Bitter-sweet

Today was a bitter-sweet day. We woke up and had a smaller portion for breakfast of the same thing we had yesterday… rice. It was good and filling. After we ate we hung out with some of the kids until their food was cool enough to eat. Then it was time to feed the children breakfast, which went smoothly. After breakfast was served, Katie and I were asked to help out with the laundry. Hard work! We set up 2 large containers, one for washing, the other for rinsing. I was given the washing container and my partner, Pierre, was rinsing. Pierre is one of the children with Down’s Syndrome. The process of washing is quite simple. Put the clothes in, scrub them, wring them out, and pass them to the rinsing container. Pierre then does the same and puts them in a bucket to be taken to hang dry. Katie had the same process on her side, but she was doing blankets… much heavier and more difficult than the clothes I was given. This process went on for about an hour, which seemed like 5! After we finished the laundry, we went and hung out with some of the children. We started a game of catch with a group of them. Peterson was the initiator and others soon joined. Throughout the game about 10 kids joined in for a throw or two. Some of them played with us the whole time, others just threw the ball once or twice. This game was fun and very entertaining! After ball, Katie and I were pretty tired so we decided to take a quick nap before lunch. We went to the room to lay down and the next thing we knew, we awoke to the bell ringing for lunch. We had missed our opportunity to get food. The teachers and adults eat before the children to allow time to let the food cool for the children. When the bell rings, it means that the food is cool enough for the children. So, waking to the sound of the bell meant that we had missed lunch. Sad, especially since we had a smaller breakfast then usual. Either way, the feeding needed to be done. We each grabbed a plate and went to feed the children. I was given a plate for Sam, but when I found him, he was already being fed so I was given the opportunity to feed Hope. I had not had much experience with her so it was good for me to feed her today. After lunch, I went to return the dishes to be washed and I came upon David, a boy that has no movement in his legs but gets around by pulling himself with his left arm. He is typically fairly mobile and can get wherever he needs to be, but not this time. I don’t know of he had fallen or just got tired, but all I saw was a boy laying on the ground in tears. He gestured to me to help him and it crumbled my heart. Of course I would help him. I picked him up and took him to his bed. He was still crying from I don’t know what…maybe pain, maybe fear. Either way I did not want to leave his side. I laid him down and untangled his mangled legs. This seemed to relieve some pain and he began to calm down. He pointed toward a blanket for me to cover him. I pulled the blanket up around him and then he reached for my hand and pulled me down on the bed with him. I laid next to him until he was calm and almost asleep. Poor baby was scared and tired. I was happy to bring him some comfort but so upset that this is his reality. Tears came to my eyes as I laid with him and I wished I could do more to help him and make his life just a little easier. But in that moment, he was content, so I guess I had helped him. After David was calm, Katie and I decided that we should probably go eat lunch since were even more hungry than before, so we returned to our room to snack on some of the things we have… snack mix, power bars and candy. Hardly lunch, but better than the alternative. After lunch, Katie read me two stories that they have here at Wings. One was Soni’s Mended Wings and the other was Shine. Both of the stories were about children living at Wings. Katie’s stories made me tired so I took another nap. I woke just in time to help serve dinner. Katie and I had a race to see who could feed the fastest. Luckily we were given two kids next to each other; Katie had Lazar and I had Teddy. I figured I would have victory since Teddy is one of the best eaters there, but Lazar put up a great fight! In the end, Teddy and I won by one bite! Yeah Teddy! Maybe next time Lazar. We’ll have to practice. After dinner is usually pretty calm. The children are allowed free time until its time for bed, so Katie and I came up and had more power bars and snack mix! We typically opt not to eat dinner because it never looks too appealing. Today it just looked like flour and water mixed with some grease. Not sure if that’s what it was, but I wasn’t willing to try. Katie and I think that the reason for such bland dinner might be so that the children aren’t up all night with stomach aches. We don’t know for sure, but that seems like a logical conclusion. So snack mix and power bars it was. We finished eating and decided to sit on the porch for a little. We met Pastor Alfredo who asked us if we had “accepted Jesus”. We both responded yes, even though I have mixed opinions on religion. Either way, I have accepted a higher power so I didn’t think it would make much of a difference. We chatted with Alfredo for a while until Mano came with his computer and turned on some music. Katie and I sat there listening to the music, not saying much at all, until it was far past dark. Don’t be deceived though, dark happens at about 6:15 here in Haiti. It was a very peaceful and claming end to a hard day. We are now back in the room for the night and have given ourselves thorough wet wipe baths! Taking a shower every day is too wasteful and too difficult. Hopefully tomorrow will be more sweet than bitter. Love to all! 

The never ending pile of wash

Dinner...