Up at 4:00 am and to the airport to board the very small aircraft back to Port-au-Prince. The generator was still off so no lights while getting ready- interesting. It was amazing, however, to see how many Haitians were already up and walking in the dark either to fetch water or to set up their “store front” with their products to sell- chickens, mangos, chairs, plastic jugs of gas, anything potentially sellable. Eddy, our scout for buildings for Orphan’s Promise Prosthetics and Orthotics clinic, met us in Port-au-Prince and we traveled to a house for rent just 20 minutes from the airport. This was the 5th and best building we have looked at so far. It was clean and fairly new and had withstood the earthquake without damage. The setup seemed ideal for our purpose, including room enough for a lab to construct the prosthetics, a waiting room, a fitting room, a therapy room and plenty of living and sleeping space for those coming to the clinic to stay and work. Together with the landlord and his wife, we prayed for unity, clarity and a blessing over the owner, their family and the house before we left. We are continuing to pray for a reasonable and affordable rental rate!
Over lunch we met with the Gary LeBlanc, Michael O’Neal and Frank Barrett-Mills from Mercy Chefs. How exciting to hear of their vision to help the people of Haiti in a variety of ways. Donald Curtis from Children’s International Lifeline was encouraged by the new relationship he had formed with them and the assistance Mercy Chefs will be able to provide to him, enabling CIL’s feeding program to increase from cooking for 3,000 children to 9,000 children within the same amount of preparation time.
On our way back to the mission in La Digue, we visited another orphanage. Once at Children’s International Lifeline, Donald, Yuri and I went into the village to film a 14 year old boy who had built his own home. At just about 3 feet wide by 4 feet long, and maybe 4 feet high, he had constructed his home in the side of a hill out of stone and mud. The roof was made of scraps of metal and plastic and it had two windows (holes) and a door which was a piece of metal hinged by some wires. When I crawled inside the tiny house, I was taken back by what I saw. Inside there was a small, tattered blanket and two tin cans sitting on either side of the space. The cans were filled with dirt and in each of them grew a small plant. This ingenious and hardworking orphan boy not only carefully built himself a house, but he intentionally made it his home. I was so moved and so impressed.
My favorite part of the whole trip was going into the village. As soon as we got out of the gator, at least 10 or 12 kids grabbed my hands and arms at a time. More children would gather and pull off another’s hand so as to put their hand into mine. Surrounded, the kids attempted to talk to us in English. I laughed as one girl looked at me and said, “Gimme socket.” When she realized that was not word she was looking for, she went away and came back and tried again, “Gimme handle.” The third time she came up with something just as random and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
We walked over to the river and checked out the dam that the French had built in 1922 to effectively channel the river water into the village so that it is usable for daily living and irrigation. Although the water originates from the mountain when it enters the channel, people swim and bathe in it and animals drink and stand and eliminate in it, so, as the water continues to flow down the channel, it becomes dirtier and dirtier. Yet, people still drink from it. When asked if they could just boil it first, I was sobered to realize that using their supply of charcoal to boil water would mean they would not be able to cook their food to eat. Given the choice, it seems silly to them to boil water.
As we walked, children would bring children to us that needed medical attention. One had a rash all over his body, another had some sort of fungus in his hair and another had a sore on the back of his head. Donald addressed each child, telling them to come to the mission first thing in the morning. The remainder of the daylight was spent watching the children jump into the channels at the dam as a way of “showing off” to the “blancs” (whites). Then, we rode back to the Children’s International Lifeline base to have supper, get packed up and head home.
