day 8 - home for the dying

this morning joyce and i went to the mother teresa home for the dying. this was my first visit to this place. because we are women, we were told that we would only be allowed to volunteer in the women's sections of the hospital. there were about 200 women in varous rooms ... many bed-ridden ... most dying of AIDS. joyce and i spent our time massaging the women's limbs, singing to them, praying for them and communicating with them any way that we could. joyce knows a bit of spanish and connected with a couple of women who spoke some spanish. i am always amazed at how much french comes back to me when i am in haiti. of course, i sound like a small child, but the haitians do not seem to mind at all. these women in particular, appreciate any love, care and effort extented toward them. this was a very fulfilling time for me, as i have wanted to go to this place for many years but have not until now.

joyce and i then travelled to the hospital for children, met up with the other gals, went for lunch at a haitian restaurant, and then went back to the children's hospital for the afternoon. i spent all of my afternoon with mercy. by the time we left, we were all pretty tired.

we returned to the guest house and met some canadian reporters who will be staying at st. joseph's for some time. we chatted with them over dinner.

for the evening, we gals decided to have some fun. we shared our photos, had a bra contest ... and just dialed down til bed time.

day 7 - back to the hospital

today i went to the second floor of the hospital, where many children are in wait for adoption ... or are terminal AIDS victims without symptoms that demand hospitalization. i held rosalee who was 1 lb when she came to the hospital and is now a robust 3 lbs at about 3 months old. i fed luis and spent the rest of my morning with mercy.

we were pretty tired after yesterday's full schedule, so we left the hospital at lunch time.

we had lunch at a western delicatessen where we met some canadian and french peace-keepers. Joyce and I had a food fight and joyce almost got us kicked out! :)


we went to the internet cafe to send emails home, and then back to st. joseph's for dinner.

in the evening serge hung out with us, we had dinner, had some beer and chatted with him til late. after our evening debrief and spending some time on the st. joseph computer, doing some computer maintenance and clean-up, we went to bed.

traveling sites

here we are: our team of 5 + our translator, serge.

each day was full of sites and sounds: of people who travelled by foot,

tap tap,

u.n. command vehicle;

of a living market-place with items and foods for sale;

of the adventure of being in Haiti. here are some of the sights and sounds of every-day Haiti.

day 6 - evening at carnival

take a look at our photos of this fun and crazy nite

this was an incredible and unexpected highlight of our trip. emmanuel asked us if we wanted to go to kanaval ... and after checking it out with a few people, we decided to go. we were a bit tentative but, because emmanuel is with the police and he promised that we would be safe, we decided to go. joyce was totally prepared for fun and gave us stick-on tattoos and such to dress up with. emmanuel picked us up at 6 pm. we took the tourist route by the palace. there were a lot of people partying as we got closer to the event. we waived and gave out canada pins and such. i even got to drive! we parked in the police parking lot, toured the station and met emmanuel's commander.

as we began to walk through a park toward the event, we met up with a tactical/swat team. we gave them canada pins and glow sticks and just hung out for a while. then emmanuel headed toward the carnival. we understood before the event that there may be 100,000 or so people there and were told to stay close. as the crowd thickened, we held on tight to each others shirts and danced into the crowd. it became apparent that the crowd was going to be difficult to wade through. i'm a bit claustrophobic and was wondering how i was going to do in this massive crowd that was so tightly woven together. the possiblility of being carried away by them, by pure accident, was very real and someone could easily get lost or trampled by accident.

what happened next was unbelievable! we met up again with the swat team and they escorted us through the crowd by creating a box around us. we walked with ease as they created a human wall against the surging crowd (which turned out to consist of over one million people!) the team escorted us for some time ... and at one point the group commander leaned forward and whispered into my ear "i've got your back". at this point i was weeping with the living picture of what God's protection looks like ... something so undeserved and complete. this leader kept pushing and leading me left, right, straight etc. it was profound to me to be this protected and i will never forget it. we were escorted to guarded staircase and climbed up stairs to a platform where we enjoyed the carnival from an elevated place. we were given t-shirts. we danced, sang, painted, gave out the rest of our stuff, watched the carnival and had a lot of fun.

we were right beside another stage that was broadcasting the event and was hosted by a nationally renowned dj, who is also a rapper. wyclef jean came by on a float and rapped with this guy ... right within our reach!

a bit of a challenge came when the voodoo float went by. a couple of the gals on the team found this stressful ... and i must say that it was as though a heavy cloud descended over the place for a time. i sensed the heaviness around us ... but felt a real peace to stay put. the float went by and the cloud passed.

we had to stay til 2 am because of the size of the crowd and where our car was parked. on the way home there was a terrible accident - 3 people died. bodies were pulled out of a truck right in front of us. emmanuel got out and wanted to help, but we had to get out of the area as it was late and there was a lot of traffic. so emmanuel helped to push the truck into an upright position and called the police.

a note here on emmanuel: spending this evening with him was amazing. he is a profoundly loving and caring man. he is well liked ... has a very good heart. we could not believe the trouble he went through for us ... and wuold have never gone if we knew that he and his friends would be working so hard to ensure our safety and comfort. teresa has made a good choice in him as a husband.

day 6 - afternoon performance at st. joseph's home for boys

in the afternoon we were delighted to view a performance of the sacred dancers. these boys travel and perform internationally. what a rare treat. check out more performance photos here.

day 6 - morning at three angels orphanage

we spent the morning at three angels orphange, which is a short distance from st. joseph's guesthouse. we took dolls hand-made by laura's daughter's highschool class and by a group who donated some to joyce. joyce used her dolls as a fund-raiser at her school. it was a great way to raise money for the places we visited, and for people to partner with us. we played with the children all morning with the stuff we brought for them ... dolls, bubbles, balloons and such. the children were enthralled to have toys and some people to play with. most of them just wanted to be held and touched. they couldn't get enough of that. here is a slide show of our morning with these precious ones.

day 5 - 2nd day at the hospital

we spent a second day at the hospital - which was at least as fulfilling as the first. i spent some time with angeline and louis ... and then went on the look-out for a baby my girlfriend teresa asked me to check into. my final post, which will be entitled 'mercy' will be dedicated to this child and to this trip.


here is a link to a post i committed to my personal blog on the 26th, which summarizes the past few days.

day 4 - our first day at mother teresa sister's of charity children's hospital

we traveled by tap tap to the mother teresa, sisters of charity, hospital for children.

walking back into that place was like coming home for me. i can't explain how very natural it is to be there. the other team members mentioned feeling this way also.

i spent the day holding children - particularly drawn to angeline - 8 mos old - 4 kg. - very small and sweet. sitting on the floor at lunch, some of the children were grabbing big fists-full of each other's food and feeding one another ... and then stuffing food into their own mouths - beautiful. others were docile and sickly, with no obvious hunger - but actually starving ... some had to be force-fed.

the sisters are so inspiring - loving, patient, smart, firm, soft-hearted women with a gentle but solid faith. they do not allow pictures to be taken in the hospital, but allowed us to take a couple of a volunteer and me beside medical packs that we donated to the hospital. these packs were obtained from health partners international of canada. they contained thousands of dollars worth of medicines which we acquired for only a few hundred dollars (the money for these was generously donated).

every other time i have gone to this hospital, our groups have had to leave at around noon, which is a standard rule that the sisters strictly adhere to. it was about that time when a truck load of food arrived at the hospital, which i helped to unload with the sisters. it took a fair amount of organising and we had such a great time doing it together. afterward, as our group was about to leave, i asked if our team could stay a bit longer than noon each day, to hold the children and help out. sister stanisha hesitated and then said, 'as long as you leave no later than 5 pm'. i couldn't believe it! i was so deeply touched that she allowed us this incredible honour ... what a true answer to prayer that came about in such an unexpected way. i think part of it was because there have been so very few volunteers, with all of the unrest there has been in the country. so tomorrow we will bring our lunch and sit in the courtyard for a break ... after which we will have about 4 - 4 1/2 more hours with the children per day than we expected. i am so happy about this ... words will never properly express the joy.

we came back to the guesthouse and debriefed. i taught the gals how to play farkle. we had a lot of fun with this. we tried our luck at emailing home too ... never sure if the emails will be received because they system here is down a lot.

seeing haiti ... particularly today at the hospital ... through the eyes of the women on my team is very impacting for me. they are having very profound and meaningful experiences. it is such a huge 'get to' for me to be here with them.

here are a few pics of our travels today

day 3 - wings of hope

we had a great trip to wings of hope - caught a ride with michael, who is the director of st. joseph home for boys in pettionville, wings of hope in fermathe, and trinity house in jacmel. what a beautiful ride up into the mountains where wings is located! the facility and surrounding landscape is also beautiful.


we had a quick tour and then got right into spending time with the children. it was overwhelming, in some ways, to be in a room with so many children with such high needs. there was no question about whether or not they enjoyed having us with them. we were allowed to take photos, so i have prepared a slide show of our day that you can find a link to at the end of this post.


before we left, we spoke with rene (the house manager) in order to discuss how we could help out in a meaningful way in the future. knowing that joyce and laura have experience working with children with special needs, gave rene an opportunity to talk about having each child properly assessed (which has never happened) and having skilled people come in to train the workers, etc. this is something that, God willing, they could actually do with a team of their own. i could hear the wheels turning in their heads ... and it was pretty exciting to have a sense of greater purpose in our visit. perhaps they could bring a team of people who could meet a really felt need and make significant and lasting difference. hummm.

we had lunch, bought a few things from some local vendors, took some photos of local school children and then made our way back to st. joseph's.

with regard to our mode of travel: michael, rene ... and our translator serge were all been pretty clear that we should go ahead and take public transportation. they felt that we came at a very safe time to do that ... and that, in fact, it was probably safer to travel by tap tap than by a hired van. this was pretty exciting for me, as i was really wanting to go by tap tap, but only if it was completely safe. having being convinced, we took one home later that day. I FINALLY really felt like i was in haiti!!!

we stopped at a grocery store to get a few supplies, met an officer stationed with the UN, who is from canada then went home to a nice dinner. emmanuel and a couple of his friends dropped by for a little visit, and then we had some down time.
during our debrief joyce shared 1 john 25:4: for thou hast been a strength to the poor and needy. we really saw that today ... through the story of wings of hope, in the eyes of the children, and in our opportunity to be Jesus to them today. it was a good day.

here's a slide show of our day

wings of hope

I was excited to visit this home for Children with Special needs. I work with this population of children at home and was interested to find out how things were done in Haiti. The ride up the mountain was beautiful. The building was quite nice especially compared to all the other buildings I had seen so far. Wings of Hope was taken over by the St Joseph's home for boys, the guest house that we stayed at. I was surprised to see how severely affected most of the children were. 35 Children of various ages live there. Most are wheelchair bound and non-verbal. Their many smiles told us how happy they were to have visitors. Their wheelchairs were of variying types and conditions. I couldn't help thinking that most would be considered unusable in Canada.

We spent the morning playing. We had brought some toys to add to theirs. The musical instruments were a hit as we gently pried open clenched hands to place a maraca or tamborine into them as many were unable to grasp it on their own. We were able to take pictures here and with digital cameras were could show children their photos. They really liked that.

We spoke with Rene who works there after and found out the sad truth of children with special needs in Haiti. Voodoo is highly praacticed and people believe these individuals are manifestations of evil spirits. They are truely shunned from society. My job in Canada is to make sure children are included in all activities in their childcare setting. Do they have adaptions made so they can fully participate in circle, art, outdoor play etc. In Haiti they are not even included in society! Many have not been outside the walls of Wings, never have felt grass beneath their feet. A real reality check for me.

day 2 - arriving in haiti

got up early and had the last hot shower for a few days ... did the group bathroom thing etc. we met an american couple in the airporter ... prayed for our day, the couple and alfonso - our driver. alfonso was so touched by our prayers that he hugged and kissed each one of us after unloading our luggage. miami airport was nearly empty ... no hurry ... long breakfast ... unbelievable. i was 'c.a.' today (canadian idol) because i sang in the restaurant.

while standing in line to check in, we met marilyn mcilroy from world partners canada, who lives in waterloo. we also met margaret brown, who trained and served with bruce and helen snyder in nigeria when they first went there many years ago. both of these gals also worked with bruce in haiti many years ago, before bruce and helen were married! imagine that! they will work in haiti with association eglise mission (aem) until they return home march 4th.

we played 'zobmondo' on the airplane with francoise, a haitian man who lives between the states and haiti. his question was 'which would you choose - to change 3 things in the past or 1 in the future?' he said without any hesitation whatsoever - 1 in the past. he spoke with conviction about haiti, his family, etc. he is picking up his wife after 3 years of living apart, to bring her to washington. he feels that he had set some things in motion, in reaction to not being able to school his 4 teenage children for the past 3 years because of unrest in the country. his #1 decision would be to have peace in haiti, so that he and his family could live together there in peace. interesting discussion and prayer time with him.

we arrived in haiti to VIP treatment, compliments of emanuel, my friend teresa's husband. it was quite unbelievable actually. we were escorted to a VIP area where we lounged as our passports and luggage were processed without any effort on our part. the only thing i had to do, besides tell an airport official that i was not a diplomat (even though he treated me like one before and after i told him i wasn't one) was to explain what the medications we brought were for and to identify our bags. it was the most unbelievably easy entry to haiti (or any country for that matter) that i've ever experienced. it still boggles my mind just to think of it!

emanuel is the sweetest guy ... besides my jeff of course ... what a soft hearted man. we met him and some of his tactical/swat team buddies, who escorted us by diplomatic vehicle to our digs at st. joseph's home for boys. he did a huge thing, setting up our VIP entrance to haiti, and we will never be able to thank him enough. he and his friend, evans, could not believe that we were coming to their country without pay to do our mission ... and he said it was the least he could do.

after arriving at st. joseph's, joyce and laura scurried upstairs where the boys were practicing their dance. they had a great time! i went to chapel with the boys before dinner. they do this thing before readings and prayer where they say 3 good things about each person present. it is a way that they celebrate each other each day. it is really quite beautiful. we had a great dinner! no rice and beans for a bunch of bemused team members ... ha! ha!

tonight everyone shared: brigitte shared that we are special. joyce shared about her son sending 10 bible pages from his first bible, and some words for her each day to accompany them. mary shared about her trips to europe and india. joyce and brigitte shared some funny stories about going to baptist churches while they were growing up. some verses that were shared included: 2 Corinthians 5:14 'Christ's love compels us.' 1 John 3 'dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. it is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord, even if our hearts condemn us. for God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.'

there seems to be contentment and wonder in the group. interesting that we have had so many divine encounters already. at the end of this day i journalled 'i feel full but empty, surrounded but lonely, taken care of but that i must take care of others - the children, the women on my team. my heart is full and challenged but 'God is greater than my heart.' i miss james, my former translator who died about a year or so ago. i wept through some of these feelings. what an incredibly wonderful and deep beginning ...

here are pic's from the day

st. joseph's home for boys

while in haiti, we stayed in the guesthouse at st. joseph's home for boys. i have prepared a little 100 photo pictorial for you to view at your leisure, which guides you through most of the house from entranceway to rooftop. i added titles to a few of these, in order help you capture a sense of the place and some of the things we did there.

day 1 - miami, here we come

Day 1 - what a relief! we were finally on our way to destination Haiti after many questions, concerns ... and opportunities to turn our worries into prayers. we began the day pretty early - left at about 5 am or so for the airport, to take our stop-over flight to miami. it was an adventure right from the start ... with challenges from an airport official about the medical packs that we were bringing into miami overnight. 'how do we know that you are not going to sell the items in these packs on the black market in miami?', was one of the questions asked. since the miami lay-over was a last minute change by the airline, i was unprepared for the effect that would have on us with regard to our luggage. the airport was not willing to store our stuff (siting a change in policy about such things since 911). this was a new one for me ... so i gave the official all of my paperwork and my civilian i.d. from where i work, which helped! after a few questions, now based on sincere interest in our trip, the official said that he thought we were doing a great thing and wished us well. i was pleasantly surprised at the turn in attitude of this guy. other staff ensured that our medicines were transported in a special way so that the items would not be crushed or damaged. i chuckled at the unexpected favour and joined my group, who waited for me in the sidelines. after a yummy breakfast and a few laughs, we boarded our flight for miami.

we arrived in miami with a bit of trouble with regard to our reservations; but i want to give laurie and the other gals an opportunity to tell about that.

at the end of our day, our reflections included reading:
Ephesians 3:17-19 paraphrased ... that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. may your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. the message

James1:2-4
... whenever trouble comes your way let it be an opportunity for joy. for when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow, so let it grow. for when your endurance is fully developed you will be strong in character and ready for anything.

Celtic Blessing: may the peace of Christ go with you wherever He may send you. may He guide you through the wilderness and protect you throught the storm. may He bring you home rejoicing a the wonders He has shown us. may He bring us home rejoicing once again unto our door.

our photos include waiting at the airport; hanging out pool-side at the hotel in miami; joyce sleeping in a cot provided by the hotel. today's slide show begins looking at today's weather ... and ends, again, in the cot.

day one

Day one for me was difficult! It was a surreal journey into the unknown. I felt thrown into something that I knew I must participate in. I did not know these women very well. I did not know the outcome of our journey. What I did know was that each of us was brought to this place in our journey by God. I felt compelled to know them more but at the same time know myself more as well. I was excited to begin our first day-although it was flight and stopover-I knew it was only the beginning for all of us! How exciting to become a VIP for God! What is next??