So I'm going to crash the record of waiting 10 days to post something:) The lady with breast cancer is heavy on my heart. She has thrown me for a loop. There is nothing I can do to ease her suffering. She is a Christian and is held up in regular prayer, yours would help as well. I am working on finding her some pain meds. There is a pharmacy that has tramadol that is willing to sell in bulk so I'll check with them on Monday, helping financially and praying is all I can do. That is the strongest thing around. She says it works for about 2 hours so that is better than nothing. Her family is willing to do anything but they thought I would be able to cure her even after the first day I visited her and told them there was nothing I could do to cure her. I was talking with her oldest daughter about starting to make funeral arrangements now so they don't have a huge expense at the end. We talked about the changing Haitian customs for funerals. It used to be that when someone died. There was a wake that night and they were buried the next morning. That still happens someplaces in the countryside. However now things are changing. Morgues have come to Haiti. Now you are criticized by extended family and friends if you don't put your loved one in a morgue for a few days and plan a huge funeral. The family of the deceased is expected to pay for everything including the meal served after the funeral. It is such a money making business for the morgues. They don't even do embalming here, it is just a glorified deep freeze. After the earthquake I know of one family who insisted on putting their loved one in the morgue and then on Friday they got a call saying to come get the body because it was rotting - the diesel fuel had run out on Wendesay. The body was so decomposed the family wouldn't let any of the sisters or other female relatives go to the funeral. So getting back to the woman with breast cancer, my friend said that her family would come to her since she was the oldest child to arrange the funeral but that she couldn't afford to do something big. I told her she should talk to her mom before she died and have a family meeting detailing what she wanted. My friend was shocked beyond belief that somethign like planning a funeral would be done with the person who was going to die. That led to a discussion about US customs. It just makes me ill to think of all the money that will be wasted when they have a house that needs finishing and other things. One lady told me about her brother dying and it was $2,500US for him to be in the morgue for 3 days, $300.00 to take him to the countryside for burial and then there was the casket and all the other things - the band, the church, the food, etc. This lady borrowed the money from whoever she could. She will be in debt for many years to come. Can you gather that I'm not too fond of the Haitian funeral practices... On to more positive things. My fish pond is coming along. I am having problems uploading photos right now so when it is all done I will post all the photos. I am going to have an intern for a month from the American University of the Carirbbean to help work in the forage garden. I am excited about that, he starts on Monday. Rondald got his first check up at the dentist this morning (never too young to start :D). I want a beach day all by myself - soon!!!