We had another full day of missions here in Haiti with a lot of different small changes to show us that God was the one in charge!
In the morning, after a hearty breakfast here at the Guesthouse, we loaded into our vans to go to the Children’s Home. Jeff led us in our morning prayer and then we all had a chance to be with the kids and help feed them their breakfast before the changes in plan began.
Sister Therese Martin, MC was the first to surprise us when she brought us the knives to start scraping paint off of some cribs to prepare them for re-painting. When they said knives to scrape, we thought it was a translation error. But no, she brought us kitchen knives. Here’s to Haitian creativity! Several spent the morning scraping all the way down to the metal just as sister asked us.
A few ventured up to where the older children and orphans are staying. They are recovering from chicken pox and are still under quarantine (although their rambunctiousness makes us think that they are far into their recovery and are getting a little cabin fever). They enjoyed a bit of dance party and playing with us before we were asked to leave. Father Daniel and Donna also had a moment to try to teach them a bit of football which they were thoroughly keen on!
It was such a joy today to witness the parents who came to visit their children this morning. Marisol ended up being the transfer person as each child she picked up she promptly had to deliver to their waiting parents. It seemed that between the parents and the volunteers nearly every child had someone holding them during the morning time! Just before we left, Fr. Daniel was called outside to where some parents were waiting to get their children admitted and Sister asked if he would baptize a child that they wouldn’t be able to admit because she was so ill (they sent her directly to the hospital afterwards). So, in the alley between buildings Isabella was born into the life of grace and Katie and Jason became godparents.
We had a good moment to rest at the Guesthouse after our lunch and then we went back to the Children’s Home. We were looking forward to having an opportunity to go serve with the Missionaries of Charity at their Wounds Clinic. A lot of our group was looking forward to it, but in the end they only had room in their car for four. So Fr. Daniel accompanied Rachel, Sam and Grace through the streets and marketplaces to reach St. Joseph’s school where they run the wounds clinic 3 times a week. It was intense for them to clean and dress the wounds of over 30 people. They discovered resources within them to face the severity of the wounds and not react too much to the same.
The rest of the group stayed at the Children’s Home with several becoming the “painting crew” trying to finish all of the cribs before the end of the afternoon, while a few were recruited by the laundry ladies to help fold the sheets, clothes and diapers of the children, and everyone tried to find a way to love and console the children.
The sisters allowed us to stay a little longer today which allowed us to wait for the Wounds Clinic missionaries to return and also for Fr. Michael Mitchell to arrive (and providentially, we were able to finish with the first coat of paint for all of the cribs.)
Just as we were leaving, the sisters asked Fr. Daniel to baptize one more child and we had two more godparents from our group—Grace and Michael.
We had one last surprise after dinner, showers, sharing and Mass. We found out that today our missionary from the Air Force made Captain and so we had a moment to congratulate him (also recognizing his leadership in changing diapers—he has changed more than any of us!) Congratulations Michael!
Tomorrow we plan to go early to the Home for the Dying.
