A friend of mine has recently gone to Haiti in a nursing capacity to help the victims of the recent earth quake. The conditions were war-zone-like – a make-shift hospital had been set up inside a large tent alongside the runway at Port-au-Prince. The patients, many suffering from horrible injuries, were lined up in long rows inside the hot and humid tent. The nurses were required to work 13 hour shifts, in what was essentially organised chaos.
My friend told me the assault on the senses was incredible – the noise of aircraft continually taking off and landing right next to the tent; the heat; the smell; the intensity and the responsibility of the work; the long shifts with little respite.
But then she remembered she had taken a small guitar with her. In the evenings she found solace in playing music to her co-workers and the patients. The music brought hope and joy to those suffering considerably. It diluted the intensity and lifted them, bringing restoration ahead of another long day.