Yesterday was another long day. In the morning a group of us drove up to Fort Jacques. It's a five-mile, forty-minute drive. GLA has purchased a piece of property there and construction has begun on a new orphanage. In Fort Jacques, all the children will be together in one building (now they have three buildings – one for infants, one for children ages 2-7, and one to house volunteers and staff). Becky and I spent most of the day painting the bathroom and ceiling beams in the bunkhouse, while Karen, Jessica, Bethany, and Melena disinfected items that had fallen victim to some rodent activity, and Melissa wiped down and disinfected a pile of crib mattresses. It takes a lot of elbow grease and teamwork to accomplish a project like this, but it will all be worth it when the Angels can move into their new and improved surroundings.
One thing I forgot to mention about my flight to Port-au-Prince. On the plane, I met Sandy, who sat next to me. She was on her way to Port ahead of her team of volunteers, who would arrive a few days later. She is a teacher in Denver, Colorado, and taught English in Haiti for while after the earthquake. We exchanged email addresses and promised to keep in touch. Oh! And she knows Tara and Troy Livesay with Heartline Ministries, whose blog I have been reading regularly for over a year! Small world. Sandy, if you’re reading this, I hope you made it to your destination and your team arrived okay.
When we arrived back from Fort Jacques (about an hour before supper), Holli handed me my schedule. When there is a shortage of volunteers, or an abundance of children, volunteers work with one child per hour for eight hours a day. However, at the moment, it’s the other way around – an abundance of volunteers and less children. So I was assigned three children to work with for the duration of my stay at GLA. I think I will be assigned another two tomorrow, when another volunteer goes home. They will be “my children”, in the sense that I will be responsible for their playtime and development while they are in my care. I’ll be working and playing with Miss D, Mr. D, and Mr. W. I met them and had a chance to play with Miss D yesterday for an hour before supper. She is also known around here as “Miss Personality”. I’m looking forward to getting to know her more in the coming days.
When it was time for supper, I brought Miss D back to the nannies’ balcony and set her down on the concrete. I had a hard time convincing her to let me go. As I walked off the balcony and back into the nursery, three toddlers ran after me, clung to my legs, and immobilized me. These children have been through so much in their short lives, and it’s easy to see the fear of abandonment in their eyes. Every time someone pays attention to them and then walks away, they feel it all over again. It’s evident in their cries and their outstretched arms. It’s heartbreaking, but I have not allowed it to get to me (so far). I wonder how long it will be before I sit and cry with them, and mourn what they have lost in their short little lifetimes. Even if they are not old enough to articulate it, their grief and fears are very real. I’m so thankful for a place like GLA, where these children have a chance at a better life. Many of them already have a forever family and are just waiting for the adoption paperwork to go through so they can go home. Until then, they so evidently crave personal touch and connection with their caregivers.
I spent this morning playing with all three of my babies (one at a time). It’s hot on the balcony, so we put some water in the kiddie pool and let some of them splash around in there.
On another note, my bags have arrived at the PAP airport. Wadson should be going to pick them up sometime today. It will be nice to wear my own clothes and not borrowed attire.
The internet connection is slow here, and I've been having trouble uploading photos. I'll try again later. Until then...
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