Gertrude's/Home for Sick and Dying/General Hospital

What a beautiful, precious day we all had!  After the overwhelming feelings experienced during water truck day we had the opportunity to feel God's love in a whole new way today.  In the morning we split into two teams: half going to the home for sick and dying babies and the other half going to Gertrude's orphanage for special needs.  In the afternoon we rejoined as one team to visit General Hospital.

Debora's perspective on the Home for Sick and Dying Babies:

I was part of the team that went to the home for sick and dying babies. Mothers bring their sick babies there to get cared for and nourished by the nurses there.  As a mother myself all I wanted to do was make every child feel loved and cared for. The first little girl I came across was so limp and lethargic...most likely from being malnourished. I held her in my arms for so long...her tiny body just clung to mine, tired and hungry, she did not lift her head once. As more babies cried I felt the need to move on and share my love. The mothers of some of the babies were also visiting their kids while we were there today. When they left you could feel the sadness as the mothers lay their sick babies back in their small metal cribs. All at once the need felt so overwhelming. We all moved onto each crying baby, trying to comfort them. Some got so attached to us and didn't want us to put them down. While others we played with and were able to make smile and laugh as we sang them songs and played silly games like peek-a-boo. Before we left one little boy stole my heart. He was so sad at first after his mother left...I picked him up and he instantly calmed down.  By the time we were done the two of us were giggling and having tons of fun!  It was so hard to leave those precious, beautiful faces.  "Those we have held in our arms for a little while, we hold in our hearts forever" - Mother Theresa 

Keith perspective on Gertrude's Orphanage:

This entire journey has been very special to me in every possible way. God lead me to come to a special Country a few months back under the guidance of some special leaders, coming to a special place, with the most special team I could imagine, for a special organization and today it came full circle when we were able to visit children and families with special needs. No matter where you, what you do and how you do it, Love is the most universal language that doesn't have any borders or language barriers. Once we arrived at Gertrude's we didn't really know what to expect or basically what to do. We looked at them and they looked at us like, "who are these people"! After about a few minutes the instincts of this incredible team kicked into high gear and we each grabbed some of the kids and brought them back to the play area where we began to push them on swings, play football, dance to music and basically love on them. The highlight was having wheelchair races with 10 kids buzzing in circles, doing doughnuts, going fast and making sharp turns. The sounds of laughter filled each of us with the most joy you could imagine. Before coming on this trip I was thinking about how I can make a difference and what I can do to love on them when in fact it is what they are doing to me, us, that is making the biggest impact.


Hallie's perspective of General Hospital:

You can never prepare yourself for the conditions that you will come across on a daily basis here in Haiti. I thought that I had somewhat given myself plenty of time to adjust, the point being is that you will never be ready. These past few days have been an emotional roller coaster to say the least but today was just a little different. I felt for the first time that what I did today was ENOUGH. Today we made the trip to go to the Acute C

are of the General Hospital in Downtown Port Au Prince. It was maybe the size of a gymnasium with patients scattered everywhere. Some were critical, some were moderate but what you really have to understand that most of the patients were infant to toddlers with severe malnutrition. Some parents were there, some weren't. Staff weren't very attentive due to the number of patients being seen and I'm not sure exactly how many times I did see a doctor but I can say it was less than five. What we did as a team was nothing short of amazing. We came in with limited supplies and basically took over! We spoiled them with goodie bags, sang songs, painted their nails, gave massages and loved on them and their children. At times you had to tuck your heart away but then at times allow it to be broken. I fell in love with each child that I came across and they will always have a place in my heart.