Life has been super busy here in Haiti the last several days (and "super busy" might actually be an understatement).
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| O & Mirlande |
We enjoyed a lovely New Years Eve reflecting on the ups and downs of the past year...and wow, has it been a crazy year.
Then on New Years' Day we had a mom stop by in labor around noon and she ended up delivering a sweet baby boy at 3:30pm. It was a wonderful daytime delivery with just me, Sarah O and Beth present.
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| Donald, baby #1, 2011 |
The next day we went to church with many of our friends who are in Haiti right now (Dr. Jen, Joanna Theile, the Livesays). It was really lovely. And we had a fabulous Independance Day celebratory meal (complete with the obligatory "Soup joumou"--Pumpkin Soup) with all the folks from the Hospital and Heartline. Around 8pm another mom stopped by our place in Labor so we stayed up all night laboring with her. No one was more surprised than me that I ended up catching that baby--who came so fast--under the guidance of Beth and Sarah O. It was a wild experience that I have yet to process, but the sweet little baby girl arrived safely around 12:30pm much to the delight of both her parents. And can I just say, wow, there is a lot of blood involved in birth. Woah.
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| Baby Heniana & "midwife" D |
We were ready to go to bed early that night when about 8pm ANOTHER mom came by in labor. We had to call in some reinforcements to labor with her for a few hours so that we could get some sleep, and around 3:30 we were called down for the delivery of another healthy baby boy. I think they were all waiting until 2011. Every Haitian we have talked to expressed relief that 2010 is over with.
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| Ketia and baby boy |
There is a saying in Haiti "Lespwa fe viv"--Hope brings life, but these births have shown us over and over that the opposite is true too...."Viv fe lespwa"--Life brings Hope.
These babies were all born to first time moms, with dads in the picture, and a sincere desire to care for their babies. They were very cooperative in labor and did everything we asked them to do. When I think of these precious babies being born in tents or on dirt floors, I am even more amazed at the work that Heartline is doing. Not only do these moms and babies have a safe and healthy place to deliver, but they get a years worth of classes (6 months prenatal, 6 months child development) but they are on the receiving end of so much love and care.
We helped in the child development class yesterday and got a good nights sleep. Today was a low key/recovery day for us and we just had the teen moms over for a film (complete with popcorn and sodas!). We watched "Elf" together with babies crawling all over the place! Watching a DVD on a laptop with a bunch of teenagers might not seem like that big of a deal to most of you reading this...however it was the talk of the town all day! The moms showered and got dressed up and were silly and giddy and so SO EXCITED for 'movie night'. When the movie ended they clapped and hugged us and tucked their babies into bed.
Life in post-earthquake Haiti has been a bit of an ego check for me. I miss the life we had in Haiti before the earthquake--I miss the routine and the simplicity of walking to Mama T's every day and working in the orphanage and getting to know the kids. I miss it, quite honestly, because I felt useful there. There were things I could "do". The needs were obvious. The needs are still obvious here at Heartline, but I don't feel as equipped to fill these needs. I feel like what I have to offer over and over again is my love and friendship--which is less quantifiable than say, feeding a room full of 30 babies. But the challenge for me has been to believe that it matters. It matters that these teenagers got to be teenagers tonight. It matters that 3 babies this week were welcomed to Haiti with love and care.
One of the teen moms, Jenny, has not been getting along with the others. If you're the praying type, please pray for her. She comes from absolute poverty and one of the most violent slums in the world. Her mom has 8 kids. She has no job, no way to provide for Kenny her almost one year old son. She also has very little skills for living in community. Today we were part of a conflict-resolution conversation with the teen moms (the first of its kind at the teen mom house--just imagine the show "16 and pregnant" taking place here in Haiti). Jenny was loud and dramatic. She carried a grudge all day, wouldn't talk to the other girls, and refused to participate in the film night. She said she is fine without Heartline and has threatened to leave--and she is free to do so....but there is so much possibility for growth and maturity for her (and for Kenny) here. It would be so sad to see her go...
Tomorrow we are preparing for the "Heartline Healed" party--for patients who were injured in the earthquake and spent time at Heartline during their recovery. They are all home, but we wanted to celebrate the healing that has happened in their lives over the year. It should be a blessed time! My camera battery died on day 4 so I haven't been able to take pictures and have been relying on others. I'd really like to get connected to my battery charger tomorrow so I can take some pictures (it arrived in the country today but is on the other side of the city right now...)
It is hard to believe that we just have a week to go before we head home....
We hope your New Year is off to a wonderful and blessed (albeit a little less bloody) start-
Sarah D
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