Haiti

Yesterday, I took a personal day and went with some friends to an orphanage and school in Haiti. Wow. I don't even know how to begin describing that experience with you. This blog post may end up being very long, so those of you who want to hear about my trip in detail can read it. Those who don't, feel free to just look at the pictures of all the cute kids :).

I have been wanting to go to Haiti and visit an orphanage since I got here. There is one just across the border called Danita's Children. Some people connected to my school here go there pretty much every week. Usually they go on a school day, so I was never able to go. My friend Sarah told me she was going to take a personal day to go, so I decided to do the same and go with her, her friend who was visiting, and the couple who usually goes on Fridays.

To start out with, we took a bus from here in Santiago to the border, which, on a good day with a good bus driver, takes about two and a half hours. Going there, we thankfully had both a good day and a good driver. Once we got to where we got off to walk across the border, it got a little crazy. On Mondays and Fridays, there is a market on both the Haiti and DR sides. Haitians are allowed to freely cross the border and buy things and then return. That of course means many people pushing wheelbarrows full of stuff, carrying stuff on their heads, in their arms... however they can do it. Annie, the lady who goes weekly, said she had never seen it so crazy as it was yesterday. There were people literally everywhere! Many times we were stuck in a sea of dark skin not able to move for minutes or else being pushed along and getting run over by wheelbarrows! I have some pictures, but they don't do the craziness justice! It was this crazy all the way across the bridge and into Haiti. We thankfully got across the border just fine, as they will often charge, but we got permission to go over for the day.This does not even begin to show how crazy it was getting through the hoards of people, but you can see the big bags tied onto wheelbarrows, people carrying things on their head, and a little bit of how the people are super close together. Some people decided NOT to deal with trying to get across the bridge and made their own way across the river!Here are more people trying to get across the border.

Hope for Haiti Children's Home, also known as Danita's Children, is about a 5 minute walk from the border into Haiti. When we arrived, the children were all in school. The ministry has about 75 orphans and 580 kindergarten-eighth graders who go to school there. The ones who are not orphans living there are very poor children from the community. It is amazing what they do with very few supplies. The kindergarteners and other classes meet in the large chapel, where many classes are meeting at once. You could barely hear the teacher, yet the 30 or so kids in the first kindergarten class we saw were sitting quietly listening to them. They learn in Creole and French, so I of course did not understand anything! It totally challenged my view of a classroom, as the first group of kindergarteners we saw were sitting only in chairs, many of which were broken--no crayons, no paper, no nothing. This school has some of that, but obviously not enough to use it all the time like we do. It made me appreciate the resources we have.
The first kindergarten class we visited. Annie is working with them on some French. Notice that many of the chairs have lost the wood that is supposed to be on the back. The kids sang us a song in Creole, French, and English. I have heard that song in English and Swahili, and it was so cute to hear these kids sing it in more languages for us. They were so cute!

Two older boys who came over to watch and see what the white people were doing. Notice the socks and tennis shoes--even the girls all had socks. A lot of the little girls had frilly girly socks like I had when I was little.


We looked around some more, and then it was time for chapel. Annie had asked Sarah, my friend, to do some impromptu Bible story skits for chapel, and Sarah asked me to help. After listening to them sing in Creole, we went up in front of all those kids and did some silent Bible story skits, like David and Goliath, Jesus calming the storm, and Jonah in the Big Fish. It was funny to have Sarah be the big fish and eat me and then spit me back out. Of course, there were some glitches since we didn't practice at all, but the kids loved it. They got to guess what we were acting out, and thankfully they figured out most of them.

The kindergarteners singing in chapel. They have good voices! Notice all the hair ribbons. Many of the girls had bows all over their heads.

I am not quite sure what story we were acting out at this point, or what I am doing with my arms, but you can see our crazy expressions.

Little boys at the back trying to see our skits.

A little girl just checking things out during chapel.


Chapel lasted about an hour, and then it was about lunch time. Another part of their ministry is feeding all those children lunch. With over 600 people, that is a lot of work and a lot of money! For many of these kids who do not live there, that is the only meal they get all day. I think we served for about an hour since they had to eat in shifts so everyone could fit in the cafeteria. Every single kid said thank you to a meal I probably as a child would have looked at and said, "that's it?" Wow. It showed me how blessed I truly am. It was funny because some kids said thank you in Creole, some in Spanish, and some in English, probably to impress us. We never knew which language we would be saying "You're welcome in!" I never got the Creole one down. Oh well :).

Serving Lunch

After we ate, we helped them sort through donated toys and supplies. That took a while. As we were taking some of the supplies and putting them in a crate outside, one of the little girls who was finished with school, as they go in shifts, came up and just put her hand in mine. I had never seen this girl before, nor could I even talk to her. It is amazing what you will do when you are craving love! She was not one of the orphans, but obviously wanting just to be loved. She stayed with me until her dad came. She swung on my lap and just held my hand. We couldn't even get her to say her name, but that didn't matter to her. She enjoyed just getting love. Wow.Some of the donations that we sorted through. The orphanage was features on "Extreme Home Makeover" in November in part of a special on a family who adopted 5 boys from Haiti. The family wanted to give back to Haiti, so the TV show sent two containers full of food, toys, school supplies, etc. A lot of the supplies have already been given to those who need it.

Sarah modeling one of the more unusual donations. I think it said something about being a cool shark or something.

My little friend and I. I could not get her to smile in the pictures, but since i couldn't talk to her, it was kind of difficult!

This picture captures so much. I love the girls in their uniforms, holding hands, just enjoying each other. Wow.

A little girl using her recess time to look at a book. I love her hair bows!

These two girls caught me trying to take their picture, even though I was quite a ways away, and rewarded me with huge smiles!

Boys will be boys. Playing in the dirt is great in any country!

Shortly after my little friend left, it was time for us to go back across the border and catch the bus back home. The border was a lot less hectic this time. Most people had already come and gone from Market.
The market on the Haiti side.

I want to learn how to do this!

I think these women are doing laundry in the river. I am so thankful for a washing machine!

The bus ride back, however, was much crazier than the ride there. The buses are not supposed to stop and get people or let them off along the way because it is an express route. Some do though, and this one sure did. It was also making really strange sounds, like it was falling apart, and going really slow. Annie and I could not figure out what was going on. After we stopped and the bus driver got out for like the fifth time, Sarah and her friend Dar told us we were pulling another bus! They could see from their seats, but we couldn't. We had been pulling a bus our same size for over a half hour! If that wasn't crazy enough, I guess that wasn't working, so the driver decided we would PUSH the other bus! We got behind it and began pushing it by "gently" running into it! Thankfully we did not push it all the way to Santiago. Because of all this, we were about a half hour late getting back into town. That was definitely one of the most interesting bus rides I have taken!

After a fairly interesting taxi ride (I have never ridden with a taxi that has a DVD player showing Jacki Chan on the dashboard before) we made it home. The whole trip was incredible, and I hope to go back often and soon. It was like walking into what I want to do some day with my life. I do not know if God will have me more involved at that home, but it is what the Lord has laid on my heart to do some day. I am so glad I was able to go and help out, but like many things, I got more out of it than I had to give. I learned a lot about how much I truly have and how I need to love on kids. Even working with the wealthy kids, I need to show them that I love them, and even more than that, that Jesus loves them. It broke my heart to see the poverty, but I am trusting that Jesus has a plan even for that. I am thankful for organizations like Danita's Children who are working to reach out to these precious kids.

That post was really long. I hope it gave you a good glimpse into part of my life. If you think of it, please pray for Danita's Children and all the ministries involved with that. It takes a TON of work, and they are very understaffed. It also costs a lot to do all of it. But our God is big enough to handle all that and more. What a mighty God we serve!