This is a Tap Tap (a Haitian taxi). We woke up this morning and the JAC brakes were out. You don't want to drive in Haiti without brakes. TRUST ME. So we had to rent a private tap tap for our group. It wouldn't be safe and would have been cost prohibitive to go in a "real" one.
So this is us crammed in our tap tap and I loved it! :)
We had to load all of our supplies on the top and tie them down.
This is the first orphanage we went to. Thagimi or Thanksgiving Orphanage. They currently rent out the basement of a school. There are 15 orphans and a family (of 4) that runs it. There are at least 2 other women there that help cook and with the children. The room you see in this picture is the ONLY room they have to sleep, eat, play in all day every day. This orphanage is a new orphanage since the earthquake and based off what we can understand (through translators) this family went to a tent city and found the kids that were left parentless/abandoned and brought them here. Its heartbreaking. They are taking care of the kids the best they can but they have no money and so most days they go without food. We bought 4 50-pound bags of rice. They were thrilled.
This picture is of the translator and I leading the kids through the salvation bracelets! I had the opportunity to do this and was thrilled and honored to do it!
Meet Magdalina. Isn't she beautiful!? I thought (guessed) her age to be around 2, but she's 4. Their need is great! I painted her face like a cat (shat). She asked for that :)
When the school is out of session there is a very small area that is concrete they can play on. They were thrilled because school was out and we brought soccer balls, bubbles, frisbees, jump ropes, and a few other things for them to play with! Fun was had by ALL.
Meet Johnson! This little boy stole my heart. I will post another post at another time about him. But man on man. I cried. A lot. Leaving him there was not easy. And prayerfully one day I will bring him home! God will have to move MIGHTY mountains...but I have faith that if its His will, that will be NO big deal for Him!
I was so thrilled and so excited to finally be doing what my heart has longed to do! The smile on my face never left, until we did. Then I was a mess.
The children (at every orphanage) love to perform for us! They were amazing. They sang in both english and creole. It was beautiful and brought me to tears for sure on a couple of occasions.
We moved up to the school room (which is dramatically more spacious) since the school was not in session. We brought coloring books and colors and that was a huge hit!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of Johnson,. He was so excited to be able to see his precious face on the other side of the camera.
Jeff pulled out his iPhone to take pictures of these beautiful boys and they were enamored by it and the rest was history!
This is Stanley. He's my other favorite :) They all are really....but I could only get to spend time with so many! :)
There are no words...my heart leaps out of my chest when I see his face.
This is Milford. I took a full body shot to show his ankles. It was like they were stilts. He needs some plumpynut and for someone to bring him home to a family forever...He's 11 and was the size of Jackson. (but skinnier)
sweet Stanley
The bubbles were a huge hit!
Look at their sweet smiles! Oh my goodness. To be back there. I want to go back today.
I LOVE this picture. I mean they are beautiful.
This is Angelica and she has a huge distended belly with a large hernia. But yet she smiles! And a gorgeous one at that. She's amazing.
This another view of a more empty room so you can see just how small it is that they have. Someone had recently donated the folding beds to them, but even then they still can't have enough for everyone to sleep on because the space is so small. The last time our group was here they didn't have the beds and no bedding at all and the kids were all just sleeping on the concrete floor. Can you imagine?!
Susan with Johnson and another little girl (I hate it that I have not remembered every one of their names!)
This (little) big boy needed lots of loving as we were leaving. He was smiling the whole time, but he just needed me to hug him and hold him. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do so!
Here is a sweet picture of a smile when we gave them pillows....
And blankets!
And more blankets...
And then it was even better because we had stuffed animals and EVERYONE got their OWN!
Okay, really, he got a george monkey...all of my kids sleep with monkeys EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT and now Johnson is too. And I didn't do that....it just happened that way.
This is the oldest daughter of the family that runs the orphanage...nickname is Neeneed.
Even though they were sad we were leaving they were smiling and so thrilled with their stuffed animals!
My heart was heavy as we left. But it was also full. We were given the amazing opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ to these sweet babes who do not have earthly mommies and daddies...but man do they have a Heavenly Father who LOVES THEM UNCONTROLLABLY. I miss them. I want to hold them again.
Haiti Day 4
Haiti Day 5
Haiti Day 6
No comments:
Post a Comment