This morning was another emotionally charged day. Jimmy told me before I came that he wanted to take me to the mountains to meet some people in desperate need. He told them about me and what we are trying to do and asked if I could come meet them and talk to them. A few days ago Jimmy asked if we could give $100 and it would feed all of them for the day. We of course did. It seems like nothing, to feed 80 people. We planned it would be Thursday morning and they prepared the rice, beans and Salmon before we got there so I could be there when they eat it. Around 100 people mostly children from babies to teens were all sitting and standing in a circle waiting patiently for my arrival. It was really surreal, exciting, and extremely heart breaking approaching them.
They asked me if I could help hand out the food. First a couple of the elders in the village said a few words to me. Explaining what their situation is. It was heart breaking to listen to. They told me they sometimes don't eat for days. That most of the children don't have birth certificates because they can't afford to drive to PAP to get them registered. I couldn't believe this when I heard this. This is something I never thought someone would not have. How awful, it's almost like you don't exist . He also said that the government has just forgotten about them and we are the first people to come see them that could maybe help them. They don't go to the doctor and have their babies right there. Often their are complications such as death for mother or baby due to lack of knowledge or doctors to help. Jimmy told me that they normally don't look as good as they did this morning. Apparently they usually are in rags or naked but have one outfit that they keep for special occasions. This is something I have noticed about Haitians, they have so much pride in how they look. I love this.
The elder man told me the children often get sick from malnutrition and their dream is to be able to have a mobile medical clinic, a school, food and water. The whole time I was at the village I literally had tear in my eyes. It's so hard to imagine that any human being live in these conditions. It's just not fair.
The rest of the day ended up being non eventful which I'm Ok with as this morning was a lot to take in. Our vehicle ended up getting 2 flat tire at 2 different times through out the day. I told Jimmy just to take care of the tire situation and we can start up again in the am.
We have a few things to cram in as it's the last day. First we will go to the other orphanage that is financially taken care of by Americans just to film the difference between financed and non financed orphanages. We then are going to see Pastor Benoit and the children for our last time before we leave. They are making us a Ragou which I think is a stew for lunch. We will hang out for a bit then say our goodbyes. For now. I'm sure I will have lots of tears. Then we are going to see my buddies Louwanne, his twin brother Louwannesue and older brother Emmanual. I want to hang out with them for a few hours, they are so awesome!
I had a few more things I really wanted to do but we have run out of time on this trip. I will have gathered all of the information I came here for, just wanted to meet more people to talk to. We then head to PAP on Sat morning and have another full day there. I think I may sleep for a week when I get back!
I can't wait to put all this footage together!!!
Signing out,
Angie
Je'tieme Haiti
No comments:
Post a Comment