Ladders, Babies, and Lots of Patience

In January, I visited Haiti for the first time with my mother and fifteen strangers. Helping Hands Helping Hearts Ministries visits every January with a goal in mind. Two years ago, they built a house. Last year, they set up playground equipment at the local orphanage. This year, our mission was to get to know the Petite Soeurs de l'Incarnation (the religious order of nuns who basically run the country), and the Haitian people. The trip lasted eleven days, but I never really left (see my first blog post).

Because there is a LOT to tell, and since I know everyone just wants to see the photos anyway, I chose some of my favorite (of the 1300) photographs I took to narrate the trip for me. Here goes:

Window seat!

This is a collapsible ladder.

So this is not a photo I took, but this post needs to include the ladder story. My mom and I had no bags to check, so we were able to take on some of the extra luggage for the whole group -- crafts to do with the Sisters, chocolate for those days we really missed the US, a first aid kit, and a collapsible ladder for projects. I was the lucky traveler to whom the ladder was assigned.

Now, I must explain that Haiti is a very complicated country. Security can be very tight or very lenient, depending on where you are, but as with any country, airport security is always a little wary of foreigners -- especially those who are 30+ years younger than anyone else and those who are carrying suspicious items. We were fabulously lucky to have passed through customs sans problème ("we are staying with our friends in Port-Au-Prince" was what we told them. It was only half true, but our intentions were good and the nuns told us to lie, so it was okay), but not twenty feet from the airport exit, I was stopped -- no one else, just me. The conversation went like this:

Airport Officer: Hello ma'am, what is in your bag?
Me: It's a ladder.
Airport Officer: And what do you plan on doing with it?
Trying not to give too much away, but also trying not to sound like a jerk, because no one prepared me for this moment,
Me: I plan...to...climb it, sir. In this moment I realize he doesn't know the English word for ladder, so I decide to break out my French in an attempt to gain his trust.
Me: C'est une échelle.

The Airport Officer looked curiously at me, asking, "Ah, tu parles Français?"As casually as possible, and with my best French accent, I respond, "Oui, un peu." The man unzipped the bag just a tiny bit to be sure it was just a ladder, and smiled as he waved me into his country.

Millie was a great roommate!

For the first four nights, we stayed in the Sisters' guest house in Port-Au-Prince, right next to the school run by Ti Sé ("Little Sister") Carmène.

Bob and I enjoyed some Prestige, a Haitian beer

Spaghetti with sausage and ketchup for our first dinner

This is the closest we ever got to a group picture!

We quickly located our first babies at the local preschool.

We visited the school kids who were outside.

Once we'd visited the school grounds and Mr. Victor, one of the men in charge of the school and the brother of Ti Sé Manu, we identified a play area as a major priority. Older students were hanging out in the little kids' playground area, where there was no usable playground equipment. So half of us worked on fortifying the existing fences with scrap wood we found in a spare building (or rather, a building that wasn't in use because of earthquake damage). The other half worked on putting up playground equipment.

Clearly I was very helpful.......

In the midst of it all, the sea container shipped in October arrived. We recruited a large group of young men to help us remove the boxes from the truck. Boxes contained everything from donated clothing, to gifts for the sisters, to presents for orphans, to water and supplies for us, to a massive two-ton operating table. It was incredible to see the guys having such a great time working together. This is also when I met my two buds - Steve and Wilson, two 20-year-olds who spoke great English and were really friendly.

Did I mention I did it all in a dress?

In Haiti, traditional gender roles prevail, so men work while women raise children. I wanted to be as helpful as possible, so I had no problem picking up a handsaw or hammer. The bathrooms were located right by our fence, though, so kids would just line up to watch us. I hope I was setting a good example!

Finished product!!

The most interesting part was using only the supplies we could find -- old nails we pulled out of boards, short lengths of wire used as twist-ties, and wood as hammers!

Since there was no electricity, we only had daylight hours to work. When we weren't able to finish making a gate with a lock in time, a few people stayed behind after dark and worked with headlamps. That's dedication! The finished product included fencing on both sides of the building, a gate, and the piece of playground equipment pictured.

Tent cities line the outskirts of the capital

And then we were off to Pandiassou, a small village on the central plateau about 70-75 miles from Port-Au-Prince. We stayed with the Little Sisters of the Incarnation in the house built by Helping Hands Helping Hearts two years ago. Everyone got their own room!

While we were there, the sisters stayed in the original building. The grounds were beautiful, with some grass, lots of trees, and a gorgeous lake. Also, there's a female peacock who roams freely, so that was pretty great.


After mass the next day and meeting the orphans, the men cooked a great breakfast and we went for a walk through the village, where I took some of my favorite photos from the whole trip.

This is the sewing lady's newest grandson. He was one month old!

The mountains in the background are unbelievable.

And then we found some cute little guys to play soccer/cuddle with!

Since Sisters Marilyn and MaryAnn have back-to-back birthdays, the Little Sisters had a party for them! There was a big meal, cake with cremas (an alcoholic treat), and party games. One sister played the drums, but I can't explain the stuffed horse.




The next day, we visited the orphans at Do Palé. We'd made up gift bags for each of them with all kinds of things: clothing, sunglasses, art and school supplies, hair accessories, nailpolish, stuffed toys, etc. We handed them out and played some games. The highlight was Rougina, however. The owner of the orphanage found her on the street and took her as his own. She was so malnourished that her skin was very light and her hair was red, not to mention she weighed half what she should've at her age. Needless to say, we all took turns cuddling her.

Meet Stephanie. She and my mom bonded the past few years, and this time she and I got to talk. She asked about my Dad, about our family, etc., and she was the only Haitian the entire time to intentionally make a goofy face when I took her picture.

We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking boxes from the sea container, like boxes full of prom and wedding dresses (my mom's was in there!!)

On our last day, a couple of us went on a walk through the village. We visited the maternity center (used mostly as a hospital, though) and met a couple of great babies.

Razor wire surrounds the maternity center; a school is on the other side of the concrete wall

Look at that proud mama

Happy baby

This was just one of those shots that works. I love this picture!

We spent the week visiting with the Sisters and getting to know them, and part of that was doing art projects. Maggie is holding one of my paintings!

I neglected to mention a major part of the trip: my visit to the MFH house! I met with Carrie (the outgoing In-Country Coordinator) and Nadene (the founder of the organization), saw the house, and learned a lot about the position. A few weeks later, I was asked when I could be here. More on this later! Confession: part of this post was written in Haiti, but I'll update about my first few days later. Thanks for reading!