Hello from Haiti!

Today we began our day riding in the Tap-Tap to the Home for Sick and Dying Children.  Our group arrived and the staff pointed out two rooms for us to assist in.   When I entered my room, there were many bowls of food lying on the counter ready to be fed to the three rows of babies.  The babies were ages 4 months to about 36 months.  I grabbed the first little boy and held him as I fed him.  My teammates each began feeding other children.  I was surprised how patiently many of the children were waiting for their turn,  while looking up with those big brown eyes.  After feeding the first child we moved on to another, sadly placing the first one down crying to to be held more.  After all the feeding came all the poops and pees.  We helped with lots of diaper changing.  Then we continued to hold and cuddle the kids.  They loved the comforting hugs.  As I held one of the little girls, I really enjoyed the laughter as I 'boop-ed' the tummies of a few others.

I later entered the room where the other half of our team was serving.  This was a room of children with higher medical needs.  It was overwhelming so see how much help was needed to care for all the needs.  A few team members were laughing hysterically with a three year old little girl that was a definite entertainer.  She pretended that a cord was a phone and giggled away.

The experience was amazing!  The children were amazing!   I only wish that we could help more.

Stephanie


Also today we had an opportunity to go to Gertrude's home for special needs children. We arrived after a short and pretty scary trip in the Tap-Tap. When we entered we were greeted by a beautiful boy who's name is Junior (You will hear more about him later). We walk through the house and into a roofed patio type building where all the kids are. These kids are filled with joy even though it appears that they have nothing. A young girl about 3 or 4 came up to me and just lifted her hands so that she could be held. All these kids wanted was to get held and played with. There is a wall of things to touch so I would bring the child in my arms to go figure things out, I even got the opportunity to teach Kristella (about 5-7) what the different princesses names were. I looked up and saw Erin and Josh playing with five kids in a cart, Sophie pushing a wheel chair chasing James who was also pushing a wheel chair, with everybody else watching with their kids either holding hands or carrying them. One of my favorite parts of this day was watching Junior (I told you that you would hear about him) and Max (A healing Haiti worker) chasing each other and rough housing in the most loving way. We all gathered around watching, laughing, and trying not to get caught in the cross fire. Today was truly a gift from God and a reminder to cherish our family, and friends no matter what.

Hannah Van Sickle