Little Ones

Task : Pick one single word to describe our Haiti trip. Answer : Orphans.

In one square mile around the guest house where we stayed, there are 150 orphans living. I don't know if that is typical for a square mile in Haiti, but it implies a massive orphan population.

I wish you could feel their sweaty, cushy cheeks as they lean in for kisses.  I wish you could hear 30 small orphans singing a Kreyol welcome song, shouting Good Morning in broken English, and rushing to you in a wave for no other reason then to hold your hand, receive a hug, to play. I wish you could see them beaming and laughing in the 105 degree heat, in a concrete room, in unwashed clothing.

Oh they are so precious. Little souls with no family to protect them or hug them. Many of them struggled to survive alone in the street before being found by a willing Momi(House Mother) or Pastor.

We had the privilege of meeting 30 orphans in Gonaives, Haiti between the ages of 4 and 12. They are scraping by. They maybe eat one meal a day, sleep on the roof of a concrete house with no railing, and can't go to school, but they still take their shoes off before going inside. They still sling their arms around each other while listening to a Bible story. They still wait in line for food and listen to their Papi.

I'm writing a newsletter report of our trip that will tell the whole story of the discovery of these struggling orphans among other parts of our trip. If you want to receive it, shoot me an email at makinghomehomemade@gmail.com. 

We're going to try to do something for them. It is so so so tangible and attainable. Stay tuned for more. Of course, no pressure at all, but if you think you might want to help, please let me know...it's going to be all kinds of fun and meaningful!

You can see some scenery pics of Haiti here!

Fried Plantains and Other Haitian Delights

(Play this song as you read this post :)

WE ARE BACK. And now we can tell you the most fundamental reason we took last week off.

We went back to Haiti! Beautiful, lovely, distraught Haiti. I'm once again in an internal battle on our return...what can I possibly leave out?! how can I begin to describe it? how do I write it all?

Before I get too overwhelmed, I'm just going to start. This post is about the beauty of Haiti. There will be others following that have more about our activities!

Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere. The streets reek with trash fires and smog; the stores are ten foot portable shacks; the national highway is pocketed with car-sized potholes. The rivers look like giant cappuccino spills in which people bathe, defecate, and wash clothes. Children lug jugs of water from the village well to their homes made of broken cement and relief-effort tarps. Even the well-off in Haiti don't have air conditioning or washing machines. Oh and it's 100 degrees every day.

And yet it is so beautiful!

Look at these children!

The clear water beaches are just one beautiful part of the Haitian terrain. There are rice patties and mountains and rivers...all lined with mango and avacado trees.

 The favorite Haitian meal is chicken with beans-and-rice, all doused with some sort of tomato sauce. These are the remains of one of my meals, supplemented by a huge, fresh avocado bought at the street market by our friend and guide Papitass. If you've been reading long, you know how I feel about avocados, and this one was everything good and more.

A typical Haitian market is crowded booths with shades strung up too low for most Americans to walk under. Meat is slaughtered there every morning; fish are brought in from the ocean side, and hundreds of vendors sit in the heat, awaiting a sale. Maybe I was the only one to find beauty in this, but it was so saturated with culture!

And Haitians love to dance! A ton of my time was spent with these two ladies trying to teach us to move like Haitians. We learned the song above from them too.

So. Haiti = Lovely. For so many reasons. There's a lot more to come...consider this a preview.

;)

You can check out my favorite photos from last year here.

Favorite Photos of Haiti 2010

These pics are my favorite from the recent Haiti trip. I like these photos because I feel they reflect something about Haiti that I want to remember. Enjoy! My favorite one is the very last. (Also please note, when I make the pics XL, as I've done here, my blog cuts off the left side....I'm working on it, but make sure to click on the last pic to see the whole thing. There's another beautiful smiling girl on the side.)

Steve Living off the Dump

Boy in His House

Boy at Church

Nuggets Waiting for Candy

Masses of Children to Love

Poor School Boy with Coloring Book

Playing Games

Asking for Treats

Runner Up for My Favorite Picture : Dod is Dood

Port au Prince Destruction

My Favorite Pic! Cuties Laughing!