First Day with the Kiddos: May 25th

Today (Friday) was my first day doing the regular volunteer schedule. I woke up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after my day of traveling and I was really excited to meet the 6 kids I will be working with for the entirety of my stay. The other volunteers informed me that normally our days start at 8:00 a.m. and end at 4:45 with a lunch break from 12:00-1:00 p.m. My first day was a special day though because every Friday we do “Feelings Friday” which consists of a homemade breakfast and reflecting on the week. Feelings Friday is held at a GLA staff members home just about a mile away from the house we are living in. The other volunteers and I put on our hiking sandals and walked the very steep roads from our house to the staff members’ house. The other volunteers said that they were surprised how well I did walking the steep roads with no traction because they said most people trip and fall for the first week or so. I’m sure I will fall at some pointJ! It was beautiful to get out and enjoy the cool morning air and to interact with all the Haitian people setting up their booths on the side of the road! Most of the Haitian people are very interested in American (or any “blanco/white” person they see) and we get a lot of stares, smiles, and waves as we walk. Haitians stand on the side of the road and sell a variety of things including mangos, cookies, cereals, bananas, clothes, and knick knacks. Haiti is very tropical and there are many coconut, banana, and mango trees around. After we walk to the house to do Feelings Friday I am introduced to more volunteers who will be leaving today, which is sad, but it was really fun to listen to their week long experiences and how they feel their trip changed them. I also got to meet more staff members, a couple, and hear their testimony about what made them decide to relocate their family to Haiti. It was an awesome story and as I was listening I realized that if God wants you to be somewhere He will provide all you need to fulfill His will and He will definitely give you signs. After this discussion I really began to comprehend how much the staff at GLA has to sacrifice every day to provide these orphans with a safe and loving environment and it made me appreciate their presence immensely. After feelings Friday we walked to the main house and I was given my list of 6 kiddos. This list included their name, age, background, and developmental items to work on with them. One of the staff members, named HollyJ, showed me each of the kids and gave me a tour of the nurseries. Each time we went into a different nursery all the kids would instantly light up and get excited because they crave love and one on one attention. The nannies at GLA do a great job but they are under staffed as there are over 60 children in the orphanage currently. Most of these children are under the age of 10. That is where the volunteers come in, GLA needs volunteers to give each of the children special one on one time everyday and provide them with the love and hugs they all need and want. Most of these kiddos should be at the stage where they have an intense fear of strangers but they all reach out and show you their best smiles. It is so heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Anyways, the staff member handed me my first little guy who is around 6 months old. He immediately lit up and showed off his toothless grin. Honestly, the moment he smiled I was hooked. It’s amazing how easily love for a child can come. I carried him up to the balcony and he was cooing, drooling, and smiling the whole way. The balcony is the area that we take the kids to play. It has a beautiful view of the mountains and trees and tons of toys! We spend an hour to an hour and a half with each of our kiddos every day. I was so thrilled to play with him that I didn’t know what to do first. His sheet said he needed to work on tummy time and head control so we played on a mat and got to know one another J He is the sweetest little man and he smiles at the drop of a hat. He has a little tuft of hair and it’s so soft and he loves to have his head rubbed! His belly is super ticklish along with his chin and his giggle is contagious. I enjoyed every last minute with him and I was so sad to take him back to his crib. He cried a little when I put him down but I promised to come back and this elicited another smile from his sweet face! I got to spend another hour with him later in the day because I had extra time and he has a diaper rash so it helps to give him as much time on the balcony as possible so that he can air out. My second kiddo is about 2 months old and he is still in the NICU since he is still a young baby. Everyone told me he is super sweet and a smiley baby so I was really excited to play with him. Most of his needs revolve around one on one cuddle time and making eye contact and talking to him. He absolutely loves to be talked to and no matter what you say his chubby cheeks curl up and he smiles. I talked to him for most of the time and then I held him to my chest to help him practice head control. I could tell I was wearing him out after about 45 minutes so at the end I cradled him in my arms and he fell right to sleep. I kissed his chubby little cheeks and reluctantly put him down! Seriously these kids are so sweet and happy that they just pull on your heart strings. After lunch I took my third kiddo a little 1 year old boy on a walk with the other volunteers. He has the best smile I have ever seen in my life and he is such a lover. As much as he loves to play with his toys he also loves to be right on my lap and hold on to my neck. I’m supposed to help him learn to walk but since we ended up going on a significantly long walk…we all ended up carrying our kiddos most of the way! But that was ok because he was blabbering in my ear about the motorcycles and trucks that we say and his eyes would light up anytime a big truck or van drove by. He is such a bundle of joy! We walked a very far way…in the middle of the afternoon so we were all dying of heat (especially me since it was my first day and I hadn’t acclimated to the heat yet!) but we wanted to buy some mangos. We got 8 mangos for 2 US dollars! A crazy deal and they were really delicious. We trekked back home and drank water and ate mangos with the kids. By that time my little guy was getting very sleepy so he relaxed in my arms and fell asleep. It’s the best feeling in the world to hold a sleeping child! My fourth kiddo is a twin and about 2 years old. She has the chubby cheeks and large beautiful eyes and as soon as I walked in the room to find her and called her name she came running to me and let me pick her up. She is a very quiet little girl and she doesn’t always smile but when she does it is so adorable! She wanted to sit in my lap and play with the toys and read books so I cuddled and played with her and got to know her a little bit. Her twin sister is my fifth kiddo but when I went to get her she was fast asleep so I decided not to wake her. My sixth kiddo is a sweet little baby girl but she was sick on Friday so she was one on one with the nurse. I hear she is such a sweetheart and lover so I’m thrilled to meet her on Monday! The day flew by because of how much fun I had with the kids. They are so tenderhearted and sweet and they just want love and attention. It is heartbreaking to think that their parents were sick or unable to care for them because they bring such joy to everything. I hope to really get to know these kiddos (and the many of the other kids as well) over the next 4.5 weeks and earn their trust and love. I won’t type this much normally…I’ve never had a blog before so hopefully it’s not terribly boring. I just wanted you to get a sense of each of the kids and I will update you all on their progress and post pictures as soon as I can! Please pray for each of these kiddos here at GLA. Pray that loving families will adopt them, pray for their health, pray for their hearts to be cheerful in all circumstances, and pray for their futures. Three of my kids are in the process of being adopted but the U.S. makes the process time consuming and difficult so pray that these adoptions will happen as quickly as possible so that these children’s families can have them home. After playing with the kids most of the day the rest of the volunteers and I cleaned the balcony where we take the kids to play. We started this around 3:30 p.m. and it was very hot as we were lifting, bending, wiping, and sweeping. We were all exhausted and dehydrated by the time we finished! I felt much better after drinking ice water at dinner (we usually only get ice in our drinks at dinner time and it is such a treat!) and I decided to join the volunteers and a few other staff members on a trip in town to the store. Little did I know what our travel vehicle would be ha! It was the same truck I rode in from the airport to GLA but there were around 10 of us going and the truck only seats 3 people. They told us to hop in the back of the truck (which thankfully had an iron enclosure) and sit on the wooden benches. At first I was really excited to travel in the back of a truck because the majority of Haitian passengers ride in the open back of vehicles and I figured we would probably get a good cool breeze going. Well, as we started the trip we realized how bumpy it was going on the horrible roads in the back of the truck. We all started sitting down but after one huge bump that threw me up against the iron enclosure (my back still kind of hurts J) we all decided to stand and hold on for dear life. Standing proved to be a much better idea but I still fell a few times. We were all giggling and joking though and I’m sure we proved to be quite the spectacle as we drove into town! There were a few times we all had to duck quickly because of low power lines and we all quickly became very aware of our surroundings! Although it was a very fun and adventurous ride, I was very thankful when we hopped out of the truck at the grocery store! The grocery store was similar to something you would see in a big city in the U.S. It was small and only carried the necessities but it was funny to look around and see what foods/brands they had from the U.S. Anytime we go somewhere it feels like we are movie stars or something because most of the Haitian people stare at us and want to say hi. I’ve never had so many people be so interested in me before J My first day at GLA was a success I’d have to say! I can tell that this experience is going to be memorable and life changing! Love you all!