What GLA Means

Honestly, I had no intention of being silent for so long after my return from Haiti.  I wish I could say that life in Calgary ramped up to full-speed soon after I got back, but it was a slow summer in terms of work.  My parents visited for a couple of weeks, and I have struggled with some health issues.  Fall is looking much better. Perhaps I’ll write about my struggles at some point.  But today, inspired by a plea from Tom Vanderwell (GLA’s Manager of Partner Relations) to help the children of Haiti one more time, I want to tell you what God’s Littlest Angels means to me, in the hopes of inspiring you, too. 

The two weeks I spent at GLA this summer touched my heart in so many ways. I was moved by the daily hardships that are part of life in Haiti, and even more so by the staff at GLA.  The nannies who work tirelessly to keep the children in line, while loving them as if they were their own.  The kitchen staff who cook for sometimes 40 volunteers and staff at one time.  The nurses and nannies in the NICU, who give so much of themselves and often work around the clock to make a life-saving difference for premature or sick infants.  The office staff, who give their all to keep the orphanage running smoothly.  Dixie, who oversees the daily operations for GLA in Haiti, and her husband John, who manages the maintenance for all of GLA’s buildings (which is no easy task in Haiti, where electricity is sporadic, generators break down, and things in general are known to malfunction more often than they do in North America).  I was amazed at what it takes to keep the place running. 

But mostly, my heart was touched by the precious children.  They are the reason that all of the above-mentioned people work so hard.  I was moved by the big tears - and big smiles - of the babies in the nursery.  Okay, the smelly diapers were moving too, but in a different way! I was amazed at how many developmental changes I saw in two short weeks, due to the willingness of volunteers to work with the babies and toddlers, and to show them unconditional love.  These kids have been through more trauma in their short lifetimes than we can even imagine here in Canada. 

So what does GLA mean? It means a lot of people working relentlessly to battle the hardships of life in Haiti, to battle forces of spiritual darkness, and to be a light to the children who need to know that love exists, that they are worth it, and that somebody wants good things for them. 

Now you know what it means to me.  But what does it mean for YOU? There are two important ways you can help today! GLA has entered the Giving of Life Contest, in hopes of winning a grant. First prize is $50,000, second prize is $20,000 and third prize is $10,000.  A grant in any of those amounts would be a significant help in keeping GLA running during the coming year, as well as with the construction of the new orphanage at Fort Jacques.  So, how can YOU help? By going to the Giving of Life website and CASTING YOUR VOTE.  GLA is currently in 4^th place with over 6000 votes.  Please help to boost them into the Top 3.  It’s easy to do and only takes a minute! And if you register more than one email address, you can vote multiple times!

Another way you can assist is by donating directly to the Hairless for Haiti campaign, which you can read about here. 

Thanks for helping, even in seemingly small ways.  It all adds up to success for the Angels in Haiti. 

Orevwa d'Ayiti

Those of you who told me the hardest part of my trip would be leaving to come home were absolutely right.  Saying goodbye to my new friends (the volunteers and staff), and especially to the babies, was very emotional.  I will no doubt write more on this later, when I am better rested.  I'll also post some pictures of the route from GLA to the Port-au-Prince airport. 

I arrived back in Calgary yesterday afternoon, but my bags are still somewhere between here and Miami.  Despite going to bed early last night, after taking a long, hot shower, I still don’t feel rested.   You’d think that I would have slept well in my own bed but, strangely, I missed the sounds of Kenscoff – the chirping tree frogs, barking dogs and crowing roosters.  My basement suite is uncomfortably cool, and my body clock is still on Central Time, so I woke up at 5:30 AM, which is 6:30 in Haiti.  But I digress.  I am so thankful for an amazing experience in Haiti, and also thankful to be home.  Everything seems strange here.  My apartment, foreign; the streets, so wide; my queen-size bed, extravagant.   I’m about to venture to Wal-Mart to buy groceries.  I can only imagine what a shock that’s going to be. 

Although my journey toward Haiti has, in a sense, ended, it has in other ways just begun.  I will continue to use this blog as a means of processing my re-entry into Canadian culture - of debriefing, if you will.  Although I was only away for two weeks, I experienced things that have changed who I am and, I believe, who I will become.  My hope is that I will be able to return to Haiti in the not-too-distant future, better prepared than I was for my first trip, and yet more aware of how little I actually know about this beautiful, broken land.  Until next time...

Karibe Hotel

The staff at GLA recognized that it had been a rough week.  Many of the babies had been sick, as well as some of the volunteers.  The weather had been gloomy and rainy.  We had lost power, water and internet for a while.  To boost morale, the head volunteers (who have been here several years) arranged a trip to a hotel for us to go swimming for the day on Saturday.  It was definitely a highlight of my trip. 

The Karibe Hotel in Petionville is nothing like the Haiti you see on the news.  It felt as though we had been transported to a resort in the Dominican Republic or some other Caribbean destination.  Tall palm trees swayed in the breeze.  Lime trees and avocado trees lined the walkways.  The hotel itself was a sight to behold.  Beautiful architecture; stained-glass sun motifs decorated the ceilings and floors.  Waterfalls cascaded over painted stones and tiles into pools surrounded by greenery.  A tropical paradise.  As we strolled through the lobby and out the back doors (which were actually open archways), a decorative stairway led to a crystal blue swimming pool with a swim-up bar.  Could this really be Haiti?

I heard one of the staff at GLA comment that there is no middle class in Haiti - you’re either rich or you’re poor.  This was abundantly evident in the contrast between Petionville, a richer suburb of Port-au-Prince, and the scene I first saw from the air before landing last Monday (see my blog post from June 21 for a picture). 

After slathering our skin with sun block, we all swam for a while, and then lounged in the sun to dry off before lunch.  The restaurant was nearly full, and there were 13 of us, so the hotel staff served us our food on the pool deck.  I ordered a vegetarian lasagne and ate in the shade of a large umbrella covering the table.  I hadn’t eaten much in the past 24 hours, so I was famished.  I had to pace myself because I wasn’t sure how my stomach would react, but the spinach lasagne was perfect!

After lunch, some of us wandered the grounds, taking pictures and marvelling at the landscaping.  The hotel also boasts a spa and a gift shop! So, of course, we found a way to help out the Haitian economy a little more (read: buy more souvenirs).  I purchased some hand-made bracelets crafted by Haitian artisans who use the proceeds to rise out of poverty and provide for their families.  Many of them live in tents and have large families to support.  Check out www.apparentproject.org for details.  The gift shop was, of course, much pricier than the street market, and the prices were non-negotiable.  I considered buying a necklace as well, but couldn’t bring myself to pay quadruple what I knew they sold for on the street.  Unfortunately, I won’t make it back to the Baptist Mission to do any more shopping before I head home on Monday (GLA volunteers go every other Saturday). 

We left the hotel about 4:00, in time to eat supper at the Main House.  The truck ride back to GLA was an adventure.  So far, I had avoided riding in the pickup truck with benches in the back and a 4-foot cage around the sides to keep its passengers from falling out! But this was the only transportation home, so I climbed into the bed and hung on for dear life.  I have often marvelled at the fact that there aren’t more motor vehicle accidents in Haiti.  People rarely wear seat belts , there are no car seats for kids, and motorcycle helmets are virtually nonexistent.  Makes me shudder, just thinking about it. 

Here are some pictures of the day. By the way, the drink in my hand is a fresh-squeezed mango smoothie!

This morning I went to both the Haitian and the American church again.  It’s been raining off and on, so it will probably be another lazy Sunday afternoon.  Lunch is about to be served.  I’m not sure if I’ll get to publish anything else before I leave tomorrow afternoon, so I may write my next post in the Miami airport during my three-hour layover, or from my hotel room in Orlando.  Until next time...

Canada Day at GLA

My very first Canada Day outside of Canada did not get off to a good start.  Last night around 8:30, I began to feel really nauseous - more than usual – and I knew it wasn’t going to be a good night.  I would have gone to bed early, but I had washed my sheets and was waiting for them to dry.  This nausea was the beginning of a case of the infamous “Haitian Happiness”, which causes your last meal to exit your body at both ends, either simultaneously or in alternating spurts.  In my case, it was the latter.  After a couple of rounds of that nonsense, I laid awake in bed for several hours, generally feeling yucky.  My exhaustion was compounded by the heat of the night and dehydration, and yet I couldn’t sleep.   Finally, I took my novel and journal and went to the kitchen.  I drank an oral rehydration solution, finished reading the final chapter of the book, and wrote in my journal for a while.  I had no idea what time it was – there’s no clock in the kitchen.  It was still dark outside, but the roosters had begun to crow, an indication that it was likely sometime between 3 and 4 AM.  Finally, I went back to bed and slept fitfully until almost 7:00. 

On Friday mornings, Pastor Brandon and his wife Nikki have all the volunteers over for breakfast and a short devotional and discussion about our week.  I managed to make it up the hill (thankfully they live only two doors away, in the guest house).  I didn’t eat anything, but tried to participate in the discussion, since this is my last Friday in Haiti.  Then I promptly went back to Toddler House and crawled back into bed.  My symptoms had now upgraded to muscle aches, a headache, and a fever, so I took a couple of Tylenol and went to sleep.  By lunch time I thought I felt well enough to go down to the Main House.  However, I spent most of the afternoon sleeping on a bench on the balcony and, when that proved to be too hot, the couch in the living room. 

Nonetheless, I am proudly donning a red t-shirt with the autographs of the Canadian Olympians from Vancouver 2010 arranged in the shape of a white maple leaf.  Below are some pictures of the Canada Day celebration at supper time.  I ate fresh fruit in lieu of pizza, in hopes of keeping my supper down.   Emelyne and I decorated a slab cake to look like the Canadian flag (we didn’t quite have enough red food colouring, so it turned out to be a pink and white flag). 

 Here’s a picture of me, Melissa, Becky, and Emelyne (the “Canadian girls”) and one of Jocelyne and George, a couple from Quebec City who now live in Port-au-Prince, but will be moving to Fort Jacques as soon as their house is built.  

Happy Birthday, Canada! 

Excused Absence

I’ll just apologize upfront for the long-winded blog post.  I couldn’t bring myself to write anything of substance on Sunday or Monday, and the internet went down on Tuesday and just came back up this morning.  So here’s what has transpired in the last few days.

Sunday morning started bright and early.  I was up by six (so much for a day of rest).  But since I only get to shower every other day, I was eager to beat everyone else to the bathroom.  Not that there was much competition at 6 AM on Sunday.  I went next door with Bethany and Becky to the Haitian church at 8 AM.  Everything Haitian runs on “Haitian time”.  In other words, it starts late.  I’ve been told that people in Haiti are reliable as far as doing what they say they will do, but there’s never any promise as to when things will get done.  I think the church service started around 8:30 and people continued to wander through the open door long after that, including the parade of children for Sunday School.  The kids were all dressed in pretty dresses and shirts and ties, with clean hands and faces.  The nannies abandoned their scrubs for dresses, skirts, and high heels. 

When Haitian church ended, we all piled into SUVs and made the trip to Pastor Joel’s house for “American church,” which started on time and ended promptly at noon.  Then we all went back to Main House for lunch.  A thunder storm blew in over the mountains, making it a sleepy kind of Sunday afternoon.  Back at Toddler House, I read several chapters of a novel, and spent the afternoon being generally lazy.

Monday went by in a blur.  I spent the morning on the balcony with my kids.  Just before lunch, I started to feel nauseous, which continued through the afternoon.  I ended up sleeping on the couch in the common area for a while; then, thankful for the offer, I transferred to an open guest room when Molly handed me the keys.  I felt better after eating supper and drinking an oral rehydration solution.  I brought packets of powdered electrolytes to Haiti with me, but had forgotten to put some in my backpack before I left Toddler House in the morning.  On Tuesday I consciously drank more water in an effort to stay properly hydrated.  It’s so hot here, and it’s easy to get busy and forget to stop and drink something. 

Holli had said that those of us who were assigned three kids would be getting another child Tuesday afternoon.  I had been spending more time with one child than the others, or I had gaps of time in my day when kids were napping.  Now I will be able to distribute my time more evenly among all my kids – two in the morning and two in the afternoon.  Having spent time with Miss D and Mr. D in the morning, after lunch I looked for Mr. W but could not find him in the nursery.  Miss D was sleeping, so I lifted Mr. D out of his crib and carried him up the stairs to the balcony.  Holli appeared a short while later with the list of new assignments.  She informed me that Mr. W had “gone home” just before lunch.  Apparently, his biological family came to GLA and took him home with them.  I sat in the rocking chair, holding Mr. D, and let the news sink in.  I found myself fighting tears.  Mr. W is such a bright light.  He has big, dark eyes and an even bigger personality.  He always greeted me in the nursery with a hearty, “Hi-ya” (actually, he said it in more of a karate-chop fashion: Hi-YAH!).  Almost all the babies in the nursery greet the volunteers in this manner, even the ones who have not yet learned any other words.  Mr. W was also a kid who would not let me leave the nursery without running after me with arms outstretched, forming big tears that said, “Don’t leave me behind”.  I will miss him a whole lot, and I’m sad that I didn’t get to say goodbye to him.  I spent some time praying for him in the afternoon, relinquishing him to God and praying for his safety, well-being, and upbringing. 

On the brighter side of things, I have two new babies! Mr. F is a tiny six-week-old boy who spends most of his time in the NICU.  I rocked him to sleep on the balcony before taking him back to the NICU and handing him to a nurse.  I also have Mr. M, but wasn’t able to hang out with him today due to his nap time.  So I spent a long time cuddling Mr. D.  He is a beautiful seven-month-old, and he loves to cuddle! This morning I caught a milestone on video – he pulled himself up on his feet with the help of the steps on the back of the Little Tikes slide.  Usually he will stand in my lap if I hold his hands, but this is the first time I have seen him use an object to pull himself up.  In the afternoon, he fell asleep in my arms, and I couldn’t help but think as I watched him, that I rocked him to sleep, but he has rocked my world.  I’m really getting attached to this little one.  In fact, I asked a staff member if there’s any chance his family could come and take him home, too.  She said no; his mother has died and his father brought him to GLA when he was about a month old and signed him over for adoption.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  I couldn’t stand to lose another of “my” babies.  I only have 6 more days to rock this precious one before I leave to go home (four days if you don’t count the weekend). 

After supper on Tuesday, I succumbed to peer pressure and walked with my roommates from Main House to Toddler House (instead of hitching a ride with a staff member like I have been doing).  This was a bad decision on my part, considering I had just finished a hearty meal of pork chops, scalloped potatoes, mixed veggies and locally grown bananas for dessert.  The walk was entirely uphill and, although I walk the same route (downhill) every morning with little effort, the trek back up is another matter altogether, especially with a 20 lb backpack strapped to my back.  I thought I was going to have a stroke and/or lose my supper about halfway up the first hill.  Thankfully, Becky stayed back and walked with me at “Haitian pace”, which is more of a meander than a walk. 

Finally, I was warned before I came to GLA that there could be times when we would be without internet, water, or electricity.  It seemed a myth to me, since all of those commodities had been available for the first eight days of my trip.  Well, Tuesday night we lost them all at the same time! The internet went down sometime before lunch.  When I finally made it back to Toddler House, I collapsed on my bed to allow my heart to recover from the walk.  Just as I was thinking I had never needed a shower so bad in my life, Molly appeared in the doorway to say that a mechanic had come that morning, taken apart the generator, and left it in a million pieces while he took one part of it back to his shop in town for repairs.  This meant relying on city power, which had, at that point, been turned off.  I silently prayed that it would be turned on soon so that the water pump would work and I could have a shower.  No such luck.  Molly had also warned that we should keep a flashlight handy, in case we ran out of stored power in the building.  About a half hour later, everything went black.  Thankfully, before that happened, someone had put some buckets of water in the bathroom so we could at least freshen up.  So, we had a girls’ sleepover - the six of us in our bunk beds, chatting by the light of our flashlights.  It was so much fun! It was actually the first night since I’ve been here that we had all taken time to talk before going to bed. 

I’ll write more later.  Until then...

Saturday Shopping

What a fun day of shopping! The Baptist Mission (which is about half way between GLA and Fort Jacques) hosts both an indoor and an outdoor market.  Inside there is a restaurant, gift shop, and flower shop.  Outside, (mostly) foreign shoppers barter with local vendors for the best prices.  Bartering can be a little overwhelming, as the vendors are quite convincing and you really have to set firm boundaries and stick to them (not my forte).  Thankfully, Molly did some negotiating for me in Creole.  I purchased a few small paintings, a couple of necklaces, some hand-carved wooden jewellery boxes, a metal napkin holder painted like a tap-tap (Haitian bus), and a Creole Bible. 

My credit card didn’t work at the restaurant, despite the fact that I called MasterCard a few weeks ago and informed them that I would be using my card in Haiti.  I asked them to kindly make a note on my file, so that my account wouldn’t get locked down when I tried to use it in a third world country.  So, I reluctantly paid cash for lunch, and you can bet I’ll be on the international phone at the Main House first thing Monday morning, straightening this out.

On the way back, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items.  We all bought ice cream (which I’m sure my lactose-intolerant stomach will pay for later).  I also purchased some soy milk.  I’ve been putting powdered milk on my cereal in the mornings, and trying to spread out any other dairy intake, but after treating myself to chocolate ice cream, at least I’ll know I can eat cereal without having to worry about the lactose. 

Speaking of which... today I’m experiencing the first signs of any “indigestion” since I arrived (and I haven’t touched the ice cream yet).  All of the other volunteers have been sick in some way, including a few cases of what is known as “Haitian Happiness”, a 24-hour bug (usually), the most common symptoms of which include diarrhea and vomiting.  Please pray that I don’t contract a case of this!

Bethany, Becky and I have two new roommates! A mother-daughter team from Asheville, NC, arrived this afternoon.  Another volunteer arrives on Monday, and we’ll have a full house – all six bunk beds will be occupied. 

Looking forward to another day of rest tomorrow.  Until then...

TGIF!

Yesterday we went (again) to the site where the new orphanage is being built.  I spent the first part of the morning dumping charcoal from big sacks into smaller garbage bags, for the kitchen staff to use for cooking.  By the time we were done, our team looked like coal miners! Then I put two coats of epoxy on a concrete floor to seal it so it doesn’t get damaged by rain water.  And a bunch of us swept sand into the cracks between the interlocking concrete blocks of a driveway so that when it rains the water will cement the blocks together.  I officially have a tank top tan. To be honest, it’s more of a sunburn, despite applying and reapplying SPF 45 sun block throughout the day.  It was HOT day.  I’m not sure how hot -  I seem to have no sense of temperature or time these days.  I get up with the sun comes up, eat when they tell me it’s mealtime, and go to bed when it gets dark.  It’s a sort of like being on vacation. 

We also walked from GLA’s property at Fort Jacques to the actual fort.  The Fort Jacques National Historic Site is a beautiful park, if you can overlook the litter (there’s no waste management system in Haiti, in terms of public garbage cans or recycling bins).  The fort was named after Jean-Jacques Dessaline, who, according to Wikipedia, was a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1801 constitution.  He was autocratic in his rule and crowned himself Emperor of Haiti in 1805.  The Fort was also built in 1805 to defend against a possible French return and attack. During the 2010 earthquake, they lost two cannons that fell down the mountain.  They are still working to repair the earthquake damage.  Here are a picture of the fort and the view of Port-au-Prince from the fort. 

Today was another busy day at Main House.  I spent most of the morning with Mr. W.  It was another hot day, so we filled the kiddie pool on the balcony and let the kids play in there.  Here are pictures of Mr. W.  and Miss D. in the pool. 

In the afternoon, I held Mr. D. for a while.  He’s sick with a cold, so I spent most of my time cleaning up bodily fluids.  Nobody said my time at GLA was going to be glamorous, and it certainly isn’t.  I now understand what they mean when they say the children at GLA are “the least of these”.  These kids all have dirty faces but bright eyes.  They have dirty bottoms, but overflowing affection.  They do not smell the way babies in North America smell (like baby powder and lotion), and yet they have captured my heart with their outstretched arms and big dark eyes.  My heart breaks as they cry big tears and run after me when it’s time for me to leave the nursery. 

Tom Vanderwell and his team arrived at GLA today.  Tom is the Manager of Partner Relations at GLA.  He and his family live in Michigan.  They brought their two adopted Haitian children back to GLA for the first time since they went home in 2003.  It’s been a roller coaster of a day for Isaac and Abby (10 and 9, respectively), meeting their birth families for the “first time”.  You can read about it on Tom’s blog. 

Tomorrow we get to sleep in (hopefully).  Someone needs to tell the roosters around here that their job is to announce daylight! They start crowing at around 3:30, long before sunrise, and about a half hour after the neighbourhood dogs stop barking.  This morning the dogs and roosters were sounding off together in an antiphonal symphony.  Lovely.  T.I.H. (This Is Haiti).