“Hold, Touch, Love, Tears, Contact” … these were all
words used by team members to describe our morning at the Home for Sick and
Dying Babies. When you first walk into
the rooms where the babies stay, you see rows of cribs all with babies inside.
The first room is for the less sick children. Those children are allowed to go
outside and play on the playground, and they love to do so despite the heat. The
other room is for the more sick children who are not allowed to leave the room.
As you weave through the multiple rows of cribs, the babies reach up towards
you begging you to hold them. When you pick up the babies, they cling on to you
and they never want to let go, although you never want to either. The parents
of the babies have specific hours they can come and visit with their own
children. Seeing all of the mothers interact with their children taught us all
of a special kind of love. All the parents were outside playing with their
children the entire time and knew that leaving them there when it was time to
go, was the best for the child, even though the parents could hardly endure the
painful tears that their children cried. There was one little girl who had the
sweetest smile who seemed to be running around by herself. When she saw me she
sat down by a pole and starting hitting the pole. So of course I joined her.
Every time I would hit the metal pole she would giggle at the sound it would
make. It was the simplest thing but gave
her and I an abundance of joy. No language barrier can hold back love,
laughter, and joy.
I am the type of person who doesn’t see things for what
they are, I see things what they can be. My word of the day is “future.” The
reason being, I see a great future for Haiti. We started our day off going to
Gary’s Orphanage. Gary is a pastor at a church, and when his church started
filling up with children who lost their parents in the earthquake, or whose
parents could no longer take care of them. While we were there we played with
children who had a range of ages and disabilities. A girl who I got the
opportunity to meet was named Mirma. She had some sort of disability that
prevented her from walking, and communicating well. I blew up a balloon, and we
played catch for two hours, and in those two hours she didn’t stop smiling or
laughing. We got the opportunity to meet Gary, and he was a very organized guy.
He had a plan for where he wanted his orphanage to go, with EVERYTHING laid
out. On our way up the mountain, I saw several construction sites, and
buildings going up. People making things, and people who are planning for a better
future are signs to me that Haiti does have a bright future ahead of them. I
hope to be a part of that future.
-Jacob Pederson
P.S. Hi family and friends!
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