. Lesson learned - Jarred, bring your license. Sarah, take the wheelchair - OU FOU!!!!
Saving the best for last...
- The "Where the heck is Kyle?" saga. We all leave one day for the mission (orphanage). At that point, we decide who's staying & doing a clinic, who's staying & building shelves and who's going to the fishing village for feeding program/medical assessments. Kyle says "I"m gonna go get some water, wait for me." Miriam heard this. We all pile in the back of the pickup (about 12 of us) and head out to the fishing village. Here's the back of the truck... this time with Kyle in the truck (with his hat on looking back). Can you see now why we may have missed him?
We are just about there and Miriam says, "We forgot Kyle. I told Kyle we'd wait for him after he got water & he's not here. We have to go back."
I (the amazing leader I am) am thinking, "Welp, we forgot Kyle. Bummer. He'll be fine at the mission. He can build shelves or help with clinic, plenty of work to be done." But Miriam is kind and uber responsible so she convinces me ever so gently to drop off the crew and then go back to get Kyle. We get back to the mission, search for 10 minutes and HE'S NOT THERE. Nowhere to be found. Number one rule of anything in a 3rd world country where you don't speak a lick of Creole and are only there for a few days? DON'T GO ANYWHERE ALONE. EVER. AND IF YOU'RE GOING SOMEWHERE, TELL SOMEONE WHERE YOU'RE GOING. Where the heck is Kyle?
We search, we somewhat panic, Andy drops his tools picks up his backpack and starts heading to town to catch Kyle on foot. My blood pressure is rising. No one knows where he is. All of a sudden, Paul (our Haitian friend) gets a text from Shala (who is in the village) that Kyle is there. What the? How did Kyle end up in the village? It would have taken much longer than that to walk. Oh-so-confused.
Turns out Louie (the gatekeeper at the mission) was headed to the market and told Kyle he'd give him a ride in the moto-tap. Kyle obliged, told no one and jumped in. - OU FOU!!!!!
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