As I prepared to leave Flora's compound she came rushing by me with a dead child, another casualty of the cholera outbreak that was producing 40 new cases every day on the little island of lle a Vache. Our first stop on the tour was the school that was built with international help, unfortunately the earthquake of a year ago ruined the roofs and ceilings and now the school has been declared unsafe for the children to occupy. The school has been forced to use the old circular classrooms that are open to the weather. After touring the school grounds, Vilhelm said, "we have shown you paradise now we will show you hell". As he was telling me this he was handing me a surgical mask and gloves. With no idea of what I was getting into, we walked to an open field that had been transformed into a doctors without borders cholera treatment center. After being sprayed down with Clorox we entered the fenced off area and came face to face with human misery. I was struck with the dedication of the volunteers who were understaffed, overworked and dead tired but continued on in twelve hour shifts day after day, truly amazing. In the afternoon I caught a ride on a local boat back to Port Morgan with plans to do two more food distributions later in the day.
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