Goldstream B次元官网网址 Gazette reporter Katie Engqvist heads for Haiti today (Oct. 28) to document the work of a group of West Shore volunteers. Watch upcoming issues of the Gazette for her in-depth stories and reactions from a country digging out from the devastation of Hurricane Matthew.

IB次元官网网址檓 not going to lie, there have been several choice four letter words uttered this week. ThereB次元官网网址檚 also been a lot of running around the house trying to find this and that as I remember one more thing I need but canB次元官网网址檛 find. A problem aggravated by the fact I keep wandering into a room and immediately forgetting what IB次元官网网址檓 looking for.

I wouldnB次元官网网址檛 go as far as to say itB次元官网网址檚 been a panic, but itB次元官网网址檚 certainly been a more compressed timeline than what IB次元官网网址檓 used to before an international trip. I essentially had two weeks to get my ducks in a row and by the time youB次元官网网址檙e reading this in print, IB次元官网网址檒l probably be on a plane heading south and the enormity of it will have finally settled in.

Once the initial shock wore off, I started piling everything I needed on my dining room table, much to the amusement of my kitten, who likes to reach up and pull things down from the table. I have been in a two-week long battle with this fur ball to steal back all of the hair elastics I have surrendered B次元官网网址� his favourite toy of late. So far I have been able to rescue one and he managed to pull it out of my hair when I wasnB次元官网网址檛 looking, so weB次元官网网址檙e back to a draw.

There was also some colourful language when I went to try on some of the quick-dry clothing I keep for trips such as this one. I have apparently grown about an inch in the last year or so, as there is now a gap between the hem of the shirt and the waist of my pants. My pants have also unexplainably shrunk. Well, thatB次元官网网址檚 my story and IB次元官网网址檓 sticking to it anyways. But this was a problem a quick search through the closet and a quick trip to the store remedied.

Much to my husbandB次元官网网址檚 amusement, I also had time to take Dukoral, an oral vaccine that protects against a number of illnesses including cholera. While it offers a great deal of protection, it is a disgusting, slightly fizzy, sickly sweet concoction that I usually try to drink as fast as possible while making a horrible face. You also canB次元官网网址檛 drink or eat anything for at least an hour afterwards, so the taste lingers.

But all of those B次元官网网址減roblemsB次元官网网址� start to seem pretty trivial when I think about the situation IB次元官网网址檓 heading into. Since the earthquake in 2010, the cholera outbreak in Haiti has become the worst epidemic in recent history, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By 2015 the death toll had risen to more than 9,000 and it was reported more than 700,000 Haitians had become ill with cholera. Flooding from Hurricane Matthew, which continues to spread the water-borne illness, has resulted in more than 200 new cases.

The World Health Organization announced earlier this month it would be sending one million cholera vaccine doses to Haiti, a country with a population over 10 million. Keep in mind individuals need to take two doses of the vaccine to be protected.

All I have to do to get the vaccine is walk into a local drug store, no prescription needed. But due to a limited world stockpile, those that need it will often go without.

That thought certainly makes Dukoral a little easier to stomach.

I donB次元官网网址檛 know if I would refer to myself as a seasoned traveller B次元官网网址� I still hate flying B次元官网网址� but Haiti will be the 22nd country I have stepped foot in. Each trip always holds new adventures, new stories to tell and every time I travel I am blown away by how connected our world really is. I look forward to sharing some of those stories with you when IB次元官网网址檓 back in Canada.

katie@goldstreamgazette.com