tre bel.

Meet Mia. A beautiful little girl that lives in Leveque. The more time I spend with Mia the more I adore her. She has a wonderful little laugh and is always smiling. My lap has become her napping spot each afternoon I’m there. Her naps don’t last long, but always come complete with drool which always makes me laugh. She is my buddy and is by my side wherever I go. This afternoon when we arrived at Leveque she was outside and saw us coming. When we saw each other both our faces lit up and as we drove past to park I could hear her screaming with excitement. My heart melted instantly. She definitely has a special place in my heart.

What makes my heart break for Mia is the constant teasing she has to endure. My roommate, Lindsay, first told me about Mia and that everyone (kids and adults) make fun of her. Mia is one of many malnourished children here in Haiti and her hair is orange as a side effect. Because of this, Haitians view her as ugly and call her that on a daily basis. A few days ago I witnessed it first hand. Mia and I were together and I noticed her face change as she looked at a group of Haitians. Each one was looking back at her, pointing and talking. There was a translator right by us so I instantly asked what they were saying. (Another reason I wish I already could speak Creole). He confirmed what I already thought. My first reaction was to run over and fight them…but they were a lot bigger than me and I figured that probably wasn’t the best response of course. So instead, I asked how to say “you are beautiful” in Creole. I got really close to Mia’s face, looked her in the eyes and said “tre bel”. As I continued to tell her over and over, her smile grew and I knew for at least that second she was hearing the truth.

The thing about Haitian culture is they are extremely blunt and are quick to call people ugly who look different then them. To them it’s not rude to call a two-year-old ugly to her face or behind her back. This is a culture where that is okay, even normal. I will never agree or understand this, but I know that I can’t change it either. I know though, that everyday I’m with Mia she will know that she is beautiful and loved. That is one thing I can do. 

Update: The little girl I wrote about last is doing well. Her burn is healing great and quickly. Praise the Lord!

precious one.

There is currently a team of 80 plus Canadians serving at Mission of Hope for two weeks. With a group this large they have a variety of gifts and are working hard to serve in every capacity. Because the medical clinic is closed on the weekends, the medical people joined in the construction work yesterday at Leveque (where we are building the 500 plus homes). They were told to keep an eye out for a little girl that someone on the team had seen the day before to see if they might be able to help her. We found her. This little precious child had a burn wound on her calf and it looked so painful.  Her dad was on site so I got one of our translators and we asked the father if we could take the girl into one of the homes to give her leg some medical attention. Her dad said yes, so one nurse carried the little girl and two other nurses and myself walked to an empty home where we had put our first aid kit. This burn, we were told, happened eight days earlier from a motorcycle. As the nurses cleaned up her wound the little girl screamed. It was absolutely the sadness thing. There was so much infection and dirt that when it was actually clean the wound was much larger than it originally appeared to be. In the states, she would have had medication to numb the leg before they worked on it. It was so hard to see her little face covered in tears and her eyes just looking at me with such pain. These ladies were incredible though and worked fast so she only had to suffer for a few minutes. The wound is now clean and is wrapped up so it will hopefully heal without much dirt infecting it again. They will change the bandage Monday and will continue to keep an eye on it.

This was my first interaction with medical care here in Haiti. In the last several years, I have wished I had medical training so I could help people like this little girl with care they would never receive otherwise. After witnessing that, I honestly don’t know if I could do it. I know the care is exactly what she needed, but all I wanted to do the whole time was grab her up and hold her tightly to reassure her that everything would be okay. Not sure you can do that during the middle of care or an operation. I will forever remember this little precious ones face and am so thankful I will see her throughout this year. I have promised myself to give her lots of love and hugs every time I see her. 

one week.

A lot can happen in one week. Last Friday my life changed completely as I boarded a plane for Haiti. It is hard for me to put into words the emotions I experienced last weekend. For a homebody like myself who has lived in the same town my whole life, moving to Haiti was a big move in more ways than one. It’s funny because I spent the last few weeks at home spending time with people and saying goodbye, but the fact that I was really leaving didn’t hit me until I actually boarded the plane. To say it was hard is an absolute understatement. It was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but I know without a doubt I’m exactly where God has called me.

Life in Haiti is indescribable. I am soaking in everything and learning quickly what daily life is like here. Every day is different, especially when working with short-term teams that are coming to serve for a week or two. It’s so different being on the other side now. The other long-term people here are incredible. We all live in the same area in different apartments. I quickly bonded with the two girls I am living with and am so thankful for each of them. God is so good! He is shining through in so many ways, big and small.

Here are a few highlights from this week…

1. Helped a team paint two houses. Mission of Hope (MoH) is building over 500 homes for families who lost their homes in the earthquake last year. These two houses were some of them.
2. Got to see the land where most of the 500 plus homes will go. Designs for the homes were approved this week by the government and houses are starting to be built by a team that is here. Spent some time with the precious children that currently live in temporary housing there. One little girl fell asleep in my arms. Loved it! I will post pics soon.
3. Found out there are grocery stores here. I, for some reason, thought there wasn’t. It was fun to go to one. We were shopping for food for 80 plus people so it was like the circus came to town when we arrived.
4. There is Dr. Pepper in Haiti!! God knows my heart!
5. Getting to know all the wonderful long-term people here. Absolutely loving this community here and enjoying getting to know each of them.

reflecting on the holidays.

I had an incredible holiday season this year. Spent a lot of time with my amazing family and ate a bunch of homemade food. My mom took tons of solo pics of me which kept me laughing constantly. It is definitely strange celebrating a holiday knowing the following year you won't be there. I absolutely love my family and I am extremely blessed by them. Here is a pic of my sisters and cousin on Thanksgiving day. Love them all!!

After Christmas, I even took a trip to New York City...a place I have always wanted to visit. It was so much fun. It was during the 5th largest snow storm they have ever hard, so snow was everywhere! Everything is different there. All kinds of people and food, buildings are huge, subway is so confusing to me, big screens and ads all over the place, famous things everywhere and great museums. I am obsessed with broadway now too!! Celebrating New Years Eve there was an all new kind of craziness. Don't think I've ever seen so many people all in one place and we weren't even in the middle of it all. So fun to experience it in person though. Some of my favorite memories...the journey to actually get us to nyc (we basically took all kinds of transportation), empire state building, walking up and getting broadway tickets three nights in a row, seeing extremely famous art in person, taking three attempts to actually see the statue of liberty, rockefeller center christmas tree and times square, just to name a few. Needless to say, i loved every minute and still can't believe I actually got to go there. Here are a few pics from the trip.