Wednesday, October 2nd.
During my quiet time - one devotion this week related to “do not worry about tomorrow - tomorrow has worries enough” So I did not... good thing. First the bus was late, he went to St Vincent’s instead of the coop as planned, the coop was closed for inventory,there were no new children to be seen and a lot of confusion with the starting of school. Okay - big breath, stay focused and go with the flow. The bus driver had 2 suggestions another artisan shop and to go to the Haitian National Museum. We did just that and had lunch out. We all really enjoyed and appreciated the museum and visual tour of the Haitian history. I especially enjoyed seeing the anchor from the Santa Maria, one of the 3 ships of Christopher Columbus. Now how many Americans can say that - actually we all appreciated that experience.
We had a lovely day, not want was on the agenda but never-the-less this awesome team took it all in stride. On top of that each person has a personal treasure or 6 to take home with them.
Thursday, October 3rd
Today’s message for me related to staying positive and not letting disorder and confusion with your plans cause a downward spiral into negativism - pretty timely and right for the week. The bus came a half hour early!! Some were not quite ready - but got there pretty quickly. After a stop at the National Market, where the bus driver almost wiped out the security guard’s motorcycle, we purchased our ice cream and cookies for the children and staff. There is a disconnect about where ice cream is to be stored. Jean Robert’ put all 4 tubs in the refrigerator not the freezer! Thank goodness it was decided to serve the ice cream at 10:00. We did and it was a huge hit. As is expected there were lots of “extra staff” today. I have to say, it was darn good ice cream.
In total we have seen 100 person, mostly adults but they are important too. If the adults are in good health and care, so are the children. We had some special moments when we sang for the children and again when we sang and had the teachers sign our songs.
The nurses played with the children and distributed the red “CBU Nursing” bags. I was not there when this occurred but Belinda came to find me and gave me a huge hug. All the older girls were so excited to get the red bags - all the women wanted them. The women and girls all were excited with the nail polish, little wrist bands, and other goodies. They did not want us around as they began to bond from being gone for a few weeks.
Likewise the boys were excited about the ping-pong paddles, balls, and other goodies for them. Terry and Lisa got the few of them (mostly the deaf boys) engaged in soccer and football. There were some sharing issues but Terry got that changed without sign language.
I met with Pere Sadoni and gave a brief report about 5 children. I will share this later. We left about 150 hygiene kits and twice that many socks for the children. All of the school supplies, crayons and coloring books were gone from his office today and been distributed somewhere.
After dinner the CBU nurses presented my sister-in-law, Linda with a white cap, trimmed in a bright pink (no red pens) and made her an honorary CBU nurse. She was very touched.
Each nurse shared a special moment from today and/or this week. Each of us reflected on the value of our Haitian experience, the bonding with classmates, the connection to children and adults from another county, and the ability to look beyond the disability and love each person for who they are - not for what they are not.
This has been a fantastic week.
sent in by Dr Sue Trzynka
No comments:
Post a Comment