Weekend With Tzu Chi Family

So I was so excited this weekend, because Tzu Chi is back! They Tzu Chi International Relief Team will be back in Haiti, this time, for about two weeks. I met them in town (downtown Port-au-Prince) when we were finished with the funeral services for little Precious*. It was so nice of the foundation's driver to drop me off in town. This saved Tzu Chi a lot of traveling down toward Lamardelle. So this time Austin SB, Curtis SB, and Kathy SG, who can speak French, came down to Haiti. I was so excited to see them. I haven't spoken Mandarin in a long while and it was so nice to see familiar faces in Haiti. Most of all, I was super excited that I get to take a hot shower and get to eat nice CHINESE FOOD at OECC! Super excited. So when I got in the car, Kathy SG immediatly handed me some peanut butter crackers. Oh my goodness, that was like heaven in my mouth. I was so hungry from running around all day.

After picking me up, we immediately went on route to Judy's orphanage. Judy is someone who has a huge heart. She is a single woman who believes that her duty to be on this earth is to serve others. She believes that God has given her the grace to use all her talents and will to help orphaned children. She does not have any children of her own, but she does take care of 43 orphaned children 24/7 plus 100 more that goes to a free school that she offers during the day on her compound. She feeds the children two meals a day plus offer them a free education. That is great love right there! Her and I are really close, because we met back in 2010, right after the earthquake. Tzu Chi did many small scaled distributions for Judy's orphanage and they also have a very special relationship with the Jordanian troops and Jordanian Tzu Chi Family, as well. All the children still remembers Tzu Chi and they remember all the Mandarin and French sign language songs that we sang to them. They will repeat what they've learned all throughout the year. Judy was very happy to see us back to care for her and the children. We recently gave a batch of mattresses for the children at the orphanage, because the children were all sleeping on the floors and the humidity of the floors was causing many of the children lung and other health problems. We went back to see how they were all doing. All the children were happy to see us and we distributed some candy to them. They really understand and embody the philosophy of love, respect, and gratitude. We taught the children to not throw the candy wrappers on the floor, but in the garbage can instead. We also taught them to give the candy to the adults first before having it for themselves, as a sign of respect for our elders. We played with them and bid our farewell for the next visit.

When we got back to OECC I literally wolfed down all the food that was in front of me! Oh my goodness. I haven't had such delicious food in months! Recently we have been lacking food at the orphanage and they always want to make special food for me, but I always tell them no, that I will just eat what the kids eat. I don't want them to spend extra money on me, while the children are lacking food and nutrient. I cannot let them do that. So I will just eat what the children eat. And yes honestly, it's not much, but it is still food. The older children complain a lot about the food, but when you are hungry, food is still food, you eat it. The normal breakdown has been spaghetti with ketchup in the mornings, rice with bean sauce/corn meal with vegetables for lunch, and flour/corn porridge or bread and tea/hot chocolate for dinner. This is already wayyyy better than all the other orphanages in Haiti, so I am very grateful. I am actually working with Tzu Chi to donate food on a regular basis for the orphanage, because we are definitely running into food shortage and budget problems. I hope that it will work out in the end! Let's keep praying together!

I was so happy to have tofu again! It's been four months my friend....I was literally so happy to taste it that I was smiling so big when I was eating. I couldn't help it! I was SOOOOO HAPPY! So grateful to have all this delicious food in front of me. Literally, every single cell in my body was smiling! I guess this is what pure happiness felt like. All the SG and SB were like, "Wow, she is eating like she has been starving for months!" They said that even if they tried to enjoy their food like that, they couldn't. And apparently I was making a lot of high pitched noises. I kept saying how happy I was. I was, SUPER HAPPY!

I am so grateful for Tzu Chi coming back and to OECC for providing the delicious food and hot showers. I am such a lucky girl!!!!!!