A Different Kind of Summer

            Pretty typically when I come to Haiti, my focus is on the kids—hanging out with them, providing therapy, making sure they are kept busy . . . those kinds of things.  I often spend much of my time at the orphanage or in the neighborhood.  This summer, though, has been different.

Interns

            With four interns here this summer, the therapy and hanging with the kids was taken care of.  I didn’t spend much time in the therapy room because I handed that off to Jordan, Skyler, and Manda.  Even keeping the kids entertained before summer camp and late in the afternoon fell to the interns.  They did a great job, and they developed great relationships with the kids.  I did interact with the kids . . . just not as much.  I probably did more observing of the interactions between the interns and the kids, which was awesome.  I loved seeing how the kids connected with these young ladies and really developed trust with them. 

            My role as supervisor made me feel one step removed from the kids and how my time is usually spent here.  Don’t get me wrong, I still hung out with the kids—Bingo in the evening and playground time in the morning—but it was still just different.  Even meal times were different.  With the four interns, I wasn’t needed as much to help feed, and during that time I was often helping Abby handle her responsibilities with Junior and Judeline. 

Networking

            I haven’t spent this much time networking since my first extended stay back in 2013!  Abby’s work with Haiti Mama has led me to work more closely with them.  I have Tausha’s contact information, and we will continue to be in touch as long as Judeline and Junior are here.   Even the connection with Patrick, a Haiti Mama social worker who helped Abby with her assessments, could continue if he really wants to follow up on some of the conversations they had with the kids.

            I now have contacts with Dr. Nau, who saw Phonsley, Oskar, and Jean Ronald.  He is someone that I feel I could check in with if I have questions in the future about the kids or just if I’m looking for other resources for the kids.  Like the surgeons who come in and work on kids like Jean Ronald.  Dr. Nau mentioned it to me at the first appointment, and when I emailed him with follow-up questions, he said he would get the information to me.  Because of him, I know where to go to get good x-rays and I have connections at Healing Hands for Haiti.  I feel as if new parts of Haiti are opening up to me!

            I also learned about a counseling agency here in PAP that I never would have known existed had I not been connected with Haiti Mama.  The place is called Espere Counseling Center, and it is up above Petion-ville.  I hope to connect some of our kids with them because they seem to have resources that would benefit our kids.

Money

            I can’t say that this is an area of growth because I still question people’s honesty with me and their overtures of friendship.  I have to say that I’m disappointed in myself for still questioning people, especially people I know.  For example, a lady who sells her wares at the orphanage and who has been nothing but giving and kind to me asked for some money earlier this week.  She said that her family was hungry and that she didn’t have money to buy food.  My first instinct was not to give her the money.  My first thoughts were “what kind of story is she telling me?”  I hardened my heart to her simply because others have first asked for money and then claimed to be my friend.  Even after I said no to her, she gave me a bracelet that she had made. 

            She honored our relationship by asking for help and not being upset when the answer was “no.”  I do not deserve that kind of friendship.  Instead of trusting, I first questioned, judged, and thought of my future needs.  Future needs?  My future needs are more than taken care of.  Her present needs were not.  In my very judgmental mind, I put myself above her instead of seeing us as equals.  My thoughts and actions show that not only am I not above her, I’m not sure I’m even her equal. 

            God didn’t let my heart stay hardened to her for long.  Later than morning we were able to share a ride, and I slipped her some gourdes.  Not much—what is $5 to a wealthy Amerian?—but it was enough to meet her needs for that day.  I won’t say no to her again.  I will work to honor our friendship as she has.  I will respect the strength of character that it takes to ask for help.  I will be better.

Independence

           I love that I have so much more independence than I’ve had before.  And, it’s not just because my motorcycle is finally working.  It’s more that I trust myself to get by and figure things out in Creole.  The language camp has a lot to do with that.  I make a lot of mistakes in the language, but I can get my point across and, for the most part, understand answers.  With that new found confidence, I went to a road side stand and had a new battery put in my motorcycle.  I have been able to buy gas for the motorcycle on my own—I know that may not seem like a big deal, but to me it is!  I found a place to scan documents when I needed to.  I’m starting to believe that I can function in this country without always having to go to Gertrude first.  It’s been great having her as a resource for the past three years, but I like being able to be independent.  I hope that as I settle in at school that those feelings of independence grow.

Orphan Care

           Prior to this summer, I was all about the adoption process.  That was all I knew.  This summer’s focus has been on family reunification and/or foster care.  This didn’t happen by choice.  We had two children go back to live with a birth parent and extended family, which got me thinking about why there are so many “orphans” in Haiti.  I learned the term “economic orphan”—children placed in orphanages because parents can’t afford to care for them.  I learned about a fledgling foster-care program up in Petion-ville.  I heard new friends talk passionately about creating children’s homes so that Haiti’s future isn’t adopted out to the U.S. or Canada.  I heard stories, and accusations, of adoption-for-profit.

            Adoption in and of itself is not bad.  But, it needs to be handled so delicately, especially when a birth parent is still alive.  Counseling is needed for children living in Haiti’s orphanages because they are talking about where they came from.  They are talking about family that lives “lot bo”—out there.  They are talking about their hopes of reconnecting somewhere down the line.  They tell themselves that family didn’t really leave them some place—it was a mistake.  All of this needs to be addressed so that Haiti’s future grows up emotionally healthy, more ready to tackle the needs of this country than its current leaders.

            This summer marks the end of 3.5 years of blogging about my short-term stays in Haiti.  It has been an amazing journey, and I am so glad that I have blogged because it provides the story of my experiences here up to this point. 

            Tomorrow I start a different part of my journey in Haiti—the long-term, more permanent part.  I move in to my new digs at Morning Star Christian Academy where I will be teaching for at least the next school year.  God willing, the teaching gig will last more than a couple of years, I will learn what it means to live—really live—in a foreign country, especially one like Haiti.

Don’t know what that will be like, but as they say in Haiti: “Jezi konnen.”