Art of Mind: April 2 in Jeremie, Haiti

April 2 was our first full day at Yvrose’s orphanage. We brought her something that was relatively difficult to transport to Haiti – a 12lb. piece of provolone cheese. We brought lots of other things as well, but it was something she was so delighted with because it is so difficult to get cheese of any kind and the only way to get the provolone is to have someone put it in a checked bag. That cheese was the start of the eye opening that would continue as the week went on.

Yvrose (Eve Rose) and some of the older girls at the orphanage had prepared a lovely lunch for our arrival. They were beautiful crusty pies of cheese and meat and were delicious. She started educating us immediately about life in Jeremie. She was upfront about the fact that she had to carefully acquire the ingredients for these pies by sending others out to get a little at a time - if you by too much of better quality food at once, the people get suspicious and might try to rob you. (You must have money if you can afford this much good food.)

After we ate, we went out to meet the children. They immediately came to us and starting holding our hands, kissing our cheeks and wanting us to take their pictures. They seemed to look over our group and pick which one of us would be their friend for the day. My first buddy was Florkincia. She was a beautiful girl but didn't smile much that entire day.

I rubbed her back and tried to get her to sing, but mainly, she just wanted me to keep my arm around her shoulder and take her wherever I went. As the day went on, we had a lot of time to get to know the kids - language not a huge barrier - they wanted to be touched, held, and played with. I started noticing more about where we were - the physical grounds and what it must be like to be there everyday with no parents. The ground is dry and dusty and since the temperature was in the 90's and we were sweaty, we were covered with dust from head to toe each and every day. There is a kind of courtyard area where we could all sit in relative shade for much of the day. Many of the children, when visitors are not there, nap on the rock walls.

In the back of the orphanage, there is another flat, dirt area that can be used for soccer and basketball. There is also a fairly large, covered area where there are tables for the children to eat their once a day meals (almost always beans and rice) and where we could color and do projects. Behind this area was the "orphan's kitchen". All food preparation and cooking for the children takes place here.