I made contact with the manager at the Caribbean Lodge today, and some kids are going for water therapy tomorrow!  I am way excited about this.  I have to watch some videos tonight so that I can learn some of what needs to be done.   I have the swim diapers for the kids, but I don’t have PFDs for each of the kids yet.  I also don’t know who will be going with me tomorrow to help.  Brinel goes to horse therapy, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to need another person to help in the water.  It would be great if Gertrude could go, help out, and meet the manager.  We’ll see what plays out.  Besides, I won’t be able to get any pictures if no one else is there to help!

            The three kids who are going for the water therapy are Phonsley, Alain, and Christine.  I think all of them can benefit from the therapy, especially Christine.  She has super high muscle tone, and her arms are often contracted tightly.  She really struggles with getting her limbs to move when she wants them to, so my hope is that in the water she will be able to move more freely and feel what that is like.  Phonsely just needs to keep working on strength development.  I’m not sure how the water therapy will help, and I’m not sure that he’s the best choice.  I’ll have to see how he develops.  Alain gets to go because he rarely gets out of his chair, and he doesn’t really get a lot of attention from anybody.  He just sort of sits in his chair pushed up against the wall.  I’d like to see him get some 1-1 attention and get out of his chair.  See what happens.

Chi Chi, the boy I'll be working with

            I went back over to Gertrude’s nephew’s orphanage today.  He seems like a very earnest young man.  I hope Gertrude can serve as a mentor to him and show him how to hook up with support systems for food, medical help, etc.  He wanted to know whether I could come back and do some therapy with Chi Chi, and I agreed.  My first day with him is tomorrow around 1:30.  I’ll try to take some video or pictures to post.  My best guess is that he has some degree of CP, but I don’t know for sure. 

            I’m not sure how Gertrude will feel about my helping out there.  I don’t want to hide the fact that I’m helping, but for some reason right now I feel as if I shouldn’t make a big deal out of it.  I think I’m still feeling sensitive from last week.  I haven’t seen many orphanages myself (just the two), but I have heard from others how much better Notre Maison/St. Joe’s are compared to the others.  Gertrude does an amazing job here, and she has a lot.  Which means that the children here have a lot.  They get three meals a day, go to school, get lots of attention from visitors, get lots of treats from visitors, and have annual medical check ups. 

Pile o' Clothes

            Just today a pile, I mean a huge pile, of clothes was delivered by Food for the Poor along with food staples.  Honestly, the last thing Gertrude needs is more clothes.  Right now it is all being stored in a massive cardboard box in the depot.  Having observed what I have so far, I wonder how much—if any—she will share with others.  I am still struggling with reconciling the hoarding mentality that seems to come with folks who live in survival mode with my own upbringing of sharing what one has with others (whether they have less than I or not).  Based on my parents’ example and based on my own faith journey, I have learned that the more I give, the more I have.  Literally.  Not just in some figurative way.  I try to be a faithful steward of what God has blessed me with, and when I do that, I always have more than what I need.  And when I share those blessings, I still always have more than I need.

"Bag" #1 of clothes

          Having grown up in America with more than I need and more than I want, I will probably never be able to understand that need to hoard.  It’s probably similar to how folks who grew up in the Great Depression continued to save everything even after times were good again.  Please pray that I can step back and do more observing and asking questions than placing value judgment.  I feel as if I’m slipping into “judging” a whole lot lately, and that’s not my place.  It leads to me thinking that my ways or my opinions are “better than,” and they’re not.  Life/culture in Haiti are just different.  And different isn't bad or good, right or wrong.  It’s just different.