Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Well, today is my third day in Haiti and there are so many things to say, and I believe I've been through the gamut of emotions, but it has been so amazing and eye opening.  Today we awoke at 5:30am for the tent church service which began at 6am.  Although we could not understand what was being said, we could just feel the energy and love for God that the Haitians have, how amazing! 

After church we headed over to Gertrude's; a home for disabled children.  There were so many children to be played with and held.   They had so much energy and it was so great to see them smile.  I was on swing duty which they seemed to love.  They did not want to stop swinging so it was hard to get them to take turns but I had a chance to push two boys on the swing.  One sang to me as I pushed him and the other did not speak, but I later found out that he enjoyed my company as I went to hold a new baby and he came and sat next to me and wanted more of my attention.  This really touched my heart as well as holding this new little baby that had nothing but smiles to give.  It was hard to know that they are orphaned children, but eases your heart knowing that the people there take good care of them.  Once we left Gertrude's we had a break and enjoyed a little time in the pool at the hotel across the street, which gave us some time to bond even more as a team.  What a great team to be apart of!

The second half of our day consisted of visiting the Home for the Sick and Dying Babies.  This was my first real bout of tears on the trip.  I walked into the home and saw all of the babies that wanted to be held and just felt like I wanted to hold them all but did not have enough arms.  I had one child on my lap and two on each side of me.  I know I keep saying this, but how amazing!  They just wanted to be hugged and loved and I had lots to give.  It was so hard to put them down as they would cry because they just wanted to be held, but I made my way downstairs to the babies that were the sickest.  As I walked into the room my heart started breaking as I saw these babies with IVs hooked up to them and so malnourished.  I saw one right away that I wanted to hold so I picked him up and brought him outside.  He felt so small in my arms and just burning up due to a fever.  I didn't want to put him back down, but again I knew he would also be well taken care of.

We ended our day with a great meal of spaghetti and garlic bread, our word of the day and a great picture slide show.  So excited to see what tomorrow brings with the elders and visiting the children at the orphanages.

No comments:

Post a Comment