Poetry :
November 13th to 19th, 2004
There were 10 of us, from our Church, that flew from Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas to Miami, Florida. From there, we boarded a flight to Port au Prince, Haiti.
When we arrived in Haiti, someone from our destination met us there and drove us to the Haiti Children's Rescue Mission in Petionville.
For the remainder of the day, we met the children and we were greeted with hugs. We visited with the couple that ran the mission. Then, we took a tour of the 3-1/2--story house where we would be staying. At this time, there are 98 children, including babies, living there.
The generator was turned off at the same time every night. No one took a shower after 9 p.m. unless they wanted a cold one. Because of the water being such a precious commodity, we each, had to take military showers. Every morning, about 5:30, we could hear the children squealing as they were being bathed by the nannies. The nights were very cool and the days were warm and pleasant.
Every day, the whole team spent a lot of time playing with the children; playing games, reading to them, hugging and holding them. The girls loved to fix our hair. Two little girls fixed mine with a ponytail way up on one side of my head and a lower ponytail sort of on the other side. They were so pleased with it!
The children enjoyed teaching us some words in their language. They speak French and Creole. Many are learning to speak English. The school-age boys have to have their heads shaved in order to attend school. The children are schooled in the church; all of the children wear matching uniforms.
Several of the team members walked the older children to school and back each day. One of our team members is a Doctor who took care of many medical needs while we were there. All of our team worked well together doing various chores in an around the house and some of us helped in the cooking. I also had the joy of doing a little carpentry job on a squeaky door plus some sorting and organizing. I dressed the newly-built bookshelves with childrens books and crafts. The four men from our team did a great job building the two large bookshelves plus two long tables to fit below the shelves for the children's area. We hung colorful paintings of the native Haitians on the walls upstairs.
Sunday, we walked about ¼-mile to the church. The choir's beautiful songs were heard all the way to the mission. Inside the church, all the males sat on the far side of the aisle and all the females sat on the other side of the aisle. After we were seated, the congregation joined in the singing. I sang the songs that I knew, in English, while the Haitians sang in Creole. The lady who sang lead with the choir was absolutely awesome! During the many and very long prayers, I could sense the fervency even though I could not understand the words. There were men that walked around and kept an eye out for anyone who may need to be chastised for making a noise or any other distraction that may disturb the worship. I was so blessed to be there! What a wonderful day!
The day before we left to return home, some of the team members went to the market and brought back gifts for the children. Later, that day, several of us walked up a mountain.
After dinner, we were entertained on the outside balcony by a group of children that sang several songs.