Today was our third full day in Haiti. It’s a funny thing how the crowded streets and tent cities start to look normal and familiar. Yesterday was a long, hard day visiting the general hospital and spending time with the special needs kids of Haiti. We were all ready for what Saturday would bring.
Our first stop of the day was The Apparent Project - an organization that gives Haitian parents a place to sell their work in an effort to provide a source of income and avoid having to give their kids up to an orphanage if they can not support them. After a little shopping, we took a formal tour of Grace Village. Grace is home to 52 orphans, and provides schooling for 380 students. It was a pleasure to spend a few days with Jenn and Sierra, who are living at Grace Village long term!
One of the many things that Grace Village does outside of its walls, is sponsor a group of Elderly who have in many cases out-lived their children. Orphaned elders is a concept I had never explored before. They all live in their homes in Titanyen - a village outside of Port-au-Prince. We brought them a meal, fresh water, prayed with them with and asked how they are feeling and if they need anything else. They are checked on often to ensure they are receiving what is donated to them.
Our day thus far was busy but we all were looking forward to Esaie's orphanage. I was especially excited to meet the kids because I was in charge of the craft we did with them. Esaie is a 33 year old Haitian who has an incredible story. He and his brother were orphans themselves, he went to school to become an accountant and when he would receive his paycheck he would take everything he earned and go and give it to the poor in Cite Soleil. After the earthquake in 2010, Esaie went to see the disaster in Cite Soleil - what he saw was children in the street gathered together, crying. He went up to them and asked what was wrong. All of them had lost their parents in the earthquake just a few days prior. They had left that morning and never come back. He told the story to us of going home to his brother and not knowing what to do. The very next day he got in a cab, drove to where he had seen these kids and loaded up all 16 of them. They would become his children.
Still trying to wrap our heads around the story, those same 16 kids stood around us, proudly listening to him recall the story. We took a tour of the orphanage, a courtyard, small classroom, tiny kitchen, and 2 bed rooms. One room for the 10 boys, roughly 12x8 with 3 bunk beds, 3 rows high neatly made with mismatched sheets and not much else on them. The second bedroom was identical for the 6 girls, complete with a pink door frame! The kids ranged from 6 to 15 years old and they all introduced their name and ages to us in very good English.
We had transported chocolate covered pretzel sticks all the way from Minnesota and gave each kid one to eat and then everything they needed to recreate their own. They were so thrilled with the colored frosting and fun sprinkles! Most opted to save their second treat for later - which was a messy task when trying to explain 'press-and-seal' wrap!
Our second project for the day was to make polar-fleece tie pillow inserts - complete with IKEA pillows! I wanted to bring something that would be fun for the kids to make and use again and again that wouldn't get tossed aside when another group came to visit. I was (regretfully) happy to see that their bare beds did not have pillows, which meant we were making an even greater impact than we planned on. Each child picked their fabric and partnered with one of our team members to make their pillow. They finished their pillows - collecting the scraps as treasures.
They concluded the day with sharing a few songs with us that they had practiced. The set consisted of: If your happy and your know it clap your hands, The Hokie Pokie, and Jesus loves me. We then had a 'sing-off' which if you watch our video - we clearly did not know what was happening! Karen led the group as we taught them all Joy to the World and sang together.
Leaving Esaie's Orphanage, I was comforted that these kids were in good hands. They had a loving role model, and the support of Healing Haiti. When my head hits the pillow tonight, my thoughts will be with the 16 heads that will be hitting their pillows for the first time tonight.
Good night Haiti!
Blog written by Hanna
No comments:
Post a Comment