Returning to Port-au-Prince after three weeks abroad. There’s always a bit of culture shock upon arrival. (Photo: Sophie Chavanel).
My work team in Chile. In this photo, Chris and Jo from England, David from Ireland, Henrik from Denmark, Marylee from Belize and Pam and me from Canada.
Stories from the field
Haiti Diary: Sophie Chavanel
Sick in bed, but inspired to get better
Port-au-Prince, March 24, 2011
I am stuck in bed. It hit me yesterday as I was eating with former Radio-Canada colleagues that were here to cover the elections in Haiti and ever since then, things have only gotten worse. I haven’t slept all night, my head spins, I’m nauseous and I have a fever.
Obviously, like the hypochondriac that I am, I immediately imagined the worst: malaria or dengue fever, although I’m probably just overtired. I must say that I have worked very hard over the past seven months and I’ve spent the last three weeks travelling: Port-au-Prince, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Santiago, Curico, Panama back to Port-au-Prince. Added to this are planes, airports, food, lack of sleep, the stress of returning to work on voting day, the heat and the air pollution in Port-au-Prince. All these things combined to knock me down. I suppose that I’m lucky to have been healthy until now.
But as I lay in bed, barely able to type a few lines, I reflect back on the past few months while my life has taken a different turn and I realize that I haven’t stopped for a second. Ever since I signed the contact with the Canadian Red Cross, everything that I have done has been new to me, new job, new home, new colleagues, new country. Thinking about it, it seems that all of a sudden, I feel very tired. It’s as if all the adrenaline that was keeping me going these past few months suddenly disappeared.
“On January 12, 2010, the earth shook violently Haiti. I sat in the newsroom of Radio-Canada in Montreal when I heard the news. The days and weeks that followed were full of extremely strong emotions when I saw, like you, the images of a country of rubble. I then made a decision. I didn’t just want to report the events, I wanted to be there. I then started a new journey as a delegate of the Red Cross.” – Sophie Chavanel, Canadian Red Cross delegate, Haiti.
Sophie Chavanel is the senior communications coordinator for the Canadian Red Cross in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sophie is a former journalist and joined the Red Cross team in Haiti in August 2010, where she will remain for 12 months. Follow her activities through her field diary below or on twitter at http://twitter.com/SophieChavanel.
