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Midwifery students and their teacher, Marthonie |
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Midwifery students and their teacher, Marthonie |
August 23, 2012
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Oday |
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Kreyol Lesson |
It is always the orphanage that allows us moments of pure joy here in Haiti. Last night as we went over to the girls’ compound, Dina and I were immediately swarmed by 20 or 30 girls, no exaggeration! They were so excited to see us that they began chanting our names, “MA-REE-A, MA-REE-A, DEE-NA, DEE-NA!” We had to squeeze up the stairs to the third floor with two girls on each arm, many in front and back. En masse, we slowly made our way up and up until we reached the small room where we showed them photos of themselves from 2010 and 2011. We handed out piwilis (lollipops) and the atmosphere was animated and energized as the girls saw photos of themselves and their friends. One little girl, Joska, glued herself to me, at times rocking back and forth as we stood watching the show. I sense a loss of adult nurturing; most of the girls have to be independent and take care of themselves from such a young age. Of course, the girls (60 in all) take care of each other. But if there is a substitute mother around, many of them take advantage of a cuddle or hug to soothe a wordless ache. I feel lucky to experience a moment of tenderness with any of them. They fuel my resolve for a better experience for the Haitian mothers and babies.
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Donating 10 pairs of shoes to the orphanage |
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Genette |
Dina and I are careening toward our Haiti departure date this Friday. We spend our time weighing baggage to make sure we don’t go over the 50 pound limits, buying last minute items like lollipops, beef jerky and Imodium D, calling airlines who won’t waive our baggage fees even though they’ve done it before. Genette emailed me and knows that we are coming soon. We leave for Miami on Thursday night so that we can be in Florida for a 7am departure to Haiti on Friday morning. I’m getting excited.
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Magdala |
This year will be a continuation of our work with Midwives for Haiti. We will follow up with Magdala who is the lead midwife for the mobile clinics. She also runs a school for 600 children, has taken in 12 orphans, hosts a cholera encampment on her land and works her shifts as a midwife at St. Terese hospital. We were hoping to find her a major donor to help with her dreams of building an orphanage on her land but so far we haven’t found the right funder.
Genette is one of the clinical instructors for Midwives for Haiti that I am trying to bring to California for the MANA conference. The visa interview was delayed until August 24th. That is problematic since by the time we even know if they approve the visa, it may be hard to get airline tickets for a mid-September visit to the US. I am hoping that my presence in Haiti when she goes to the interview will lend legitimacy to her proposal and that we won’t have any snags. Haiti logisitics are always tentative and unpredictable.
As usual, we will try to blog live from Haiti using a personal hotspot from my iPhone. As long as it is all working, you’ll be able to follow along with our trip. In the meantime, be sure to check out Dina’s videos on my YouTube channel. Here are the links:
2011 Midwives for Haiti Update
2010 Midwives for Haiti Update