Keys are an interesting phenomenon in Haiti. The medical clinic we work in has 4 rooms along one side of the building, and a long classroom along the other side with a pharmacy room at one end. A central hallway divides the two halves of the building, which is entered through one main door. All these rooms have their own key. Then there is the library, which we use as a nursing station and/or teaching room. And finally Pere Sadoni’s office, which sometimes contains the scale for weighing (?) and often we store our supplies in there overnight.
Upon arriving at St Vincent’s a curious game begins, usually headed by John who has played Find The Key many times. It goes something like this. John asks Jean Robert, our Haitian guide and interpreter, if Madame Noel has arrived at the school yet. She is the pharmacy tech and has a key to the pharmacy, as well as one or maybe two of the small clinic rooms. Until she arrives, we can’t unload our suitcases full of medications and supplies, like gloves, alcohol wipes, medical record cards. Then there is a separate key to the first clinic room, which John has to get from the school administrator Mr Johannes. If we have a nursing team or have more than one doctor with us, we need all these rooms to move patients through. Mr Johannes is a busy man, often on the phone or trying to do the hundred things it takes to get the school day started. Tracking him down can take 20 minutes or more, especially on days when John’s inquiries are answered with, “Oh, he just left.”. “When will he be back?”. “We don’t know!”. Sigh.
I have decided that being in charge of a key confers special power on a person, and in Haiti perhaps that power is one of the things they can control. I have also learned that saying “We start clinic at 9” is a relative rather than absolute statement. Depending on who has the key…