Looking for a little assistance

As part of our intervention we bring each of the moms and babies into the clinic two times each month - once for an individualized counseling session and once for a Kleb Manman (mothers club). Each kleb has 8-12 mothers which when you add 8-10 babies plus 3 -4 staff makes for a fairly sizable crowd. To date we've only had 6 and 7 month olds coming through. They are pretty cool with hanging out on mom's lap but soon they are going to grow into crawling and toddling wonders. Soon and very soon.

While upwardly mobile babies are plentiful, space at the clinic where I work is not. Right now we are using an empty space next to the employee computer lab. It's the only open space bigger than an exam room that we could find. The problem is that technically it is not supposed to be used for patients. The wall separating the room from the computer lab is only a 3/4 height hollow wood wall. Mothers and babies have to walk through the lab to enter. We don't have any electric outlets or water source or bathroom anywhere in the vicinity. So far, the woman who runs the computer lab has been incredibly gracious about not complaining to the administration about the cries or smells or other ruckus coming from our space. Not sure if or for how long her good will will last.

In Haiti you learn to be thankful for what you do get - and trust me, I am really thankful to have this space. There had been serious talk of making us move our group sessions into a conference room that is full of filing cabinets, a large meeting table, a copier, a television - all sorts of perfectly placed cords for babies to pull on and lots of edges for them to collide with. I was advised to just not to bring up the proposed move again and keep working in our next-to-the-computer-lab space. So far so good.

I asked about putting up a semi-permanent tent outside the clinic but that was shot down. There are very good intentions to accumulate more space and set up a permanent "nutrition unit." The only problem for me is that I know those good intentions won't come through before I am finished with the study (but the hopefully ongoing intervention will get to benefit from more space which is wonderful)

Which brings me to my shameless solicitation aimed at y'all. While we have space for now, it isn't super toddler/crawler friendly in structure (e.g. no water source, hard tile floor) and well, it just isn't visually friendly at all - blank white walls, overflowing bookcase for storage, no divider between the corner where the desk I work at is and the rest of the room where moms come and go. I've been developing a wish list over the last few weeks of what might help improve our space a bit - while still being movable and reusable when relocation time finally comes. My problem in making my list come true is two-fold 1) access - I'm not sure where to find these things in Haiti and 2) funds - my project budget was recently cut and room accessories aren't generally high on the leadership's list.

Here is what we we'd love to have:

1. A wipeable, slightly padded mat for the floor - ideally it would be big enough for 8 or so babies to be on at any one time.

2. Boppy pillows with extra washable covers to use to help 5-6 month olds sit up on their own - allowing moms to not hold them the entire time and help them focus on the lesson/interviews we are doing.

3. A standing fan - the air conditioner doesn't work in our space and most days it's pretty miserable. I might be able to find one to buy here but they crazy expensive ($70-100)

4. A laser printer - there are two copiers at the clinic and both are on the fritz. There is one public computer attached to a printer on the other side of the clinic compound. We've had days where we don't know if we are going to be able to make the copies we need to print interview guides, data forms etc. It would be super super nice to have one in our work space.

5. Colorful curtain panels to cover the unattractive bookshelf where we store stuff.

6. Wall art ideas for our bland space - Some sort of mountable flannel board? Maybe photo paper so we can take and print photos of the participating kids?

I am looking for people who are willing and able to do any of the following: 1) donate gently used but still in good shape items 2) do online research to figure out where and for how much these sorts of things can be purchased in USA and 3) be small-time funders of this re-design blitz. If this might be you - please send me an email and let me know!

Too bad I don't have time to call in one of those HGTV shows. Bet this is one project that might be truly original.