For several years now, my parents have been going to Port Au Prince, Haiti
several times a year, to help with an orphanage called Voice of the
Children. As many of you know, I have an adopted brother and sister from
there, as well as a brother that is not legally adopted, but still a part of my
family. I have been wanting to go, but feared it would be too hard to leave my
boys. I had already ruled out going this year, until I found out that someone
at one of the churches my parents went to speak to, wanted to sponsor someone's
trip. I asked my dad if I could be the person who was sponsored, and he said as
long as I got my passport, I could. So I did...
Monday, June 30th, 2014
I boarded a plan with 3 people I had never met, and 1 person I knew from
high school to Port Au Prince. I had only flown twice before, once to Cancun
with my parents and brother and once to Florida with my husband. So to be
honest, I was terrified! We arrived at the airport at 4:30am and
arrived in Haiti around 1pm. As soon as I stepped off of that plane, I was in
complete culture shock. First off, let me tell you… Haiti is hotter than the
sun! From the airport, we met up with my parents and the guys that are our
translators/bodyguards. Myself and one other girl got in the car with my parents
and sister, while the rest piled into the back of an S10 pickup truck with the
luggage, and we took off to the house. I quickly discovered… there are NO
traffic rules in Haiti!!! I was scared to death inside the car; I could only
imagine what it was like in the back of the truck. People walk in the streets,
cars pull out in front of other cars… it is literally every man for himself…
and it is frightening! After what seemed like an hour, but was probably like 10
minutes, we arrive at the house that my parents are leasing, which is gorgeous!
Although this country is run down and poor, the houses and building are
beautiful! They really remind me of the big houses in Florida, as far as the
structure goes. They’re beautiful. Anyway, we arrived at the house, and
immediately lay down and took a much-needed nap! Hahaha Another girl met us
there that afternoon, as she had taken her own flight. After we all woke up
from our nap, we took a quick walk around the block, just to get a feel for the
neighborhood, and spent the rest of the night hanging out and getting to know
one another.
Tuesday, July 1st, 2014
Let me start this day off by letting you know, you do not have electricity
in Haiti. City power does not come on until 6pm (if you’re lucky) and goes off
at 6am (once again if you’re lucky). There is also no air conditioning in the
house; therefore, you have fans keeping you remotely cool at night. So once the
electricity goes off, so do the fans. So you immediately wake up, covered in
sweat. It’s really delightful… With that being said, we woke up this morning,
got our much needed, DELICIOUS Haitian coffee, and took off to the orphanage.
There was only one guy in our group, so the fellas, Dad, Wayne, and Joshua,
went straight to work on the construction of the boys’ room. The girls, Devin,
Dana, Kate, Brenn, my Mom, and myself had one simple job. PLAY WITH THE KIDS!
We didn’t really have a plan for the day, so we just got to know some of the
kids, and had a blast doing it. They have several little games that they like
to play. We started off playing a game were one person gets in the middle of
the circle of people, and dance while everyone sings a song, that I DON’T know
the words to… and at the end, they close their eyes and point to someone, and
then that person takes their place in the middle of the circle. We must have
played this for 30 minutes. We then went on to play a hot potato game, where we
all sit in a circle and one person says, “Tick Tock, Tick Tock…” over and over
and when they say, “BOOM,” whoever has the ball is out. Brenn won this game,
out of ALL the kids and adults. I apparently thought the ball was a bomb…
hahaha. We then played musical chairs. Where I WON!!! I was kinda proud of
myself! Then our games turned into a GIANT dance party!!! This was so much fun.
We really started to see some of the different personalities come out in the
kids, and it was beautiful to see. There was even a dance-off between two of
the older boys! One of them could REALLY dance! It was awesome! We all had so
much fun just hanging out and loving on the kids.
After we left the orphanage and had some amazing
Spaghetti Jambone, prepared by my fabulous mother, we went for a walk to the
park, then chilled and relaxed at the house for the rest of the night. This was also the first time I had Fruit
Champagne… and also the day I fell in love with Fruit Champagne!
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| Little Mama |
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| Mom cleaning Miss Abigail's face |
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| My sweet Abigail |
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| Fruit Champagne!!! |
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| Just a swingin'... |
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| Spaghetti Jombone |
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014
This was probably one of my favorite days while in Haiti. We spent the
entire day at the orphanage, with stations set up with different things to do.
Devin was in charge of sidewalk chalk, Dana and Brenn had a face painting
station, and Kate and I were in charge of crafts, coloring and board games. She
had brought connect four, and battle ship, and I had cut up probably 6 t-shirts
to make t-shirt yarn to make bracelets. A lot of the bigger boys were really
interested in the games. I still am not sure that they ever quite understood
the concept of Battleship… but they had fun. They then convinced Kate to play
their version of Dominoes… and I’m pretty sure they cheated! Haha She ended up
having to stand up for 16 games because she lost so badly! It was pretty funny.
There were only 2 girls that wanted to learn how to make my bracelets. The rest
of the kids just wanted me to make them. There are 3 kids in particular that
had me making bracelets all day long. I bet I made 40 bracelets that day. But
they were happy, so I was happy. After we ran out of t-shirt yarn, the braiding
of the hair started! Devin and Brenn got drafted first. They both have long hair
so they just done cornrows in theirs. I was a tad jealous, because my hair is
too short to braid…. Or so I thought. I asked our translator, Jimmy, if they
would be able to do my hair with the fake hair, and they said yes. I then asked
them how much the hair was if they bought it and they said $11, and they told
me they would braid it and buy the hair for $16. So it is ON! One of the girls went and got
the hair, and I sat there for over 3 hours while 6 girls were tugging and
pulling on my hair at the same time. It was extremely painful! lol I heard lot
of giggles behind me… and then I would pick out that they were laughing at the
fact my hair was so short! It was really fun. Not only did I help them out by
paying them to do my hair, they had the time of their life doing it. They love
doing hair, and were happy to do it for me. They also thought it was really
funny to see a white girl with braids. Michelet, one of our translators, called
me a “milato,” or White Haitian”. Hahaha they all really got a kick out of
it.
After we got back from our trip to the orphanage,
Mom, Dad, Moise, Kerby, Kerlandy, and myself all left to take Moise home and we
were going to drive out to pick up Blondy, my brother. We never did get a hold
of Blondy or his dad, so we turned around and came back home.
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| They decided to use my t-shirt yarn as extensions |
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| she was proud that she learned how to make a bracelet |
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| Miss Eileen |
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| These are some of the ladies responsible for my hair |
Thursday, July 3rd, 2014
This was our last full day at the orphanage, so we
knew we had to go out with a bang. So, we planned a carnival! We had picked out
several games to play, such as a beanbag toss, beach ball keep away, penny
(rock) drop, and balloon pop. It was a hug hit. We started out splitting up
into teams. Our first game, the kids had to take a small rock, put it between
their legs, and carefully walk to the circle, drawn with chalk, and drop the
rock inside the circle. My team lost horribly… but it was still fun! Next, we
drew a target, again with chalk, and like a bull’s-eye, the outer ring was 1
point, middle was 2 and the center was 3 points. My team didn’t do too bad with
this game… although I think they were cheating. The bigger kids were
blindfolded, but they were start jumping and cheering when they landed on the
3, even with the blindfolds on… hmmmm… After the beanbag toss, we got a beach
ball, and got in a circle, and whichever team kept the ball in the air by
popping up with their hands, won. My team again got last place. They didn’t
quite understand that they couldn’t grab the ball. After this game, all heck
broke loose in the balloon pop game. We tied a balloon to every kids ankle, and
they had to pop everyone else’s balloon, while keeping theirs safe. This broke
out in war!!! Haitian kids are VERY serious about their games!!! There were a
few fights… lol. For the younger group, a girl won, and she was VERY excited!
Of course the boys dominated the older group. After the craziness, every kid
who participated got to choose a toy from the “prize box,” and sunglasses were
the #1 choice, and the slinkies made perfect bracelets for the older girls. We
also bought every kid a “soppibone”, (sp) which is like a big Popsicle. They
LOVE these and they are a big treat, which they rarely get. We also got one,
and let me tell you… they are the NASTY!!! They taste like frozen medicine…
ughh… so I gave mine to one of the kids…
That night, once we got home, I got to meet my brother,
Blondy, for the first time! He took a tap tap to our house, and stayed the rest
of the week with us. I really think he looks just like Usher… what do you
think? He’s so sweet. That night, we didn’t get electricity until about 10:00,
so we made our own candles with glow sticks and water bottles for our devotion.
It was actually really fun.
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| my little love, Abigail |
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| Lining up for Carnival games |
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| Love this girl! |
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| NASTY soppibone |
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| Cool dudes! Abigail and John Billy |
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| Sunglasses were a big hit! |
Friday, July 4th, 2014
I could think of no better way to spend
Independence Day, than they way we did this year. We woke up this morning, and
got ready to go to a place called Mother Theresa’s. This is a hospital for
children, which many mothers or fathers walk for days and days to get treatment
for their children. A lot of the time, these children are turned away simply
because they do not have enough room. There are 4 rooms in this building, Room
#1 being the worst cases and Room #4 being the best cases, or those that are
almost well enough to go home. My mom has been in Room #1, and said a lot of
the kids in that room, they already know they will not be leaving the hospital
alive. We were taken into Room #3, which I was thankful for… I don’t know if I
could have emotionally handled any worse than that. We walked in, and there are
probably 25 cribs with babies ranging from ages 0-24 months. When we got there,
they were feeding “breakfast”, which was some kind of slop, so we all helped
feed the children. I picked up one little girl to feed, and I went to feed her
a tiny spoon full like I would feed my boys. I had looked on her ankle bracelet
to learn she was 2 years old, and she was smaller than my 14 month old boys. I
got a tiny bit of food on the spoon and she grabbed my hand and shoveled the
spoon in her mouth. I noticed very quickly, she wanted a bigger bite. I looked
at the workers that were feeding, and they were filling these serving spoons
with food and giving them bites that would be too big for me, but they were
just right for these little ones. So, I filled my spoon with slop and fed this
sweet little girl her breakfast and he quickly ate it all, licking her lips
after every bite. After she finished eating, I just held her, for probably 2
hours. We just sat there, staring into each other’s eyes. There was so much
pain behind her eyes; it broke my heart into a million pieces. I don’t know
what was wrong with her, but I wanted so badly to take her pain away. After
cuddling for hours, I noticed she was getting sleepy, so I laid her down in her
crib to find another sweetheart to cuddle. We stayed in this building, just
holding babies half the day. It was the most rewarding and life-changing
experience I have ever had. I pray that these children get to go home to their
parents soon. (We weren't allowed to take pictures inside.)
After leaving Mother Theresa’s, we went back to the
orphanage to let the children “shop” for some new clothes. Some awesome people
from Scottsville donated over 100 soccer jerseys; so we took them to the
orphanage and laid them out and let every child pick their own jersey. I have
never seen so many smiles. They were all going around looking at the others
kids’ jerseys they had picked out. They were all so proud of their new
clothes. The big kids even got into it.
After shopping, of course we passed out some soccer balls or to the new soccer
pros!
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| My Abigail got her jersey! :) |
Saturday, July 5th, 2014
This day was a day of
souvenirs and sightseeing. First, we went to a place they call “Tin Village”,
where the locals have shops filled with metal work they make and sale. It was
here that I spent way too much money. It amazes me how talented these people
are. I seen some of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever seen, and they
sale them for next to nothing! After spending hours at Tin Village, we traveled
to a place called Baptist Mission, which is on top of the mountain, where you
have the most incredible view of Haiti. They also have several shops where you
can buy souvenirs. I ended up trading a
guy a soccer ball for a machete for Phill. Hahaha He was really excited! After
buying all our take-homes, we went to a restaurant to eat. When leaving the
restaurant, there are street kids, kids how literally live on the street,
begging for food and money at our tap tap. (BTW… tap tap is a truck with a
cover on the back, and the way you get around in Haiti) Several people gave the
kids their left overs and waters. As we were pulling off, we decided to give
them one of our soccer balls. Dana picked up the ball and yelled, “Hey, BALL!”
These kids immediately DROPED their food and ran in front of several trucks to
get back to the tap tap to grab this ball. Dana just threw the ball out of the
back of the truck, and it was ON! These boys took off, fighting over this
soccer ball. Finally one of the boys managed to grab the ball away from the
rest, put it under his shirt and walked away. While the other boys were left
empty handed… food splattered all over the road. It was very interesting to say
the least. We quickly discovered that a soccer ball is greater than food.
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| Table and Chairs made of metal |
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| I want this dresser so bad! |
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| LOVE this chair |
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| The group! <3 love these people |
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| MY FAM! Complete with Blondy! Just wish Caleb was there... |
Sunday, July 6th, 2014
We got up this morning and
got ready for church, not really knowing what to expect. We got to this church,
were there is such a mix of people. We seen other Americans, Haitian, Koreans…
all under one roof, and there for one reason… to praise Jesus. The worship I
experienced in this church was unlike any worship I have ever encountered. I
have never felt the Holy Spirit the way that I did during those few minutes,
singing with these wonderful people. The singing was not extravagant, the music
wasn’t great, but the love for Jesus Christ could be felt through the words
they were singing. And looking around, I saw all these different groups of people
praising him, not caring what anyone else thought. I saw kids, in the front
row, lifting their hands and voices to Heaven. It was the most amazing experience. It is
something I will never, ever forget.
After church, we all
changed clothes and left for the orphanage one last time. On my way to the
orphanage, I knew I would be saying goodbye to these children, but I had no
idea it was going to be as hard as it was on me. We started off by taking a
tour of the FINISHED boys’ room that the guys had been working hard on all
week. It looked AMAZING!!! They did such a great job! And Mama was so happy!
After our tour, we spend some time with the kids, getting in our last hugs and
cuddles. We didn’t have anything planned; we just loved on them for a while.
When it was time to go, I of course had my Abigail. I told her I loved her, and
she nodded her head. I then asked her if she loved me too, and she again nodded
her head. At that moment, I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. I’m
actually in tears as I write this. This little girl, hold a huge place in my
heart, and saying goodbye to her was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. My
mom said it was time to go, and I sat down my Abigail, and turned to walk away.
I looked back and she was just looking at me, with those big beautiful eyes,
and my mom looked at me and said, “Just walk away…” So I did. That was the
longest walk home I have ever taken.
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| love this smile |
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| In the middle is Mama... the heart of Voice of the Children |
Monday, July 7th, 2014
Today was the day we were
to leave Haiti. We got all packed up, spent as long as we could hanging out in the
house, made our mark on the house… then took the good ole S10 pickup truck to
the airport, where we said our last goodbyes to my Mom, Dad, Kerby and
Kerlandy.
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| Kate's writing |
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| Brenn's writing |
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| Mr. Wayne's writing |
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| My writing |
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| Kerlandy's writing |
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| Josh's writing |
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| Dana's writing |
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| Devin's writing |
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| Love my brother! <3 Can't wait to see him again, and for him to meet the boys! |
Going into this, I knew that I would have the experience of a lifetime. I
had no idea just how much this place would change my life. I have been telling
my husband that I would like to adopt one day… but now I know I HAVE to adopt a
child from this country. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been, and I
met some of the most amazing people while I was there. A piece of my heart was
left there, and a piece of Haiti will forever more be in my heart. I plan on going
back very soon, but next time, I will be sharing my experience with my husband.
And as soon as Conner and Brady are big enough, they will be going with us.
This is not the end of my work in Haiti… this is only the beginning!
