Haiti Trip Report: Intermission

I haven't gotten caught up on the typed version of my journal, and I don't have the paper version with me at the moment, so before I post about the last few days of the trip, here are some general thoughts about my time in Haiti:

- Something that was really neat to see during this trip was just how far even a little attention or a smile or hug can go. . . My goal was basically to give as much individual attention to the kids as possible—talking to them, holding them, smiling at them, whatever. Nothing huge, but it was amazing to see how they responded. And just seeing that was more than enough to confirm for me that I was supposed to be there, just loving on them. I had prayed before we got there that God would give me His love for the kids, and He really did. The love He gave me for them and the joy in just being there with them was incredible. I can’t really even describe it; it was just such a blessing to be there and to get to interact with the kids.

- One of my favorite things about this trip was getting to know Carly better. Carly is about 4 years old, and Gertrude thinks that she might have had polio or meningitis. Because of this, she has problems with her legs and is unable to walk. She can pull herself up to standing, though, if she has something to hold on to, and she’s very good at maneuvering herself around in her wheelchair or scooting herself along the ground. She’s also very, very quiet most of the time, especially around people she doesn’t know well. You can ask her questions, and she’ll answer (at least, yes/no questions), but you have to either be listening very closely or watching her mouth to hear her answer. I spent a lot of time with her, and by the second day, she was following me around in her wheelchair. She also became more willing to talk, and by Sunday, she was actually shouting and laughing as we played. She also started reaching out to hold my hand if I was near her and already holding another child. Sunday night, too, I held her as she fell asleep, and then when I went to put her down on the mat, she was not happy, so I sat by her until she fell back asleep. She’s a very sweet girl, and it was neat to see her respond to even a little attention.

Haiti Trip Report: Part 2

Friday, February 19

- I pretty much spent the day playing with the kids, which was fantastic. Mallery and Ali came by for awhile in the morning. . . Later, some US soldiers came by. Several of them are army chaplains, and a week or so ago they had contacted my dad about helping Gertrude. So they came by with some snacks for the kids and to talk to Gertrude. I talked to a few of them. It was kind of funny because I was sitting there playing with the kids when the soldiers came, and then several of them came up and started taking pictures. Felt kind of funny to be the one photographed; usually I’m the one taking pictures like that!

- That afternoon, Kery and I also helped Gertrude start to give out some of the clothes from the storage room to the kids. Gertrude wanted to make sure that each child had at least 3 good weekday outfits and one good Sunday outfit. She and one of the nannies went through each child’s clothes to determine what needed replaced, and then she sent the nanny up to me and Kery with a slip of paper saying what clothes were needed.

- This was the day that I discovered Christina, a little girl with hydrocephalus. She’s apparently been at Notre Maison for awhile, but somehow I hadn’t noticed her before— I guess because in the past I’ve only had a few hours at a time with the kids. Anyway, I noticed that Christina looked pretty lethargic and had basically just been laying on a mat or sitting in her stroller all day, so after Kery and I finished in the depot, I went down and held Christina for a long time. She was still fairly lethargic at that point and didn’t seem to be feeling very well, but I just held her and sang to her in Creole. A few times I got a little smile out of her. She’s such a sweet little girl.

Saturday, February 20

- In the morning, Gertrude took us to visit some former Notre Maison kids who are now living at an orphanage for special needs kids run by Food for the Poor. Darlyne, who is one of my favorite Notre Maison “kids” and whom I’ve known since my first trip to Haiti in 1998, is living at this orphanage. It was really fun to see her again; she was so excited to see us. Though Darlyne can’t really say more than a few words, she fully understands when we talk to her and responds in her own way. We asked her several questions and told her about how some of the other kids are doing whom she’d known when she lived at Notre Maison; it was obvious she was thrilled with all of this. We also got to see several other kids who were at Notre Maison until a few years ago—Ashley, Manouschka, Betsy, Glannys, Vanessa, Gwo David, and Ti David.

- After we visited the orphanage, Germaine (Gertrude’s brother) drove us downtown. Again, it was surreal seeing the damage from the earthquake and especially seeing life going on alongside all the destruction. There are tents set up right across from the National Palace, and people still have shops set up all around. It’s strange, and yet somehow it seems normal. Sad as it is, the Haitian people are used to life being a struggle. I think, though, that this is helping them to be able to rise above their horrifying circumstances and to go on. Life has rarely, if ever, been easy for them, and even though the suffering that has resulted from this tragedy is in many ways beyond anything they’ve ever experienced, in other ways, it’s not that different from what the Haitian people have faced for generations. And, as in the past, it seems like many are choosing to move forward as best they can rather than dwelling on the suffering that surrounds them; this is amazing to see.

- After we saw the downtown area, we started heading back to Delmas to go to Epi D’Or for lunch. However, something broke on the truck, so we pulled over and Germaine tried to fix it. While he was working, Kery and I walked up the street a ways to buy drinks. . . We ended up having to take the truck to a garage, and Germaine waited there while Gertrude, Kery, and I taptapped to Epi D’Or. Epi D’Or was pretty crowded—missionaries, American and Canadian soldiers, relief workers, Haitians. We went ahead and had lunch and ice cream, and then Germaine came back with the truck a little while later.

- While we were at Epi D’Or, Gertrude got a call from a woman who is working with the various relief groups that are staying at Quisqueya right now. Miquette told her that a German group (Humedica?) had gotten a donation of several pallets of baby food to give to orphanages, and so if Gertrude wanted, we could come by and get some for Notre Maison. So we drove over there and ended up spending some time talking with the guy from Humedica who was giving us the food. He wanted to know about Notre Maison and the kids so that he could report back to the donors about where the food was going. He was very nice . . . We loaded up all of the baby food, along with a box of clothes and some first aid kits that they also gave us, and we headed back down to the orphanage.

Haiti Trip Report: Part 1

Here's a bit of a report on my trip to Haiti last week. Some things I just summarized; everything in italics is taken directly from my journal. It's a bit choppy as I haven't really taken the time to edit it, but for whatever it's worth, here it is.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

- Kery and I met up in Fort Lauderdale and flew to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

- When we arrived in the DR, we took a cab to a hotel that our fantastic driver, Dmitri, recommended to us. Though Dmitri only spoke a little English and my Spanish is very limited, we had fun talking with him. Dmitri suggested that we try to fly to Port au Prince rather than take the bus, and so we arranged for him to take us to the airport the next morning to find out about the flight.

- We had dinner at a pizza place and then walked around for awhile near the hotel. This was my first time in the Dominican, and of the different countries I’ve visited, it probably reminds me most of Ecuador.

Wednesday, February 17

- Dmitri picked us up at 6am, and we drove across town to the airport. Dmitri pointed out various landmarks along the way and told us some of the history of the city. When we got to the airport, we discovered that though there was a flight that would get us to Port au Prince pretty quickly, it would cost us each $250. So, Dmitri took us to the bus station.

- We bought our tickets, and then an hour or so later, the bus headed out. Kery and I were both really tired, so we ended up sleeping for a lot of the 7-hour drive. About 5 hours into the drive, we got to the Haiti/Dominican border, where we stopped for an hour or so while our passports were processed. It was very nice to get off the bus for awhile (and warm up; the bus was freezing!).

- The Haiti part of the trip went relatively quickly. We both slept a little more, and then about an hour from the end of the trip, we started seeing the damage from the earthquake. It’s hard to explain what that was like; it was like the photos, except that it was right there in front of us. Still hard to fathom what we were seeing and what it meant for so many people.

- I called Gertrude (who runs Notre Maison) about an hour before we got to the bus terminal in Petionville, and she said that she’d send her brother to come pick us up. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes or an hour for him to come; in the meantime, we talked to several people who were hanging around, including one guy whose wife and child were killed in the earthquake. He asked me if I had any construction work he could do; I said I wasn’t sure but got his name and phone number just in case. He is just one of many struggling to survive in the aftermath of the earthquake.

- Germaine picked us up, and we drove down to Notre Maison. We saw more damaged/destroyed buildings, and we drove past several tent cities. It was pretty surreal. We got to Notre Maison, and it was so good to see Gertrude and the kids again. . . Gertrude and I talked a lot about her experience during the earthquake and about what she’s planning to do now. She is so amazing. Despite all she’s been through, she’s able to say that God has a plan even in the midst of all the suffering, and she’s so grateful for all of the miracles God worked even during the earthquake. I was really blessed and encouraged by talking to her and hearing what she had to say. I’m really excited about (hopefully) being involved in helping her with whatever she needs done.

Thursday, February 18

- I spent the day alternating between playing with the kids and helping sort clothes and other items in Gertrude’s storage room. When we started organizing, there were piles and boxes and suitcases of clothes everywhere; the goal was to get them sorted according to gender and size. It was a little daunting at first, but little by little we were able to put things where they needed to be so that Gertrude will be able to more easily find them when needed.

- I’m thoroughly enjoying spending time with the kids. This is the first time in years I’ve been here long enough (at Notre Maison) that I’ve gotten to really spend time with the kids. Usually I’ll be here for a few hours and then have to leave; now I get to be here all day. It’s so fun getting to know them better; these kids are so sweet.

- Before dinner, Kery and I walked through the neighborhood for a little while. We passed several little tent cities. It’s so hard to imagine what it must be like for those living there.