April 5, 2011 Darlene's Orphanage/Yvrose's Orphanage

We started our day with Haitian oatmeal, spicy peanut butter, papaya, scones and delicious sugar cane coffee. Our team had been briefed that we would be going to Darlene's orphanage first - not as established as Yvrose's and conditions were not ideal for the children. We arrived in front of a dented metal gate that was the entrance to Darlene's and went in - it was obvious that they had been waiting for us because all of the children were lined up and immediately began to sing for us. They sang 3 songs in perfect English and one in Creole as well - it was very moving, very sweet. I remember one of the lyrics was something like "thank you for coming - you are welcome in our home" - very hard not to cry at the beauty of it. They must have practiced a lot on those songs and we were honored to hear them.



It struck me that the children looked different - they didn't smile or move much. They made intense eye contact and though we were smiling at them, very few of them smiled back. They were hungry and many were not feeling well. One of our team members, Jen, noticed a boy laying on the cement by himself - after she looked at him and touched him, she realized he was very sick. He would later go to hospital after other team members, Miriam and Katelyn, went back to Yvrose's to get $10 and medical supplies.


There were others that were not much better but, they all seemed to revive a bit when we started passing out toys. Each child received something to play with and a hygiene kit. They loved balloons and enjoyed some coloring with new crayons and coloring books.


The children in Darlene's orphanage eat one meal a day. The picture below shows the lady who was preparing there food in this outdoor kitchen. I could not tell what the food was, but it was likely a starch with some corn mixed in.


After we said our goodbyes, we headed back to Yvrose's where Debbie, Jen and I had some basketball lessons with Peter. Peter was adamant that we hold the ball correctly and he was right - As soon as I held the ball the way he instructed, I got a goal.



In the late afternoon, another missionary team was at the church on Yvrose's property, so we all attended a VBS service with the kids. We all sang and had a great time, but the kids of the orphanage still clung on to us and didn't really mix into the group of neighborhood kids. When we were leaving for the night a few of the kids ran to the gate to say goodbye - a couple of them were crying.