Tuesday in Haiti for our team was really three parts (in addition I'll tell you a little bit about the meals because they are always pretty incredible).
Breakfast was pancakes, scrabbled eggs with onions and peppers, oatmeal, avocado, fresh squeezed juice, mangos and papayas. A pretty great start to the day.
We then took an hour long ride to a home for sick and dying adults. The guys and the girls from our team split up and went to the different areas of the facility where the men and women stay but we had pretty identical experiences. In each room we walked in we were met with two rows of beds facing each other. Each room had about 14 beds in it. Most of the beds were filled by a man or a woman in a different state of sickness. Some seemed as though (because of age or illness) they might be near the end of their life while others seemed to be in the bed because of an injury that had immobilized them. Whatever the reason, we were in that room to serve and care for them by cleaning their skin with a wet wipe and rubbing their arms, legs, hands, feet, back, chest and shoulders with lotion.
One member of our team, Shea, got the chance to accompany a visiting doctor who asked her to serve as his scribe (a role she has already played a couple of times for our team as well). Shea visited patients with the doctor and got to see the kind of humble and thoughtful care he gave to his patients as well as the challenges of being a doctor in this part of the world without access to anything more than an oral medical history.
After lunch (which really isn't worth talking about since it is bars/trail mix/fruit snacks/etc) we headed out again. This time our destination was an orphanage run by a husband and wife. The orphanage is home to either 19 or 23 kids (we were told 19 but we spent the afternoon with 23). The orphanage was stuck in between houses in what looked like a neighborhood. Every driveway we enter is sealed by a large metal door on a sliding track for protection (our own Haiti home as well). When we walked through the doors the whole area was fenced in by cinder block walls. The walls had disney cartoon characters painted on them. To the left was one large building which seemed to function as home and school. To the right was a building under construction (which we are excited about because one of our team members (Levi) is staying and meeting up with some other people to help finish that construction by putting a roof on). Since the roof is not on it made for a great location for crafts and games.
Tammy and Molly came up with a great craft activity for us. They tracked down polaroid cameras and film and we had each kid make a picture frame and then put their picture in it. First they had to take the photos and wait 30 minutes for the picture to emerge - very challenging waiting but the kids did a great job. We distracted them with some other really cool airplane making crafts and also some made up games of soccer and basketball keep away. One of our team members, Greg, is 6'8" so we thought we would be at a distinct advantage (whether we liked it or not our Healing Haiti group was always on one team). What we found out was that these boys were tenacious and if the ball ever bounced away they were right on it to snatch it up. Riley, Levi and Shane were devoured by the boys whenever they tried to dribble and usually all they could do was flip the ball behind their head.
After the polaroids developed everyone enjoyed looking at their picture and putting it in a frame that said "My God is Awesome". Before we left we got out some temporary tattoos and put them on - Spider Man was a big hit.
Dinner was Haitian food. Drumsticks, rice, a soup dish to put over the rice with onions/potatoes/carrots/peas, plantains, a broccoli dish, a beet salad with peppers and onions, some kind of potato or plantain dish (we weren't sure). Most importantly, it was all delicious! It is amazing how such a talkative group can be so quiet at dinner time.
Speaking of talkative, one of the things we are so thankful for with our team is how well everyone is getting along and mixing together. Not all of us knew each other going in but it really feels like God knew what to do in bringing us all together for this experience. If you are praying, continue to pray for unity for this special group.
After dinner we sorted out the 34 checked bags we brought (I said yesterday that we brought 68 carry ons too but that was a little exhausted math gone amiss - 34 carry ons too but the truck was still full). We were able to pack 50 care packages with food, diapers, soap, toys, etc. that we are taking to the hospital tomorrow morning.
And, we were able to pack 16 SUIT CASES full of stuff (balls, diapers, medicine, food, toys, notebooks, pencils, etc) to bless the Healing Haiti Haitian staff that we are serving with this week. We were so excited when we were told that we would get to serve and bless the people we are serving alongside.
If you donated THANK YOU! It is going to some pretty cool people with Healing Haiti and it is going to some really hurting people tomorrow at the hospital.
Because of all the amazing donations it really felt like a whole third thing we needed to do today in terms of getting everything organized, sorted and assembled - thank you again for creating such a good problem to have. It was fun to end the day leaning into God's generosity, your generosity and the knowledge that tomorrow we are going to be the hands that deliver your love and God's love!
Time to say good bye - I need to stop writing so I can get back to laughing and talking with our team!
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