Speechless…. by Mary Jean

Can you believe I am speechless?  I have been here for three days and I don’t know how to begin to describe where I have been and what I have seen.  The poverty in Haiti is beyond comprehension.  People routinely go 2-3 days without food.  I think many of them are hungry all the time.  When we walked to the clinic today carrying ice for some of the patients, the children along the way were so excited when Cris stopped and gave them a handful of ice cubes.  They live in houses with windows but they are not covered with  glass or screens.  Some of the houses have roofs but some do not.  A 6×6 square house would be big enough for a family of 5-6.  They only use the house to sleep and  keep their possessions safe – the rest of the time they live outside.  They cook and they eat outside.  They bathe and wash clothes in the local streams.  They walk back and forth to the local “spring” for water which most often is contaminated by sewage runoff.  They seem to spend a lot of time waiting:  waiting for job, waiting for the electricity to turn back on, waiting for church to start, waiting for the rain.  After the earthquake came,  they waited to be found, and to see doctors and to get medicine, and to have surgery, and to hear from family and friends they may never hear from again…….  And still despite all this,  they are  people filled with great joy and hope!  I feel so lucky to be here and witness their resilient spirit!

This morning I went into the hospital to see a little girl.  She looks to be about 18 months.  She has hydrocephalus (a very large head).  In the US, this little girl would have had surgery shortly after she was born.  But this is Haiti.  It turns out this little girl is around 4 years old.  Her mother brought her to the hospital about three years ago and has never returned.  The hospital is her home. She spends all her days lying on her back.   She is covered in flies because she can’t really move her arms and legs  well enough to shoo them away.  She has a beautiful smile and a  giggle that is contagious.  And she’s smart!  She can repeat sounds that I make and looks to see whose passing by.  No one ever holds this little girl not because they are unkind but because they never knew that they could.  So I held her and I rocked her.   I sang to her and I kissed her hands.  We rubbed noses and we both smiled – a lot!  Then I did a little therapy.  Mostly I just wanted her to know that she is loveable.  At nine o’clock I had to compose myself.  It was, afterall, just the beginning of what turned out to be an adventurous day!

There’s this phrase from one of my girls’ favorite books.  Never judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.  I can not begin to imagine how hard it would be to walk in the shoes of the people who live here.  Being here I am continually reminded of how blessed I am.

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