Tap-Tap Garage

So due to Easter, the FEJ staff is getting two days off this week. That would mean the office is technically closed today and tomorrow. I was very excited for this news, because Tzu Chi volunteers have returned back to Haiti earlier this week, and these days off means that I will actually get to leave the orphanage to go see them. I get to go hang out at OECC and go visit all the areas in Haiti that Tzu Chi is actively helping. It is always a nice change of scenery when I get to hang out with Tzu Chi, not to mention the hot showers, comfortable beds, good food, and good company. So this morning I still worked, because I needed to get all the March reports done to send out to the different adoption agencies we work with. At the moment, we are actively working with Canada, United States, and France. By around 5pm, I heard a tap-tap come into the orphanage compound, it was Lesley, our local Haitian Tzu Chi Volunteer Coordinator. I was so excited. I quickly grabbed my bags and said goodbye to the staff and children. I was also excited to be in a tap-tap again. This tap-tap was all white, like all the UN cars, so it was actually quite funny. So we all jumped in and took off for OECC.

The majority of the roads in Haiti are in pretty bad shape and the road to the Lamardelle creche is not any better. There are pot holes and uneven surfaces everywhere. It is a road that is even difficult for 4 x 4s to go on. So, like usual, we rocked and bumped out of the creche and then just before we got to the opening to the National Highway, the driver says "Oh no, the breaks are not working!" Hahahah, what?? the breaks aren't working? I literally just laughed my head off, because this is exactly what would happen at this precise moment. Luckily, we were going quite slow due to bad road conditions and the car slowly stopped by all the big rocks on the road. And even more unbelievable was that when we came to a complete stop, we were right in front of a make-shift Tap-tap repairing garage!!! What are the chances of that happening???? So the people were very friendly and helped us guide the tap-tap into the working area and so many people came to work on the car. We got out and started to watch magic unfold. They first used a metal pump to life the car up and then took off the front right tire. Then the guy popped the hood and then went and looked under for the break fluid tube. He found the tub and took it off. The problem was that half of the break fluid tube was rubber and the other half metal. The rubber part had holes in it and the break fluids were leaking from it and not getting to the tires. So magically, the people started to search in their garage for another break fluid tube. After about 15 minutes of looking and searching, someone came back with a fully metal tube. It was awesome. They started to install it and testing for it to work.

I learned today that you have to have someone at the wheel pushing and bumping the break petal, while someone is at the tube area to let out the break fluids when the break is held. This is to test if there are air bubbles or blockage in the tube. They have to make sure the tube is completely clear and the break fluids is getting to the tires successfully. They did this several times with both front tires. After about 30 minutes or so, we started to test the car's breaks. These people were perfectionist too, they wanted to make sure everything was functioning perfectly. They drove the tap-tap back and forth and went down and up the small hills outside. I felt like I was in a make-shift racing car, because the people were speeding up super fast and then stopping abruptedly to test the breaks. After about an hour or so, everything was great and we were ready to be on the road again. They people were so nice and they didn't charge us a huge fee, it was actually half the price of a normal car garage. They also filled up our break fluid tank for the road home. The people knew where I worked since they were of the same zone and had huge smiles on their faces. I am so grateful for awesome people like them, completing the full circle of giving and great love. We were all strangers, but we all worked together for the common good. We said goodbye to them and was on our way to OECC.

What an awesome adventure that was??? I learned so much about cars today! AWESOME!

New Social Services Worker

So today FEJ hired a new staff member, Berline, to work in the Social Services department at Lamardelle. Today was her first day on the job and boy, do we have a lot of work for her to do. Her desk was filled with adoption dossiers by mid-morning and she was already hard at work trying to put them all together. Due to all the countries re-opening for adoption, we have a lot more new matchings and active dossiers that need to put together to start each of their adoption processes. I am happy that there is someone else here to help me and Brunette. We are just way over-worked and over-loaded. We shall see how all this works out with the new staff member. Best of luck to everyone!

We had two new admissions today, as well. It was a busy day. The biological mother came with her two children, one 6 years old and another 3 years old. The girl, from first glance, you can already tell she was severely malnourished. Her hair was bright red/yellow color and her feet were so swollen for a 3 year old. She kept on crying and wouldn't stop shaking. The mother said that she was hungry, so I ran to my room to grab some peanut butter energy bars for the children. They were so happy to have it and they wolfed it down. They finally stopped crying, so I was comforted. Turns out the biological mother has 10 children, two of whom have passed away due to illness. All the children have the same mother, but three different fathers. The two children that were admitted today have two different fathers, so they are half-siblings. These kinds of stories are sadly the norm in Haiti. Many fathers pass away due to illness or some accident and the mother is forced to go find another partner so that he can support her and her children. But the conditions are always she must have more children, because the new man in her life wants his own biological children. So the system and condition just keeps on repeating itself. It is really quite sad to see all of this. And as a result, many children are admitted to orphanages because the family no longer has the financial means to continue supporting them.

It is going to be hard to find a family for these two. At the moment, we don't even know if they will be adopted as a sibling set or individually, since they do not have the same father. We shall see. In the mean time, I have started to bond with the two children already. I wish them the best of luck and will do my best to take care of them while they are with us.

8 months in Haiti....really...it's not a joke!

So today marks my 8th month here in Lamardelle, Haiti. In a sense, time has flew by, but at the same time, it has crawled. Everyday is a new adventure and I've learned a lot over the past months, about myself, different organizations, people, and life in general. It has been a huge self-cultivating experience. I have watched all the children transform and all grown so big now. It is really a magical feeling to be able to be here to witness their on-going growth in life. I feel very privileged and honored to be able to be a part of life's miracles. I was walking around the orphanage today with all smiles. Looking and playing with all the children and at the same time, thinking how funny it is that no one here has an idea that today is also April Fool's Day. Normally, back in the States, friends and family would be pulling pranks left and right today, but here in Haiti, it was just another Sunday. We always have good food on Sundays because it is a day of rest and a day for you to spend it with your family. I celebrated my 8th month with some good old potato salad! Yummers.

On Thursday, the 29th, it was one of the adolescent's 19th birthday. I gave her a big present, filled with clothing and goodies on Thursday, but she wanted to have her cake this weekend. So today was the day that she wanted to make her cake. A huge thanks to Jody for supplying the cake mix and all the wonderful cake decorations. We made a vanilla cake with pink frosting and heart-shaped pink marshmallows. It was a hoot! We had to scounter the whole creche to find the appropriate cooking tools to bake the cake. We took turns in stirring the cake batter, since our hand blender was half broken, it was quite hard to get it mixed properly. We were lucky that there was enough gas to use the small oven to bake the cake. It turned out to be a huge success and everyone had a great time eating the cake and sharing laughs.

Step 1: All supplies and materials checked. For the three eggs, we had to search high and low for them.  Great thanks to our chickens at the orphanage for their on-going support and efforts of laying them. 

Step 2: Mixing the cake mix and all other ingredients together. Taking turns mixing. It was hard work trying to get all the air bubbles out of the batter! 

Step 3: Baking and final product with all the decorations! Ta-da! Isn't it beautiful????

Happy 19th birthday girly! Love you very much!

Adoptive Parents and Belgium Solar Panal Society

Today Roberto and I went to the airport to pick up the adoptive parent. Like usual, trips from Kenscoff to Lamardelle are always packed full of adventures and plan Bs and plan Cs. So I got up at 4:30am and waited for Roberto to come. He was suppose to be there at 5:30am, but ended up actually getting there at 6:30am. The morning cold crisp air hit my face like a ice sheet, I was instantly wide awake than ever. The car was packed full of aunties, a child, Sarah, Roberto, me, and tons of bags. We dropped everyone off at their appropriate locations and then headed to Delmas 41. I waited on the roof for about 3 hours before Roberto came back to take us to the airport. The adoptive parent's plane gets in at 11am, but they didn't end up getting out until close to 1pm. It was a long wait in the sun, I was starting to feel a little bit of a heat stroke coming on, since we didn't have that much water. Everything turned out alright and we got everyone, all four family members and their luggage. We all headed over to Lamardelle. This was the family's second time in Haiti visiting their two adoptive children, but it will be their first time in Lamardelle, since the last time they were in Kenscoff. When we finally got to the Lamardelle at around 3pm, I showed the parents around the place and handed their adoptive children over to them. The children were ecstatic to see them and still remembered they are Papa and Mama. It was a very happy occasion. 

I stayed with the parents and was able to play with the children and answer any questions the parents had. At around 5:30pm, we headed over to Manmies to have dinner there. It turns out that the adoptive parents weren't the only visitors that were here, there are actually six other visitors that are here to install the solar panals for the school, manmie's house, and the community clinic. How awesome is that? It is finally coming together. Those solar panals have been sitting there for months without anyone doing anything to them. It turns out it is a society that is from Belgium that donated the Solar Panals and now individuals from the society, which consists of 4 Belgiums, 1 French, and 1 Brazilian, are here to install them. I got to meet everyone at the dinner and help translate for everyone with French, Creole, and English. It was awesome food and it was definitely good to be back in the heat. I made sure the parents were all settled in their rooms and went back to the creche after dinner at around 7:30pm. 

I took a much needed shower and made sure to get all the adolescents to bed by 9pm. 

I kissed all the children good night and got back to my room. It's time to crash....it has been a long day! 

Shaken Up In The Bitter Cold!

So it was decided last minute that I was going to head up to Kenscoff this past Friday, because adoptive parents were going to stay in Lamardelle on Tuesday, so I have to be back to Lamardelle to host them during their stay. So I quickly packed my bags on Friday and headed to town with the staff at 3:30pm. As usual, it was a long haul to get to Kenscoff. We dropped off all the staff members and I was dropped off at Delmas 41 office to wait for Roberto. Roberto, Ms. Deleau, and I headed up toward Kenscoff around 6pm and stopped by the market to get some food for the weekend. We finally got to the Duncan's house at around 8pm and had to wait around some more to get more food for the children. By the time I got to the guest house, it was already 9pm. I made a quick sandwich, toast bread, Kraft cheese, and yellow mustard. It was soooooo good.

It was sooooo cold up in Kenscoff while I was there over the weekend. Like ridiculously cold. Wayyyy colder than usual. I was freezing to death. There was no electricity, no water, and no sign of any sunshine anytime soon. It was, needless to say, pretty miserable! I searched high and low to find as many blankets as I possibly could. Even the blankets themselves were freezing. The blankets are thin, but I was able to find 5 of them to put on top of me while I slept. I had on two layers of 100% full-on fleece pajamas, with the 5 layers of covers on me, and I was still freezing. Oh man, those were long nights at Kenscoff this time around.

I stayed close by the charcoal cooker to keep warm. It was really fun cooking the Mais (corn meal) for everyone. The aunties taught me the proper way to stir and pretty much beat it up. It sure kept me warm and energized.  

All the children and I stayed under blankets during free time. It was so close and our body heats definitely came in handy. Children were using me as a launching pad. It was quite fun. We had a blast. 

On Sunday, there was another small scaled earthquake in Haiti. We've had three so far in the past few weeks, which has not help calm the population down. Every time something shook, people screamed and ran for open ground. It is almost like a sick joke now when it happens. I pray everyday for the people's hearts to be calm and for them to find inner peace. The earth is calling out to us to repent our actions, if we don't realize that now, things will just be worse later on. Everyone was freaked out at the orphanage, and once again, I tried to calm people down.

Tomorrow I am going to the airport to pick up the adoptive family that will be visiting and staying in Lamardelle. I can't wait to see them again and get out of this coldness! Most of all, I'll finally be able to take a shower and wash my hair!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is a special day, because it is my dad's 56th birthday! Happy birthday from Haiti daddy! Hope you had a wonderful day and thanks to my grandmother for giving birth to him on this day! I have a pretty awesome father, I am not going to lie. He is pretty funny normally already, but then when he goes out with his work buddies, he comes home and starts singing and speaking Japanese. It's quite amusing to watch and listen to. So dad, have an awesome day! Thank you for your on-going support, while I am in Haiti. You rock! I'm grateful and lucky to have you to call my dad!

Tzu Chi also came today to the orphanage to drop off two months worth of food supplies for the children. It was awesome, 20 bags of rice, 4 bags of flour, 4 bags of beans, 4 bags of sugar, and 12 gallons of cooking oil. Thank you so much to Tzu Chi Foundation for the on-going support for feeding the children at the orphanages here in Lamardelle and Kenscoff.

Today was a celebratory day!

The Love Twins

Things have just been busy busy busy, as usual. Today, a biological mother came to see her children, who have been at the creche a little over two years now. They were tiny little babies when they were first brought in after the January 12, 2010 earthquake. They were only a couple days old, and the mother stated that she was in no state, both financially and emotionally to care for the children. So the creche took them in. When we took them in, it was not expected to be caring for them for over two years, but the mother never called or contacted us, so we couldn't get her consent to put the two children up for adoption. We finally got a hold of her and she wants her children back. She was suppose to come pick them up the first time we got in contact with her, back in November 2011, but she never showed up. This happens a lot in Haiti. The biological parents say they will come, but they never come. They know we will take care of the children for free, since we have no choice, and we cannot legally put their children up for adoption without their written consent. So it is just a vicious cycle really. And sadly many parents do take advantage of that. I mean I understand their point of view, especially for babies, they need so much care and food those first few years. And it is always better when they are older and can walk and talk and take care of themselves for the everyday Haitian environment. And the creche has good health care, food, shelter, and clothing. It's very appealing to just drop off your children and know that they will be taken care of.

So the mother finally came back to get the twins today. They are fraternal twins, one girl and one boy. They are as cute as can be and I have gotten quite close to the both of them with my time here at the creche. When I first came, they weren't able to walk on their own yet and was still crawling around the creche. Now they can walk on their own, speak a couple of phrases in Creole, and understands simple commands. It has been magical seeing them grow. I am going to miss playing with them and laughing at their silliness. I am going to miss kissing them good night and always telling them not to hit others around them. I am going to miss their hugs and miss comforting them when they are scared or sad. I am going to miss you two little buggers.

Take care and have a good life my little ones!