Why only Haitians can cure Haiti Otilus, a mason, recounts his success at work, such success that others grew resentful and put powder on his hand, and the powder caused crabs and worms Discount Oakley Sunglasses to come and the doctors had to take his fingers away. The voodoo, he says, was "magical." Otilus is living in Parc Jean Marie Vincent and says he is afraid, and he doesn't want to get wet and the rains will soon come, and then what will become of him? In the background stretches a stultifying patchwork of sheeted homes, mothers trying to cook for their babies, no shade images of suffering in the thousands. In the air there's the rhythmic banging of hammers tapping rudimentary wooden frames into shape. That may sound optimistic. But this is not such a sign of progress. Immediately after the earthquake, 10,000 souls were counted in the park that had suddenly turned into makeshift shelter. That number grew to 20,000 in a survey conducted by the residents' committee struck to keep track of the viral population. By last week, that population had swelled to 35,000. Fifteen families arrive here daily. On average, each family includes 10 members. Kobel Dubique says Google Earth has proved a helpful planning aid: the population has the potential to double again, he says, based on the sheer generosity of the immediate area. Dubique, a Haitian physician, is chief of staff for a mobile clinic run by Zanmi Lasante, or Partners in Health. The organization, co founded by Paul Farmer in 1987, grew from a starting initiative in Cange, in Haiti's Central Plateau. The lands of subsistence farmers were submerged after a hydro dam was built on the Artibonite River displacing the farmers to, well, nothing actually, which is a recurring theme in this country. Zanmi Lasante today has one of the best reps in Haiti, with nine sites and plans for two more. By sites I don't mean tents and Discount Oakley Sunglasses short term thinking. Longitudinal data, epidemiological studies, full time social workers, nurses. Assistance with housing. Sourcing seed, perhaps, to help a patient till a crop. The point is not to manage a patient today, in this moment, but to manage the patient holistically over the long term. The patient becomes a study not just in medical health, but economic health. In the face of this emergency, the organization has established four mobile medical clinics, coordinated by Wesler Lambert, who was born in Logne and splits his time between Montreal, Haiti and Rwanda. Lambert has begun working closely with Haiti's Ministry of Health in the hope that he can negotiate long term benefits, expressly a strengthening of the teaching hospital here in Port au Prince. There are doctors at Harvard University eager to come and mentor and teach, he says. Other Haitians have signed on to the emergency effort, including Luma Maxo, a doctor and now resident of Vancouver who is studying for a masters in public health at the University of British Columbia. Residents of the tent city have been plucked as volunteers and outfitted in bright orange T shirts. They direct the incoming patients, many of whom are here to present conditions that existed prior to the earthquake, many of whom are unused to having such immediate access to medical care. It is as if this place has become home, not for the month just past and not for the months ahead but for what Lambert fears may be years to come. But there is an unsettled mood. The park is not well secured. Many of the younger residents are angry that they themselves have not been chosen as volunteers, which comes with a tiny stipend. The doctors talk about the long term vision. "In order to build a country, it has to be done by Haitians," Dubique says. "All the nations that are here, they will go. The country belongs to us." In our immediate sight line a gang of Cheap Oakley Sunglasses Wholesale young men in sloppy jeans and sunglasses has gathered nearby, jabbering away in Creole. What are they saying? "Let's break the tent while the white is here." That's what they're saying. The white doesn't want to bring trouble. She walks away.