A "work" day at College Catherine Flon

Yesterday, at the College Catherine Flon in Carrefour, Haiti, our group met with the school administrators, and then with the teachers to hear about their vision and to brainstorm with them ways to re-open the school and re-build the buildings. Rachel continues to be an A+ translator. Later in the day, those groups then met together for a strategy session. Nearly everyday, despite the rubble and the continued school closure, groups of teachers & staff meet to plan for the future. The whole time, we could hear a continuous "clank-clank" and "boom" as the workers chipped away at the rubble.
Job arrived with the bag of medications for people in the tent camp that Anne had seen last month and had been transported to Haiti by a doctor last week.
Dan and Mark had a discussion group with students and recent graduates. Matt, Lee and Tracy took measurements on every square inch of the library building so that the structural engineer, Ned, can continue do final design and drawings of the reinforcements needed for the building. The classrooms, library and computer rooms continue to be filled with dust from the earthquake. The only sign of movement is that someone has erased the date from all the chalkboards. Last month, they all still read "12 January 2010", with the corresponding lesson of the day, as if frozen in time. Perhaps erasing it is a sign of moving forward...
We also saw the little girl, Meloonda, who was crushed in the rubble again. She has a spinal cord injury of some sort and badly needs some expert treatment, according to a specialist she (finally!) saw this month. Clearly, her condition has improved since last month -- that is good news! She can now hold her head up for about three seconds at a time and can faintly squeeze someone's finger. We are working a means of transport, pro-bono medical care and therapy for her.
A good day, with lots of impressive signs of recovery and progress that our Haitian friends are making -- even as we all note that the journey will be so long.