{rice, beans & love}

We have recently been finding out lots of more infomation about the children that came to us 2 weeks ago. As I have mentioned, 23 new kids were admitted into Tytoo Gardens Orphanage (in Simonette) and two of them were originally staying with me. Last Thursday, we discovered that two of the children had been separated from their siblings during he rescue. They were reunited wth their siblings and  transferred to the other orphanage Titanyan. This opened up two beds in Tytoo, so Esther and I decided to place Guitambert into Tytoo officially. Guitambert does really well with the older kids and is very independant. I felt bad leaving him the first night, but he seems very content with the transition.

The same organization that saved these kids are now gathering information to put the lady who ran the old orphanage in prison. They have recently visited Tytoo and interviewed the children. We have discovered that 3 babies had recently died from being eaten by rats. They mentioned many incidents of abuse. They tell stories of being forced on the streets to beg. And they say they were held prisoners by “the nun” who ran the place. These details are hard to even write about, but it’s the reality of these children’s past.

I see them everyday now, and I’m beginning to see light come into their eyes. I just ask you to pray for these children, we still are missing a lot of the details and I’m sure they still fear for their own lives even though they are safe now.

Continuing with the update…. Thursay night I found my house to be surprsingly quiet with only Jeffte and Lovenson. This obvously didn’t last for long.

Friday afternoon I went and visited Luckeny and Bosny (my two boys from the post “A Basket Full of Fruit”) and they told me they hadn’t seen their mom in two days. For a 9 and 11-year-old, these two boys should not be left alone for that long. I did some further research and realized how bad their situaton really is. Way worse than what I thought.

Luckeny brought me around a cement house, and unlocked a small shack made out of bright blue Samaritan’s Purse tarp. I peeked inside and saw a broken bed being supported by cement blocks and a small wooden shelf in the corner holding their very few possessions. I knew in that moment I had to do something more for these boys.

Saturday afternoon, I returned and asked the mom if she still wanted to give up her boys and put them in Tytoo Gardens orphanage? She answered “yes” without a moment’s hesitation. Esther and I have decided that the boys are going to stay with me for 2 weeks as they finish school, and then we will transition them into Tytoo Gardens.

On Saturday, I also asked the mom where she had been the past two days. She said she had been at market. She sells dirt cakes; a cake made up of dirt, salt, butter, another Haitian ingredient and water. For 5 goudes (less than a penny) you can buy 3 small cakes. And this is how she is providing for her family. This is also the first time I had ever heard of such a thing, but Webert tells me that it’s a food people will eat to get rid of the hunger pains. It is filled with worms, germs and has absolutely no nutritional value. Something no one should have to resort to in order to diiminish hunger pains.

As I sat and waited for the boys to get ready to go, I looked at the “dirt cakes” being made. A big yellow bucket, full of fresh mud sat in front of me and all I could think to myself was “people actually pay to eat this, and their mom relies on this mud to support her family.” Wow.

After 15 minutes, the boys were bathed and carried a plastic bag will their only belongings (2 pairs of pants, 4 shirts and 2 extra pairs of underwear). And that was all it took, and the mom said good-bye. We piled onto Webert’s motorcycle: Lovenson, Jeffte, Webert, Luckeny, Bosny and me in the rear and we were one big Haitin family!

The boys have been nothing short of amazing. They are very polite, listen well, and get excited to brush their teeth at night (nothing I’m going to complain about!) Besides being very underweight for their ages, they are healthy and very active. I’m trying to put 10 pounds on their tiny bnes before they go into the orphanage. I feel very blessed to have them staying with me, even if it is only for a short time.

So, the quiet didn’t last long. With four boys, the house can get pretty rowdy, but I love every second of it.

(I can’t get pictures to upload with the blog…thank you Haiti for the incredible internet, haha…but I have uploaded new pictures to my Facebook album “a house full of boys” http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3634723064962.2140741.1180740074&type=3 You can see pictures of the boys there!)

Much love from Haiti