Rana: We decided to name this past Wednesday “random acts of kindness” day. Little did we know that not only would the day be filled with spreading kindness but also the day was filled with hope. The day began with us doing all those little things that we’ve been dreaming up for the past couple months. We just began to bless those all around us. We made brownies for the staff of Sosua by the Sea, gave ice-cream to the police man that helps us cross the highway to the Supermercado and made lunch for a man that lives in a shack in a deserted lot in the middle of town.
Krissie: After we did fun little things for our Sosua homies, Bernard, one of the translators and friends we have worked with for 3 years, came with me to find Wideline (Snotball). We went to their village with her picture and when he asked around, the neighbours and ex-boyfriend told us that her mother had died of Blood-Pressure problems (as far as they knew) and that the kids had been moved to a different village with their aunts. I was still not sure if I should believe this story since everyone else had tried to tell me that both of them died but I was pretty excited to hear that it could have been a communication problem. So we went on a little adventure to another village and just asked neighbours where to go. After we wandered up and down hills and through back-alley pathways, there she was! She immediately ran up to us and sat on my lap playing with my hair and talking away. Wideline is now five years old and living with her mom’s sisters because her dad wouldn’t take care of them anymore. Her 11 year old sister was there too and when Bernard asked if they remembered us they had a huge smile and said “siiiii.” I had brought down pictures of us from last year so I was able to give those to them. Soon Bernard and I are going back out there so I can bless their familia, since I hadn’t expected to find them this time. I am so thankful that they are doing so well out there but she kept saying to me in Spanish “mommy is dead,” which is a sad reality for a number of children around the world. Please continue to pray for children and families like Wideline because there are countless stories similar to hers and we can’t imagine what life would be like in these conditions.
And just for the record: the snot was still flowing this year…
Rana: The past few days we’ve been exposed to mind-boggling events and have visited mind-blowing places. We’ve been faced with many questions and have received very few answers. What exactly is an orphan? Is it simply a child that has no parents? A simple statement to make… but also a heavy one to comprehend. Do we understand the weight and reality that comes with placing the label “orphan” on a child? I believe that I can not and will not fully understand what it means to be an orphan. To be alone in the world without anyone to guide, support and love me. But after these past few days, I believe I have a better understanding of what it means to be an orphan.
On Thursday Krissie and I rented a car and drove to Santiago to visit an orphanage for both physically and mentally challenged children. We were driving to Santiago on Hero Holiday business. As we drove through the mountains and was surrounded by the beauty of God’s work, we knew in our minds what was laying ahead for us that day. The orphanage in Santiago is the orphanage that Hero Holiday has been bringing its students to for the past couple years. When we first began to visit the orphanage there was around 30 children crammed into a small warehouse. They were sleeping in broken beds and on mattresses on the floor and they had very little materials and even less workers. To simply put it: the conditions were less than desirable. However, this year as they opened the gate and we drove into the orphanage our mouths began to drop open. The orphanage has been completely transformed. Not only was there a new beautiful building built with a new grassy area but the old warehouse had also been transformed. The place seemed so happy and just glowed. Everything looked new, clean and colourful! As we had a meeting with one of the directors of the orphanage we learned that they now cared for 74 children and for every 5 children there was a caretaker. They had two nurses on staff for every shift and a doctor who visited everyday. They were in the process of getting a physical therapist as well as trying to plan fieldtrips for the children. After our meeting, Krissie and I walked around the orphanage to visit with every child. Once we had hugged and played with them for awhile, we got back into the car and began to talk about our experience. Sometimes on trips like Hero Holiday or mission trips one can completely be consumed by how great the need is. No matter how much help is out there, it always seems like the need just keeps getting larger and larger. You can easily begin to wonder if doing your part is changing anything and even if what you are doing is the “correct” way of going about things. As we chatted we were filled with excitement and hope. We saw where the orphanage was and how far it has come. That director had hope, a dream and an even larger work ethic. Her work paid off and the fruits of her labour could easily be seen in their smiles of the children’s faces. We had left Santiago that day with a renewed faith in the power of dreams and hard work and the reality that the impossible could be accomplished.
However, our visit to another orphanage on Saturday was very different. When we first arrived in the D.R., Mamma D (Donna) told us about an orphanage she visited in Haiti a week or so earlier. It was an orphanage built by an American organization about five years ago, however, because of rising violence in Haiti for the past two/three years the orphanage has been abandoned by this organization without any aid. Sadly this not as rare as you think it is. I feel that many times organizations just plan for “band-aid” solutions and forget about long-term solutions. As soon as I heard about the orphanage I had an instant desire to go. Mamma D received a message from the pastor that cares for the orphanage a few days back saying that they had no food and the children were hungry. After many plans fell through, we finally were able to visit them this past Saturday. As we crossed the boarder into Haiti not only did it look and feel like we were in a different country, but a whole different world. The pastor brought us across the boarder and to the orphanage. With a single glance you could see the amount of need this orphanage had. The children were sat together under a small tin roof playing with broken crayons and paper. At first the language barrier seemed impossible to overcome but after a short amount of time we each realized that playing was the same in any language and didn’t need translation. As Joshua, Krissie, Mamma D and James (Momma D and Papa P’s son) played with the children, Papa P, the pastor and I went to a local market to by food for the children. As we drove to the market I was able to see what life in Haiti looked like. For me, it reminded me of visuals I’ve seen of Africa and “bible times” all combined together. There were no finished homes for people to live in, just shacks and unfinished houses. Cars were replaced by motorcycles and donkeys and everything just looked dusty, brown and dry. We walked through the market and thankfully from my church’s donations as well as donations from friends I was able to buy rice, beans, spaghetti noodles, juice, powdered milk and butter for the children. It was enough to feed the whole orphanage for at least a month. When we brought the food back to the orphanage I joined in with some soccer playing and then we were given a “tour” of the orphanage. We were first brought to the kitchen which consisted of a large concrete slab and an area for coals to cook food on. We were told that it was their 5th anniversary since the orphanage opened. However there were no balloons or streamers to celebrate the occasion. When we asked what was cooking for their supper they said “beans and chicken…. But now we have rice!” We were then brought to the “bedrooms” and we saw single sized foam pieces where four children slept, with about four beds to a room. One room only had a bare floor where eight children slept on pieces of foam. As we were walking through the orphanages Papa P said to James “aren’t you glad you have a mom and dad?” When I heard those words the reality of my life and these children’s lives hit me. Not only did I realize how fortunate I was to have parents, but that I had parents that loved me and supported me with trust, faith and finances. These children were more than just parentless… they were alone, poorer than poor, and hungry. All things that I can not even begin to imagine or understand. We each became lost in thought, our minds completely clouded with the reality of the lives of these children. They had nothing. They didn’t have the “necessities” that we westerners have labelled as requirements and “rights”. They didn’t even have the things that we consider to be automatically ours, like parents. They…had…nothing. However, they were no longer invisible in a lost country. They were right there, in front of us. They are alive… hungry… and in need. And now we know, now you know, so what’s going to happen now?
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