The Mother’s Milk Program Day is always one of my favorites. Besides the fact that I love babies, it just changed my heart so much last year to see what these family go through. Mother’s Milk Day last year was my intro to our little Rudy, and only God knows how he is right now.
This little bundle of “I could put you under my shirt and take you home” was a new baby that came to the clinic. At first the mother wanted to be added to the program saying she did not have any milk, but Sonja went with some of staff at HHH on a home visit and helped this young mom with her nursing. It is amazing what a little support, some good advice (feed every few hours and drink lots of water) will do for both a mom and a baby. Momma had doubled in size in just the few short days (if you know what I mean… and if you have ever nursed a baby and had milk come in you know what I mean)
Most of the babies don’t like to be weighed much. It scares them to death for a white woman to put them in a seat on a table. But some just stare intently with those big dark eyes.
The milk this year was in low supply (you will remember that we supplied the clinic with nearly a year’s worth last year). Luckily we brought along some donated money and were able to go purchase some for the clinic. It took some precious time… but time just isn’t the same in Haiti. When you have no where to go (except to walk the long walk home) what is sitting under a shade with some company for a few extra hours.
The faces at the clinic… mother’s who cannot supply the valuable nourishment their child needs, grandmothers and fathers who are trying their best after the loss of a child’s mother. I see the stories written in their eyes.
We also had a prayer time over the families. It was great to sit with them and love on them even without words.
One of the stories that got me the most was an ex-wife. Her husband left her for another woman. Then the woman had a baby with him. I cannot remember if the mother of the child died or just refused to care for the baby, but the ex brought the baby to his ex-wife to care for. The love this woman had for the baby that belonged to her husbands other woman was remarkable. The care and the way she held and cuddled this child spoke of what love and forgiveness really are. That and knowing you do what you have to do to survive, feelings don’t weigh into that.
Yes, we do give out suckers to babies… how could we not. They sat there for hours and we pulled them out for the big kids. They were so intrigued. They wanted to share (No thanks!) and in many cases would gladly put it down just to play with a few rocks and sticks.
This precious one has a story that I am not sure I have words to tell. It still haunts me and hurts me (much like Rudy did). This child was my connection on this trip. She came into the clinic to be weighed. Jen pulled her clothes off to show us her malnourishment and how she was improving. She was shy and quiet and there was an emptiness in her eyes. It took a while to check her in because when her mother brought her in she used a different name for the child. I honestly cannot remember it because we were all confused. Even Jen was asking the mom the child’s name and the mom acted like she was not sure. It was for sure a different name than her previous visit. THE MOM DID NOT KNOW HER OWN CHILD’S NAME. We came to the conclusion that the child was very hungry. The mother could not indicate the last time the child had eaten. We started giving her some “plumpy nut” peanut butter that has added nutrition. It is fortified with things these malnourished children need desperately. After a few bites, we needed to move on in the clinic. I offered to get her dressed again. After I dressed her and picked her up I was ready to hand her over to her mom so she could feed her some more “plumpy nut”. This baby girl would have nothing to do with her mom. She began to scream and literally climbed my body to hold on to me with all she had. I was shocked, scared, and had no clue what to do. Jen told me that maybe the child was afraid she would not get any more of the peanut butter and recommended that I go outside to sit with her and feed her as long as she was willing to eat.
She ate and ate and ate. I bet this baby at more than 1/4 of a jar of this stuff. I was so afraid that he body was going to reject it if she had not had any food in a while. I was afraid she was going to over do it. But we sat, I fed her and she stared at me. Those eyes held a darkness I cannot forget. I felt like I could see the evil that perhaps she was exposed to on a daily basis. My heart cried and I prayed as I fed this baby. I laid my hands on her head and asked God to protect her and anoint her life in some way.
And then mom was tired of waiting and ready to go, she she started to take her away from me. Baby girl lunged for me and tried everything in her power to hold on to me. She even sank her teeth into my arms as not to be pulled away. Our hearts were connected and as mom pulled her away anyway, I had to run into hiding. First because I needed to get out of the sight of the baby girl, second because I needed to scream myself, and third Jen thought mom might be doing this for my “benefit”. I listened as this baby girl cried and screamed as her mother walked away with her. I heard her screaming for quiet a while as they walked away from HHH and into the town. It is a heaviness that I don’t know how to fix.
This sweet quiet angel came in with fresh burns all over her legs. As fairly typical in Haiti, her burns were covered with toothpaste. Toothpaste is something that is easy to get and keeps the bugs out. Because we had several nurses with us, Sam took her inside the house so we could clean and dress her wounds properly.
They had to scrub the toothpaste off of those tiny little legs and not one time did this little princess make a peep.
While we girls helped the momma’s and the babies… the guys played around with the kids that live at HHH.
This photo that had us in stitches… is Wes playing basket ball with the kiddos. His release is so spot on!
Once the clinic was finished, and the “man with the plan” for the new Mission House arrived, we went to work helping them. Trucks brought in loads and loads of gravel to level out the house and after we raked that into place, we began to lay block. I don’t think they wanted me to lay any block. But, I asked permission just to lay ONE. So that I could show my plastering and construction missions husband that I could do it too. Of course I made sure Sonja was there for the photo op!
After that fun, we made the “mistake” of asking “How can we help”… with a giggle our man with the plan Dave told us to dig a septic. I think he wanted to see if we could do it. I think he wanted to see if we would try. It was easier to break apart the concrete block than it was to dig into this ground. But we tried!!! We even had to jump onto the shovels just to get them pierced into the ground.
While we were working, the boys got home from school and began to make bracelets for us. I did not realize that Sonja had taken these photos until we got home. I was always afraid to enter into the boys dorm. They were really neat to see.
These two baby girls live in the house with Jen and their family. Jenny has a story of her own and I hope that God is still working his way through this one. They suspect Jenny is 4 or 5 but was severely malnourished and neglected.
And of course, Amanda had to get in a little squeeze time with our chubby baby before she headed off for her Haitian debut.
We were thrilled to be able to take the long drive back out THROUGH THE RIVER to Aknov’s church. It was another story we wanted to see the rest of. Last year we attended in a grass hut where Steve promised to come back and finish the church building for them. He keeps his promises. He and a team of men came back and finished it in a week sleeping out in the bush in hammocks and eating army rations. It is too far away from any place to stay for them to waste the building time on the travel it takes. They were so proud of their church and held a service just for us. Amanda got to sing, and it was beautiful. A pastor from a team that joined us brought them a message (where even the lights from the generators went out) and other than the lights from our phones and flashlights we were in the pitch black. It was humbling and marvelous at the same time. We did not take many photos because of the respect we were giving the community.
But, I had to take this one of this young boy worshiping and dancing with abandon! The praise is so authentic and so REAL!
We ended the night with another round of cold showers with large creepy bugs… but were thankful for it. That is until I had to pee with a tarantula and I almost lost it. The fear was real, as was the spider. I cried! I could not handle any more on this day. With the help of Jack Bauer who helped me squeeze past the big spider screaming, I survived… but am still scarred! I did not have a big fear of spiders… but in Haiti I do.
