General Hospital

Probably the hardest day in Haiti was going to General Hospital to work in the abandoned children ward. They had maybe 10 cribs in a tiny room and at least 25 children staying there with new one's being brought in every day. Because of the poverty and starvation in Haiti, children are abandoned and left to die. Some are found by strangers and brought to the hospital. If they don't have disabilities the hospital can usually get them place in an orphanage. I'm not sure what happens to the others. Everything about it is heartbreaking. I know the pictures are pretty disturbing, but they don't even do justice to what it's like there. You have to add in the smells and sounds and the looks on faces.

The staff there can barely keep up with feeding and bathing so there isn't a whole lot of time given just to love. Talk about the risk of dying from failure to thrive. There was a little boy in the crib by the door with big, longing eyes. I went over and stroked his face. He put on a huge smile when I did that. So I started scratching his back and he just giggled and laughed. He was so starved for affection and it felt so good to him that all he could do was laugh.

B

B is seriously one of the happiest kids I've ever seen. He lives in an orphanage and has some physical disabilities, but they don't stop him. His best friend also has some physical limitations as well as mental ones, but B doesn't care. He loves life and wants to make others just as happy as he is.

My new boyfriend

His name is Elsu. He told me I'm beautiful and that's all it took. Oh, by the way, he's 6 and lives at an orphanage.

We made it

We made it to Haiti with no problems. I'm excited to be hear. We have amazing people on this team. There are UN trucks everywhere with soldiers carrying big guns. I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing :). Don't worry though, we are safe.

Haiti

I'm off to Haiti in the morning. I'll try to post while I'm there but I'm not making any promises.