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Haiti: The earth moved…and I slept

I woke up this morning in a sweat. I sweated all night in fact. Did I say it’s bloody hot here? There’s no electricity to power the fans, except for during a few specified hours a day when we can power-up the generator and let rip by recharging all our western electronic consumer durables, and put the fans on full blast.

Over breakfast the other Save the Children house-mates emerged one by one. We are a caring lot, you know, always asking how one another slept that night, etc. The over-stimulated cock-a-doodle-doing from the field next-door prevented unencumbered slumber, but apart from that and the heat, the mozzie net worked pretty well, and I got some decent shut-eye.

So I nearly choked on my mango when I learned that apparently I had slept through an earthquake!! Not a biggie. But according to Joseph, the lovely and very precise Kenyan doctor, at 12:39am the earth shook.

It was big enough to wake half the house, but I slept clean through it. I’m not sure exactly how I felt on hearing of this event; a bit worried obviously. Perhaps the reason I’m here is a bit more real to me now? Could part of me be disappointed by not having actually experienced it, like those sick tornado-chasers in the American mid-west? OK, I need to get a grip, I know.

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