Sunday, July 24, 2011

A Whole Lot of Emotions Going On...

July 20th was an emotional day for a lot of people including myself.
So many emotions running through my head & heart I totally felt numb. I kept thinking what an awesome experience I saw with my eyes, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. To actually be present with the kids at The Home for the Sick & Dying Children of Haiti. My heart was overwhelmed with sadness. Is this real? Am I really seeing this in this day & age?

The babies are lined up in their cribs waiting for someone to hold them while toddlers are running around wanting you to pick them up too.
The first baby whose name is Rolonza was precious. Her tiny limp body clung on to me and it made me cry. I hate sickness! This shouldn't be happening to God's children. I held her close to my body singing in her ear as I did with my own children & grandchildren. So many emotions to take in.
As I headed downstairs where the babies with more serious diseases were, I noticed a little boy who was just put back in his crib after seeing his mother who is allowed one hour a day to visit her sick child. As she walked away, the little one knew his mama was leaving him and he cried & cried.
He kept looking intensely for her to come back to him. I felt compelled to go over & relieve his pain of lonliness; so I did. I held, hugged & kissed this little guy. He was a year or two but looked like 6 months. He calmed himself down after I picked him up only to last for a moment. The nurse motioned for me to come over to a table outside to let me know it was his time for his shot. Oh My! To see this tiny baby flinch when he saw the needle coming his way. It amazed me that he knew from a distance that this needle was coming for him. He cried & cried and I just held him closer & closer to my chest. He eventually fell asleep in my arms. I tried setting him down in his crib so he could sleep but he wasn't going to allow me to do that. He sensed what I was about to do and cried to be held again. As most of my family knows, I am a softie when it comes to kids crying at bedtime. I just can't walk away and let a baby cry. I held him a little longer, fed him rice & beans and had to put him down and walk away when it was time to go. My heart was so sad!


Our next stop was Gertrudes Orphanage for Special Needs Children...

How would I be able to change my sad heart to a playful heart in 5 minutes?? Only by the Grace of God! He helped all of us get through these emotions one moment at a time.

Gertrude is an inspiring woman who has a heart of gold for all of her kids.
I am awstruck in what she does. She houses approximately 20-30 kids and they all seem to be happy.
As I looked around the compound I came upon a little girl who looked to be around 7 years old. She was laying on her bed singing away. I instantly fell in love with her. I jumped on her bed and played with her the entire time. It's frustrating for me with the communication barrier between the children and myself. I just wanted to tell her she is so beautiful and that I loved her eyes. But its funny how much we can communicate without any language at all. I was surprised she understood a little bit of English when I started singing the abc song. She loved to sing. But perhaps the most rewarding gift I received was a game I call "Hiding the String in the Belly Button". I can still see her reaction in my mind when she first layed eyes on my innie belly button. She couldn't stop playing with it. I just laughed and let her play with it. She tried to see how far down she could put her finger inside. It puts a smile on my face as I am writing this because she had such a giggle. She tore off a piece of string from my skirt and decided to play this game by sticking the string down in my belly button. She never got tired of this game. I kept that one piece of string to remind myself of how simple & joyous life can be just with something as plain as a piece of string.

Philemon 7: "Your love has given me great joy & encouragement because you, sister have refreshed the hearts of the saints."

Thank you Lord for this humbling experience!



Barb Curtis
Healing Haiti Team Member

1 comment:

  1. I would like to thank Ultimate Life Clinic for reversing my father's Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). My father’s ALS condition was fast deteriorating before he started on the ALS Herbal medicine treatment from Ultimate Life Clinic. He was on the treatment for just 6 months and we never thought my father will recover so soon. He has gained some weight in the past months and he is able to walk with no support. You can reach them through there website www.ultimatelifeclinic.com

    ReplyDelete