Mirebalais

Today we were country bound! We traveled on the bus about 2.5 hours each way to visit some of the girls who were once orphans at the Son of God orphanage in Mirebalais. Marie-Jolene, Jezla, and Darlene once lived in horrible conditions at the orphanage and were abused for many, many years. The orphanage has since been shut down, the man behind the abuse was sent to prison, and the orphans were either sent back to live with family (many of whom were kidnapped and sent to the orphanage) or sent to live at the Life is Wealth orphanage.
The three young ladies we set out to see today now live back with their family in the beautiful countryside. They all seem so happy to be back home and they loved our visit! Jezla is now pregnant and we brought her prenatal vitamins and were able to talk to her about her pregnancy and what to expect. (Well, nurse Libby and Crystal were able to tell her what to expect, the rest of us listened!).
The countryside is so gorgeous. It’s lush, sunny and beautiful! I love seeing all of the animals roaming around, but they make me miss my Pitbull Reilly. He would love Haiti and I could totally live here…if I had the correct ratio of shade trees to sunshine.
As we were leaving one of the girls picked a hibiscus flower for both Libby and myself. We wore them in our hair and felt super festive! Festive ladies!
Tomorrow we are going to the beach for a team beach day and I can’t wait! I am not exactly a warm weather gal so diving into a body of water tomorrow will be an absolute joy! Weeee!
X0x0x0x0 Colleen

Photos-Thurs.

Crystal and Jesula walking out to the bus. 

Lizzard on the house frame.

Visiting with the Martials in Morebalais

Libby and her new friend

Craziness today!!

More photos.....

Colleen taking someone's blood pressure. 

James with children we gave soccer balls to. 

Bob talking to the children at Life is Wealth about the necklaces he brought and about God's protection. 

The necklaces Bob's friend made to show God's love. 

Not quite how to wear the necklace, but..... Whatever makes her smile!! 

An Afternoon at Life is Wealth

Life is Wealth is the orphanage we have been visiting this week. It is filled with about 65 precious little girls aged 5-18 years. They really enjoy our visits and we really enjoy their company as they all have such funny personalities! They light up when we arrive and it is just makes our day to be able to love on them.
When we arrived they sang songs to us (which is so beautiful even if we can’t understand them ), then we all taught a bible lesson about the Armor of God. There were five parts, each of us read the section while James translated, and we dressed up Robinson with props to illustrate the story. Once the story was finished, Bob handed out beautiful cross necklaces made out of deer antler that his friend Pud from Ohio made. The children loved them!!!
After the lesson we all sat down and colored with them. They were so excited and focused on their coloring…they had never been so quiet before, haha! Colleen and I enjoyed the coloring as much as they did and we even were given some of their artwork, which was so sweet of them 
I am having such a great time here in Haiti and I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for us the last couple of days we are here. We have seen God so much already on this trip and met some amazing people as well.  I can’t wait to build more relationships and see what else God has for us to do!

-Kenzie

The Pediatric Ward

Haiti is such a beautiful country… it reminds me so much of St Vincent, where my sister served in the Peace Corps. The people are all so friendly and welcoming of our group which is so nice. Today we had a really eventful day filled with some of the cutest kids I have ever laid eyes on. We started the day visiting the pediatrics unit of the general hospital in Port au Prince. We brought diapers and wipes to give to the nurses to share amongst the babies and kiddos who are staying there.
In Haiti, the patient or patient’s family is responsible for all of the medicine and supplies needed for their stay/surgery/procedure. Most of the children who are in the hospital had at least one parent who stayed with them to advocate for their care. We were able to speak to many of the children and with our translator Reggie, we were able to find out more information about them and their ailments. There were several babies staying at the hospital who had been abandoned and had no one to sit by their bedside to snuggle them so Libby and I started our visit by holding them and loving on the babies who had no moms or dads. The first baby I snuggled fell asleep in my arms and was having baby dreams! It was so nice to be able to comfort him.
Another one of the abandoned babies seemed a little weary of Libby and I and burst into tears when we came over to him. Big crocodile baby tears  I decided to scoop him up anyway and he eventually settled down and snuggled up to me. I think all he really wanted was to feel safe and comforted. It was really hard to leave the hospital today. We all had a very emotional time there. So many of the children there are suffering from ailments that we in the United States would be able to remedy quickly and easily, so it was very hard to watch them be in pain. Today’s experience made me realize that I do, in fact, want to work in pediatrics once I become a Physician’s Assistant, and I would love to be able to bring my (official) medical knowledge back to Haiti one day
 x0x0x0 Colleen

The Moonshine Shack

It has been quite the adventure so far.  God has opened up so many different opportunities.  We have got to meet so many different people.  Yesterday in the morning we got to go on a prayer walk.  We met some really interesting people.  First we got to talk to an elderly man and met his two beautiful daughters, one was in the corner in punishment maybe 6 years old and the other was a 6 month old baby.  This man lived in a one room shack with a full size mattress and a shelf without much room for anything else.  We checked his blood pressure and prayed over his small family.  We ran into several other people and prayed with them and their families.  Some of these people had been infected with chickungunya.  We administered some medication and gave advice to ease the pain.  We stumbled across this family who were sitting under a tarp and the women appeared to be cooking something.  We found out that it was a moonshine shack. The women cooking offered us a shot we politely declined.  As we were sitting there a man approached and we talked with him for a long time.  He really got to me.  He was speaking to us about his country and how tired his people are.  He was saying that missionaries can go around and say “Jesus loves you” and “God is good”, but at the end of the day I’m still starving. It was really eye opening to me.
 It’s one thing to look at someone and tell them that Jesus loves them. It’s another thing to develop relationships with these people and help them meet their basic needs.  The man went on to say that even Jesus fed 5,000 before he preached.  People need to know that you are sincere that you aren’t just out here on some self-righteous trip trying to do your own good works.  I learn something new every time I am in Haiti.  I am always blessed by the people I run into far more than I feel I bless their lives.  
Getting to use my nursing skills has been so rewarding.  Finally realizing that yes I do know what I am doing and I can actually help people.  I get excited knowing that when I see someone sick or with a wound I can actually do something about it not just refer them to someone else to do it.
I’m sure that there are going to be so much more cool experiences ahead of us. God is good.
-Libby

Photos

Antoine... A man the group met on a prayer walk. 

Colleen with a baby at the pediatric ward of the hospital. 

Libby with an abandoned baby at the hospital.

Close up of the abandoned baby. 

Kenzie with the same little one. He got LOTS of love today!