Day 3 - our 2nd full day of service. The day started extra early as we were going to a Haitian worship service - service started at 6:00am. I wasn't sure what to expect but was excited non-the-less. We entered a huge area - they call it a "tent worship" - it wasn't a tent, rather a large open building. It was filled with folding chairs and people singing and worshiping Christ. We sat together in a couple rows and just took in everything we were witnessing. People filled the aisles, but they weren't sitting. They pace the aisles or simply walk around and are singing and in constant prayer with their Lord God. They are sending their sins away and giving them to God. They are free to move and sing and praise. Normally if you see something like this (in MN), you feel a little uncomfortable as it's not "normal". Let me tell you, we were the odd balls this day. Sitting in our nice little rows with our hands in our laps. We were greeted by an older Haitian woman who hugged each one of us. Apparently she does this every day that there is a team there. I simply can't put into words how I felt during this service. We stayed for maybe an hour and I think I cried for the better part of 45 minutes. We had an interpreter with us who I was lucky enough to sit in front of. Listening to him sing first in Creole and then in English - it was beyond beautiful. There was one particular song that I still can't get out of my head and I wish I could find it. Please don't take offense to my next statement, but the way Haitians worship puts "us" to shame! I love my church and I grew up in a traditional ELCA church and I don't mind the traditional prayers and responses, but it's so.....standard. The Pastor says something and you give a traditional response - you know it's coming and you know you are supposed to say it, so you do. It might not be what is really on your mind or what you really want to say, but you say it because your "program" says you should. There was nothing traditional about this!!! It was beyond emotional - just watching people praise God and "Jezi" (Jesus) through song and constant prayer - I've never seen anything like it. I could not stop my tears from flowing - it was so beautiful! We stayed for about an hour and had to leave to move on with our day. I was hopeful we could return. This was a highlight of my trip!
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| A pic of all of us following the "tent" worship service - it was in the building behind us. |
We returned to the guesthouse for our breakfast and to prepare mentally for our day of service. We were headed out to The Home for the Sick and Dying Babies. I was most nervous for this day. I thought my emotions would get the best of me and that I wouldn't be able to be productive because I would cry all day. I thought I would see very sick children and I wouldn't know what to do with that emotion. It turns out, it was a very positive visit for me. The hardest part of the visit was arriving to the building and seeing the parents lined up outside hoping for help with their sick children and just waiting and hoping for someone to let them in. We went inside and our group split into 2 teams, then we headed into a couple different rooms. The rooms are bright white (I believe) and clean. There were approximately 20-25 cribs in each room (little metal cribs). They were filled with babies and toddlers - either sleeping or sitting up looking at you. It was visiting hours so some of the children were with their parents and were maybe out on the playground - which was rather nice. I found a little girl (or so I thought) that I held for quite a little while. I thought it was a girl because I think she had a dress on. But my travel companions kept calling him a boy. I did finally notice that the child's head was shaved and looked at the identification band and I thought it could have been a boy or girl's name - I still have no idea!!!! Anyway, I think this child was on the mend :-)! She (??) would snuggle with me, then hit me. I thought maybe she wanted to be put down, so I would walk toward her crib and she would start to cry and not want to be put down. So, I kept holding her. She did finally go to someone else so I could spread the love. I found another little girl (she had longer hair) - her mom came in to put her in her crib. She started crying and climbed out of her crib to follow her mom. Sara (a travel companion) bent down to hug her and after she was settled in she came and sat with me. I held her for the rest of my stay. I finally looked at her identification band and noticed she was 5 - wow, she was no bigger than Tait (my 3yo). I assume she was there for malnutrition. We were asked to assist with lunch, so we sat and fed some of the kids that were either too little or too weak to feed themselves. I was happy to see that if a child finished their lunch, they were given more. These children were well cared for and seemed to be well fed. My heart was full when we left. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures here as they want to preserve the dignity of the children.
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| Kelly and me on our way for the day. |
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| Brunet (one of our interpreters) and Kari (co-leader). |
Next we visited The Apparent Project. I am attaching the website in case you would like to look at it. The Apparent Project works creatively to help Haitians make jewelry, home decor, and journals out of cereal and cracker boxes, oil drums and trash paper. By employing these Haitians it is helping to stop the cycle of extreme poverty and abandonment.
"Our name reflects our passion: We want to see Haitian families stay together. Skill development and employment addresses the needs of families before they are at the point of desperation, driven to give their children to an orphanage because of extreme poverty. After all, the vast majority of Haiti's "orphans" have not been orphaned by parental deaths, earthquakes, hurricanes, or floods, but are children of living parents who gave them up simply because they knew that an orphanage could feed their child. Lagging adoptions, overcrowding, and lack of accountability has made many orphanages less than adequate homes for children, who often develop severe emotional problems such as reactive attachment disorder. This is why we think of our artisans' guild as an "un-orphanage." We are finding creative ways for Haitians to be self-employed so that they can take care of their own children with dignity and joy."
http://www.apparentproject.org/
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| "Artisans" at the Apparent Project making jewelry. |
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| Making coasters, I believe. |
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| Me, Kelly and Becca shopping at the Apparent Project. |
The afternoon was spent at Gertrudes. Gertrudes is an orphanage for disabled children. After doing some brief research, I found out that,
"Because of the prevalence of voodoo in the Haitian culture, children with handicaps or medical problems are often thought to be cursed. Some of these children are starved to death or abandoned. Others are brought to Notre Maison by family members who simply can't take care of their child with special needs. Notre Maison is managed by a wonderful Haitian woman, Gertrude Bien-Aime Azor. Gertrude's goal is to provide a loving, safe, Christian home for these children to be able to reach their potential. The American missionary who had been raising funds for Notre Maison, died of cancer, and Gertrude is trying to run the home on the profits she makes from a guesthouse she runs. Unfortunately, this is not enough to meet these children's many needs." I do believe Healing Haiti sponsors Gertrudes now, but I am not sure in what way. I know we brought some needed donations, but I am not sure what else they receive.
Again, I wasn't sure what to expect, but actually (in my opinion) aside from feeling it wasn't sanitary and having no access to soap and clean water (or hand sanitizer for that matter) - it wasn't much different to that of which I have been exposed to growing up in Waseca. My first observations were that there were many kids sitting in their wheelchairs throughout the room. I saw a couple kids helping to fold laundry. One was laying on the floor, many were playing. We spread out and started to do our thing. We played with the kids, held the kids and just spent time with them. I was happy to learn that children were actually being adopted from here. There was a set of 3 siblings that would be leaving in the next month - together to the same family. This made me very happy. Below are some photos from Gertrudes. It was a great day overall!
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| Chris and one of the boys at Gertrudes. |
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| Kari |
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| Grant |
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| Justin |
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| Sara |
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| Me and Tracey |
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| Kari |
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| Carol |
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| Amanda |
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| Jen |
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| Becca |
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| Little cuties - plain and simple! |
