Dear Family & Friends,
My trip to Haiti was an amazing and eye opening experience and something I will never forget. I wanted to send all of you a letter just briefly describing some of the things that I was able to be apart of.
While on this trip I brought a book entitled Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I would encourage any and all to read this book. It was inspirational and motivating and opened my eyes to the injustices around the world and ways we can help. In this book was a quote that I think summarizes what we did as a team in Haiti:
“Young people often ask us how they can help address issues like sex trafficking or international poverty. Our first recommendation to them is to get out and see the world. If you can’t do that, it’s great to raise money or attention at home. But to tackle an issue effectively, you need to understand it – and it’s impossible to understand an issue by simply reading about it. You need to see it firsthand, even live in its midst” (Half the Sky, p. 88).
We not only lived in it’s midst but were able to help attend to the poorest of the poor. We cared for infants with tuberculosis and malaria, toddlers who craved for love, and special needs children that wore the proudest and most beautiful smiles. We walked among the tent cities where the vast majority of Haitians are living.
Tent city was heart breaking and devastating. One man that we visited was sleeping on concrete cinder blocks with a thin blanket on top. Another family had one bed for four people. One child that we passed was sitting on the ground in a diaper chewing on a computer chip. As Daniel, an 8th grader on this trip, put it: “it felt cool outside compared to in the tents” and this was on a day when it was 97+ degrees outside. Inside the tents there were families living, cooking, and breathing that hot and heavy air that was not being circulated. Another group said they met a man who was confined to a wheelchair because he was paralyzed after being trapped in the earthquake. This man also lost his wife and other son. He was now paralyzed in a wheelchair, taking care of his last son and a nephew, and living in a tent. He was not able to leave his tent because he had no other clothes than the ones he was wearing and could not mobilize himself within the uneven grounds. Day in and day out, he sat in his tent.
I asked our translator if there were rules as to where people pitched a tent and he said no, but people came by with regulations and doctors & nurses would come through, but he said with sad eyes that it was not enough. I agree.
Mother Teresa’s is a hospital for sick and abandoned babies. At Mother Teresa’s there was 60+ children there that needed attention. One of their buildings had collapsed in the earthquake so the cribs were crammed up against each other with up to two babies in each crib. There was barely enough room to walk in between to grab a baby. There were three separate crib rooms and then most of the upstairs was the toddler zone. We would go there every day for four hours and by the end of the experience we had gotten to know the children’s names and personalities. I fell in love with two boys in particular. The first, who was assumed to be an orphan because he had no name tag, was an infant with a large head but beautiful, big chocolate chip eyes. We decided that he looked so much like a George for some reason. So he was coined George and I gave him my love and held him to his heart’s content. The other, who was not an orphan but still needed love and lots of attention, was named Vicktor. Vicktor was his middle name; I have no idea how to even say or spell his first name. Vicktor was 16 months old and full of spark. He had suck dark brown eyes that his pupils were lost within and you would be reflected back. He was able to walk and would occasionally like to be put down and go for a stroll, but would much rather have you standing and holding him tight. He liked to throw little temper tantrums when he wouldn’t have his way and could be quite bossy around the other children. But I loved him to pieces. Every time he would see me walk through the door, he would get a sparkle in his dark eyes and hold up his hands for me to grab him. It was so hard to put him back in his crib that last day. Other kiddos that you might have liked to meet included a sassy, but sweet little girl named Vasoline, a burned victim named Stanley who clung to our 6’4 Neil, and Pierre Alex who never said a word and would barely crack a smile, but who loved to just sit with you or lay on your stomach and relax. These children were wonderful, I wish I could have captured their faces but no pictures were allowed at Mother Teresa’s hospital and so they will have to remain in my heart.
At the Mephibosheth (Ma-fee-bo-sheth) House we got to know each child quite well. After our excursions, we would always come back and hang out with these kids. All but one had special needs – this was a young woman who was so beautiful and sang like a Disney princess. She was brought to the M house because she had been raped at a young age and her parents feared for her safety because she is so beautiful. She is very shy and was not fond of pictures. She would usually hide in the shade and sing. I could name off all the children, but I will highlight some of my favorites; but you have to know that none of these children are officially diagnosed and most of them don’t know their birthdates so it’s a rough estimate: Kiki is around 11 years old. He does not walk but crawls around on his knees. His story all starts after the earthquake when he was brought to the M house. He lost everybody in the earthquake and was buried beneath the rumble for a number of days. He knows that he has nobody left, and yet he has such a love of life and such a heartwarming smile. We had a scare with him one night when he started to have seizures, but I would check on him throughout the night and his vitals remained good and his seizures had stopped. The next morning when he was awake and I went in to check on him, he just gave me this puzzled look like what are you doing in my room? And then gave me his one-of-a-kind smile. Then we have Dadou. I love this kid – I think everybody on the team loved this kid. He was so spunky and such a people person that it was hard not to be by him. He knew on the last day that we were leaving and began to shut down. It was so sad to see him sad, but he still conjured up a smile and hug for us. Little Stevenson stole my heart and still has it in Haiti. He is about 4 years old and all this little child needs is physical therapy for his legs and neck. He has no neck strength and so his head is usually against his chest, every once in a while he will get some energy and try and hold it up. I did my best to work with him. He crawls around and you can usually find him fast asleep on the linoleum at any given time. He spiked a fever one night and was wheezing so we cooled him off with wet paper towels and a hand-held fan. The next morning when I checked on him, he still had a cough and was wheezing but no fever! Little Stevenson was the one that made my cry so hard on the last day because it took him so long to get accustomed to us, but on the last day he held up his arms for me to hold him and buried his face in my chest. I thought about hiding him in my suitcase and bringing him home. Lastly, there is Gemima. This little girl has so much spunk and is so sassy. I love her – she is the boss of the house and loves to order people around. She was also kind of racist against our boys and would throw things at them, but then would run up and hug us girls. She is hilarious. I am going to miss these children so very, very much.
Each night after a day’s work, we would have a meeting – one night Steve our leader talked about the Gospels and about how Jesus showed the true extent of his love when he washed his disciples feet at the last supper. Washing feet was the true extent of his love, not any of the many miraculous healings he performed, washing feet – that just goes to show that what we did in Haiti, something as simple as holding babies, means so much especially in the eyes of God. That also just goes to show that something as simple as giving a compliment or holding someone’s hand, even just being there to listen can mean the world to that one person, and you know God is smiling down on you, and that is something all of us can do in our daily lives.
John 13:1 – “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”
Steve had us write a short letter for him to be able to keep about our trip to Haiti and what it meant to us. This was my letter:
I feel I was meant to go on this trip. Even before going I was questioning whether I should go or not, and I thought to myself, what better time than this to go. In my mind Haiti means poverty and happiness. The Haitians through all of their struggles always find joy and always offer what they can. I hope to be more like that. I have learned a great deal on this trip and believe every situation I was placed in I was meant to see and be apart of. I thought I would be coming to help, but instead was helped a great deal more. I have learned to always place my trust in God first. This new sense of life, direction, and meaning will not only translate in my personal life but also in my nursing career. Haiti and its people will always hold a special place in my heart.
Matthew 25: 34 – 40: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
When I got back, I was cleaning out my backpack and re-organizing my purse and found this fortune – “Your eyes will soon be opened to a world full of beauty, charm, and adventure.” It sure was. God is good and God is right. Thank goodness we have Him on our side.
Thank you again for your prayers and support. I hope that through this letter you were able to get a glimpse of Haiti and feel like you were there. I also hope that I represented you well because without your help, love and support, I would have never been able to go. So thank you, I will never be able to say that enough.
Love,
Abbie Dalbec
