"the divine in me recognizes the divine in you"

The history of Haiti emulates the resilience of the haitian people. They have lived through so much suffering whether it be through natural causes or oppressive dictatorship. Not to mention the multiple times countries have gone in with supposed "positive interventions/influence" only to find that their actions mirror that of locusts more than an act of help or healing. It is extremely unfortunate because these individuals makeup what is known as the poorest country in the western world with one of the highest rates of infection.

NamasteHaiti was created to share our story about volunteering in Haiti. I am a new nurse at a small hospital in Northern California. When the news of haiti's suffering reached the general public one of our amazing MD's and PA's decided to organize a medical relief trip to provide aid in Haiti. We held many fundraisers and benefits asking for donations to help fund our trip - over 30 of our medical staff volunteered to be in haiti for a combined period of a month. The response from the community was incredible, we raised over $13,000 at one of our benefits not to mention the many boxes of donated goods including medical supplies, toys, scrubs, prenatal vitamins, condoms, etc.
Namaste is Sanskrit and essentially means that we are all interconnected and that we are the same. The Wikipedia definition of Namaste is: "The divine in me recognizes the divine in you and acknowledges we are the same"







my roommate (on the right ) and me decided to try on our gear for the trip. please notice our stylish fannypacks, knee pads, and the outdated scrub pants that were graciously donated to us for this trip






PACKING FOR HAITI






I think I have somewhere around 1,000 condoms packed in both of my suitcases. My roommate has just as many if not more. It feels a little wierd having SO many scattered throughout my suitcase. I mean, I dont care what the airport people think because I can easily explain myself. But I do think the people doing our recycling will wonder why we have so many empty condom boxes in the trash saying in big bold letters: "HUGE condoms for the more endowed.