Day 6

I woke up this morning and seem to be having a difficult time getting awake and mentally begining to shut down. There is a rooster that has his schedule off and starts crowing every morning around 2:30. I had breakfast was able to shave (team member had an extra one) and met with the team for morning briefing. Dr. Looby and Dr. Scott went with Tony our translator to begin closure with some of the kids and prepare them for the team who will be here next week. I had asked for the team to do progress notes on each child that thay came in contact with in order to begin the process of creating charts and because i have put it off spent the next three hours in my room typing. While typing notes for the chart as well as the team that will be here next week Dr. Looby knocked on my door and brought Mari in to see me. I immediatly burst into tears at the sight of this little 4 year old girl who weighs maybe 20 pounds. I have built a special connection with her and although she cannot talk or barely move everytime i see her she smiles at me with her big eyes and beautiful white teeth. I immediately dropped what i was doing to take her back to the hospital and spend as much time holding her and kissing her beautiful face. I noticed when we were in ther room that Dr. Looby was blowing bubbles at her and she kept imitating her blowing bubbles. We soon found out that she was hungry and took her back to feed her lunch. Today it was noodles and sauce and a bottle of enfamil, it took about an hour to feed her and over the period of time we had to switch holding her because of the difficulties she had swallowing. I was overwhelmed with tears when i saw how hungry she was and if i paused in between feeding her she would become emotional. She finished eating and we changed her into a clean onsie and laid her down to rest. We had to leave pretty fast because she immediatly started crying for us. I later found out that she will not be transported to Miami because her illness is not life threating. I talked with the supervisor of the Mon Tons today and she stated that she could die because her trachea could shut down and not allow her to breathe. The procedure she needs can easily be done in the United States and allow her to breathe and live more comfortably. Continue to PRAY for Mari and that she can come to the U.S. for surgery, i am concerned that this will be the only way there will be any hope. My heart breaks for this girl but i know that God has her where she needs to be, i am amazed at how this children's home takes care of their kids and i have yet to see one kid this week that was dirty or mistreated.

It is extremely hot here and the mosquitos are the size of flies. I was walking to the hospital today through the gravel driveway and saw a yellow crayon completely melted. The plans we had today with mental health did not happen because some of the staff were unavailable because of the holiday weekend and we will make a last attempt to meet with them again tommorow. During our debriefing tonight we compiled everyones notes for the week and came up with about ten pages of notes to leave for the home and to pass to our colleagues arriving next week.

I wanted to pass this video along because of the importance of how God can work in and through our lives. This kid has nothing he lives in a tent city does not have clothes that fit him and may not know when he will get his next meal but still raising his hands singing Amen. I hope that this video touches you like it did me and everyone else at the orphanage.

We spent the rest of the evening planning for our last day and decided that we will not do anything clinical tommorow and spend the last day hanging out with the kids. The team prepared eggs with candy tonight for an easter egg hunt tommorow and we just found out that the U.S. Navy will be here tommorow to bring toys and candy for an easter egg hunt. There is a bible study tommorow at 9:00 and worship at 10:00 and i look forward to experience the ressurection with the Haitian children. Thanks for letting me discuss my day and for the positive feedback i will see everyone soon. (Pictures were used with permission from New Life Childrens Home)