Yesterday was our packing day. After weeks of gathering donations and updating inventory lists, we collected all of our gear and supplies together in one room at the JHU Nursing School, labeling and itemizing it into bags. Each one of us will be bringing two giant duffel bags full of medicines, medical supplies, soccer gear, food, toiletries, and other donations to Jérémie, Haiti. Our own personal items for the trip–clothing, food, mosquito netting, blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes–will be packed into our carry-on bags. The return trip will be much, much lighter than the trip down.
Ultimately, we receive an incredible amount of donations. Katherine found donors to contribute close to 400 T-shirts for the girl’s soccer teams. Our classmates at the School of Nursing donated boxes of soaps, toothbrushes, and other toiletries. We have an unbelievable number of children’s vitamins and iron pills for anemic girls, thanks in large part to the monetary donations that came in through our fundraising website. Some of the more expensive medical supplies, like the hemocues, have been divided up among us and will be hand-carried there.
Tomorrow, I will be lugging my two bags and my personal gear to Washington, DC, where I will be staying for a night before flying out of Dulles International Airport at 6 am the next day. I have two T-shirts, a skirt, my nursing uniforms, Chacos, rain gear, 10 Cliff bars, anti-malarial medication, my BP cuff, stethoscope, mosquito netting, headlamp, paperwork, and a lot of antibacterial hand sanitizer. Wish us bon vwayaj! In 48 hours, we’ll be well on our way to Haiti.