Two and a half weeks ago when we arrived, Kayal took us to visit a homeless shelter in Cabaret. This homeless shelter was basically an abandoned place with walls and a roof. We walked in and it was very dark and hot. Because it was market day, not many people were there but a lady with two girls were there. One little girl caught all of our eyes. She had on only a shirt and we could see burn marks/scars on her legs. We came back and told Esther about the younger girl and we ended going back to see them. We found out that this little girl is 2 years old and her father is blind and her mother passed away. The other girl says she is 12. Esther told us she is most likely a restavek and is the main caregiver for the little girl; they are cousins. Esther wanted the 2 year old to come to the orphanage and after talking to her dad he said he would allow it. This was two weeks ago. She wanted to wait for a couple days to make sure that the dad was ok with it so we let the weekend pass and Kayla went back on Monday. The dad was willing to send her and then last minute changed his mind. So, we left her there with him and Kayla went back a few times after.
A week later the father sent a women to come and check out the orphanage and see if it was ok for the little girl. So, Wednesday we welcomed in the 2 year old and her cousin (aka, caregiver). They went to Kayla's house for their first real shower and were given some clothes and sandals. After that they came to Tytoo to play with the kids. Esther also assessed them and we found out the 12 year old has never gone to school and does not know Jesus. We got to play with them in the afternoon and we went to night time devotions.After devotions we came upstairs because Esther wanted the girls to sleep near her so she could keep an eye on the 2 year old. We got them ready for bed and they looked through their new bag of clothes to find some pj's and they were super excited. We had to teach Magdala how to brush her teeth because she didn't know how...as well as use the toilet =)
It was an exciting evening filled with new beginnings and new life for these little girls. It is going to be hard saying goodbye tomorrow as we head home.
Lindsay and Allison
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Tytoo Gardens
Hello and sorry for no posts lately! We have been having issues with the blog so will update you on the past week. We got to Tytoo last Tuesday and were meet by the 53 kids here. So much has happened here so I will give you a quick update:
-trip to the homeless shelter and are trying to rescue a malnourished little girl and take her to the orphanage
-Vi Bella: a work project in the community for women to help create jewelry from plastic bottles as well as sewing projects to sell. We helped move the sewing supplies from Tytoo to the Vi Bella community center to get some of the Tytoo girls started on a project
-a trip to the market
-Maria and Cazi's wedding: Maria works with Frank and Esther at Tytoo and got married on Saturday. The wedding was held here at the orphanage and the kids had a blast with the dance party after!
-twins: last week a mom brought her two 4 month old babies to the clinic. They were extremely malnourished and sick. Esther sent them to a hospital and they came back the next day because the hospital told them they couldn't help them. She moved in with her babies and 2 year old so she could get constant care. One of the babies we put a feeding tube in because she wouldn't eat because she was so short of breath. She ended up passing away the night of the wedding. The next day the mother left with her other two children saying she would return but has not. It has been a difficult situation that we are continuing to pray for in hopes that the mother would get the help she needs for her children and herself.
-clinic: we observed Frank and Esther working in their clinic here at Tytoo. Today there were 13 patients. The first man was the worst with an infected thumb that was huge from a fish bone cut. We had to leave the room because we were a little queazy....they had to cut open his thumb to get the infection out....yuck! He felt way better after though =) We also had some pregnant women come in and were able to listen to the babies heartbeat which was amazing. We ended up having another lady come in with her week old baby later on and the baby was extremely sick. Esther explained to us how the baby had jaundice, possibly liver failure and had a dark ring around his mouth which showed he had a difficult time with oxygen intake. They were not capable to treat him so sent the mother and baby to a hospital
That is a rough update of the past week here. We have been able to love on the children and learn a few random Creole words. We would love continued prayers for health, the kids here, and the people that come here to the clinic and Frank and Esther and their family. We are having a wonderful time and will update you again soon!
Orevwa!
Lindsay and Allison
-trip to the homeless shelter and are trying to rescue a malnourished little girl and take her to the orphanage
-Vi Bella: a work project in the community for women to help create jewelry from plastic bottles as well as sewing projects to sell. We helped move the sewing supplies from Tytoo to the Vi Bella community center to get some of the Tytoo girls started on a project
-a trip to the market
-Maria and Cazi's wedding: Maria works with Frank and Esther at Tytoo and got married on Saturday. The wedding was held here at the orphanage and the kids had a blast with the dance party after!
-twins: last week a mom brought her two 4 month old babies to the clinic. They were extremely malnourished and sick. Esther sent them to a hospital and they came back the next day because the hospital told them they couldn't help them. She moved in with her babies and 2 year old so she could get constant care. One of the babies we put a feeding tube in because she wouldn't eat because she was so short of breath. She ended up passing away the night of the wedding. The next day the mother left with her other two children saying she would return but has not. It has been a difficult situation that we are continuing to pray for in hopes that the mother would get the help she needs for her children and herself.
-clinic: we observed Frank and Esther working in their clinic here at Tytoo. Today there were 13 patients. The first man was the worst with an infected thumb that was huge from a fish bone cut. We had to leave the room because we were a little queazy....they had to cut open his thumb to get the infection out....yuck! He felt way better after though =) We also had some pregnant women come in and were able to listen to the babies heartbeat which was amazing. We ended up having another lady come in with her week old baby later on and the baby was extremely sick. Esther explained to us how the baby had jaundice, possibly liver failure and had a dark ring around his mouth which showed he had a difficult time with oxygen intake. They were not capable to treat him so sent the mother and baby to a hospital
That is a rough update of the past week here. We have been able to love on the children and learn a few random Creole words. We would love continued prayers for health, the kids here, and the people that come here to the clinic and Frank and Esther and their family. We are having a wonderful time and will update you again soon!
Orevwa!
Lindsay and Allison
Thursday, July 12, 2012
messy, sweaty, wonderful days loving on some children
What a few wonderful days we have had here! They have been busy and full of goodness. There has been a team in from Minnesota and they are building a swing set (the kids LOVE it already and it doesn't even have the swings yet), doing some painting, some cleaning, and playing with the kids. I have been able to spend some time with the babies during the last 2 days as well as time with the older kids and have just been enjoying every minute of it. We have had 2 more pizza parties; we finished the last one up tonight. The kids have loved the pizza and a movie. Today Joyce and a few others from church stopped by and it was good to see them for a few minutes. We chatted, they got a tour, and then they headed onto their next destination. Dorothy needed to go to the bank so Lindsay and I rode along and then she gave us a little tour on the way back home. We got to see the children's hospital, a school some of the kids go to, the U.S. Embassy, and more of Haiti. This afternoon I went out and sat in a chair while kids climbed on my lap and then went running off to play on the swingset. Lindsay and I did some laundry before we made pizzas and had a really good evening eating pizza with the older kids tonight. The team will be in again tomorrow to finish up the swing set and then we will be back to planning activities to do with the kids. I can't believe that we only have less than a week at Faith-Hope-Love Infant Rescue!
-Allison
-Allison
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Painting
This week we are trying to do a planned activity with the kids each morning. Yesterday we got out the tub of paints in our room and divided the kids up in three different groups. We just used watercolor paints and the kids loved it. Our first group was all boys and it went great. We had plain paper and ripped out coloring sheets for them to use. Our second group was boys too and they were a little more crazy. We had some of the younger boys and their attention span didn't last too long. Last, we took the seven girls in. The older girls did really well while MyLove was eating the paint and RoseMichelle was running around holding up her diaper because it was full and down to her knees. We had to take the little girls back early and couldn't get the older girls to leave. We cleaned up and have a huge stack of paintings in our room! After lunch we played with the babies. Esther, a nanny, was with them and she loves to sing so we sang and then we got our English to Creole book out for her. I think we spent an hour reading the Creole words and then the English words. We would have gone longer but Dorothy asked if we wanted to ride with her to pick up Tamara. Tamara is starting therapy at the hospital and had an evaluation all day. At night Dorothy went through some boxes of clothes and fabric she received from a friend. The older kids were upstairs and she had the girls each pick out a dress to wear Sunday so she could make them a necklace. We sent the kids downstairs and we ate leftovers and worked on getting beads together for a necklace. We ended up making one and it turned our really cute. Overall we had a great day and are expecting temperatures in the 100's today and as of right now we don't have electricity so we are definately feeling the heat!
Lindsay
Monday, July 9, 2012
Reading, Rest, and Rats
What a wonderful day!
Before church, Lindsay and I had about a half an hour to just read books to 4 of the older kids; Claudine, Rosa, Gertlene, and Sha Sha. 3 of them do not speak fluent English, but still loved listening to the stories.
After church we came back and ate lunch. During lunch Dorothy told us to take a day of rest, so we did. We hung out in our room for a while, reading, uploading pictures, and doing puzzles. The we started to hear thunder, so we went to sit on the roof and watch the storm come in. The storm never came in, but went right on by us over the mountain. While we were sitting up there Sha Sha and Gertlene told us to close our eyes because they had a surprise for us, it was a "snack"! They had cooked plastic chicken and grapes and delivered them to us. After a while of sitting upstairs we went back to just lay down for a while. We both took a little nap, and after our nap we went out to see what was going on. Mike and Brent were here, so we chatted with them for a little while. They headed out and we made dinner, chicken wings and potatos. yum! While everything was cooking Lindsay, Dorothy, and I enjoyed our pictures and a little music for a while. Lindsay has taken a ton of pictures, so we just watched a slideshow of them. Dinner was wonderful, and after dinner come the exciting part. (Brent, if you are reading this, this part is for you) I was bringing my plate into the kitchen to set in the sink when all of a sudden I saw this little furry grey thing run past the counter behind the microwave. I didn't scream, just yelled rat. That's when Dorothy came with her broom to get it out from behind the microwave and Nala, her big dog grabbed it and ran with it. There is one less rat in here tonight.
-Allison
Before church, Lindsay and I had about a half an hour to just read books to 4 of the older kids; Claudine, Rosa, Gertlene, and Sha Sha. 3 of them do not speak fluent English, but still loved listening to the stories.
After church we came back and ate lunch. During lunch Dorothy told us to take a day of rest, so we did. We hung out in our room for a while, reading, uploading pictures, and doing puzzles. The we started to hear thunder, so we went to sit on the roof and watch the storm come in. The storm never came in, but went right on by us over the mountain. While we were sitting up there Sha Sha and Gertlene told us to close our eyes because they had a surprise for us, it was a "snack"! They had cooked plastic chicken and grapes and delivered them to us. After a while of sitting upstairs we went back to just lay down for a while. We both took a little nap, and after our nap we went out to see what was going on. Mike and Brent were here, so we chatted with them for a little while. They headed out and we made dinner, chicken wings and potatos. yum! While everything was cooking Lindsay, Dorothy, and I enjoyed our pictures and a little music for a while. Lindsay has taken a ton of pictures, so we just watched a slideshow of them. Dinner was wonderful, and after dinner come the exciting part. (Brent, if you are reading this, this part is for you) I was bringing my plate into the kitchen to set in the sink when all of a sudden I saw this little furry grey thing run past the counter behind the microwave. I didn't scream, just yelled rat. That's when Dorothy came with her broom to get it out from behind the microwave and Nala, her big dog grabbed it and ran with it. There is one less rat in here tonight.
-Allison
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Blessed
I am so blessed!
The electricity has been going out a lot and we all get excited when the light outside comes on saying we have city power back. Cold showers at night feel great although it takes a second to get used to. The cockroaches that show up in the most random places give us adventure for the day. This morning I woke up to Allison telling me we had a cockroach just hanging out in our toilet. Lucky for us, after a few flushes he finally went down. We did our laundry yesterday and we had a washing machine although we had to fill it up with water ourselves and hang them on a clothesline to dry. Dorothy's smile was priceless after a few of the older kids did a little fashion show for us during our dinner. The other night we had about 15 kids come upstairs to have a movie night and popcorn. We all huddled around a laptop and watched Shrek 2. Claude, a little boy here, took his first steps without any help and Fadaphora, one of the twin girls, rolled over from her back to her stomach. After lunch the kids all started singing Ho Ho Ho, Hosannah, Ha Ha Hallelujah.... We ate watermelon and pancakes. The kids had to get their report cards from school the other day and they all had big grins when they walked in the house. Tonight some kids made hotdogs in cresent rolls with us. Dorothy was able to turn on the inverter and we got internet and the fans working!
Lindsay
The electricity has been going out a lot and we all get excited when the light outside comes on saying we have city power back. Cold showers at night feel great although it takes a second to get used to. The cockroaches that show up in the most random places give us adventure for the day. This morning I woke up to Allison telling me we had a cockroach just hanging out in our toilet. Lucky for us, after a few flushes he finally went down. We did our laundry yesterday and we had a washing machine although we had to fill it up with water ourselves and hang them on a clothesline to dry. Dorothy's smile was priceless after a few of the older kids did a little fashion show for us during our dinner. The other night we had about 15 kids come upstairs to have a movie night and popcorn. We all huddled around a laptop and watched Shrek 2. Claude, a little boy here, took his first steps without any help and Fadaphora, one of the twin girls, rolled over from her back to her stomach. After lunch the kids all started singing Ho Ho Ho, Hosannah, Ha Ha Hallelujah.... We ate watermelon and pancakes. The kids had to get their report cards from school the other day and they all had big grins when they walked in the house. Tonight some kids made hotdogs in cresent rolls with us. Dorothy was able to turn on the inverter and we got internet and the fans working!
Lindsay
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Patience = Virtue
One thing I've learned about life in Haiti is that patience is key. So often there will be plans, but things change, or you need to get somewhere, but that's never a fast process. Today Lindsay and I went to the grocery store with Dorothy, the lady that runs the home. She drove and the grocery store really isn't that far away, but it probably took us 30 minutes to get there just because traffic was backed up, and a truck with all return glass pop bottles lost a bunch and there was broken glass all over the middle of the road.
The Lord has been teaching me to have patience and through that rely on Him and His plans. I don't need to make my own plans, I need to surrender myself to Him each and every day. I need to let Him take control of my life and guide me to where He needs me each and every day.
Colossians 3:12 "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."
-Allison
ps. it hasn't been working to upload pictures to the blog or to facebook, but we will keep trying
The Lord has been teaching me to have patience and through that rely on Him and His plans. I don't need to make my own plans, I need to surrender myself to Him each and every day. I need to let Him take control of my life and guide me to where He needs me each and every day.
Colossians 3:12 "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."
-Allison
ps. it hasn't been working to upload pictures to the blog or to facebook, but we will keep trying
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