A Life Less Ordinary: Beautiful Places, Beautiful Faces

Airports are magical places. People from all walks of life are coming and going to all parts of the world. When I was coming home at the end of March, the airport was hot and crowded. As soon as I got out of the car one of the workers from the airport grabbed my arm and brought me into the line, cutting about half of the people off. There was a group of 3 people who I got pushed next to and since the line was not moving we got to talking. As it turned out they had just taken over a NGO (Haiti’s Hope) and were working with The Diakonos Orphanage in Carrefour (about 25 minutes outside of Port au Prince) over here. They were looking for a place closer to the orphanage to stay when they came down so I suggested they stay with us next time they came down. I kept in contact with one of the guys, Liony, while I was home and they were planning on coming down 2 days after I got back. After discussing it with his partner in the NGO, J, they decided it would be good to stay closer to the city with us. I set my alarm for early Monday morning but before it could go off I received an email from them saying that they were now on a later flight so I actually got to sleep in a bit more. Greg and I went to go pick them up. I was hoping they would remember what I looked like and I was hoping even more that I would remember what they would look like. To my relief we all recognized each other as soon as we saw each other. Once we got to the house and they saw how much space there is they decided that they would bring the college group that is planning on coming down at the end of May to stay with us.

On Monday we visited the orphanage that they help manage. At first the children were a bit shy towards me but then as soon as one started to play with me, one by one they all joined in. I usually wear my hair down here (I’m not quite sure how I do it in this heat) and one of the girls started to play with it and soon all the girls, and one or two boys, were braiding and twirling my hair. We left around 5:30 after promising the kids we would be back the next day. The next morning we dropped J off at the orphanage and went to pick up Liony’s friend Monica from the airport. Now, even though the airport is not that far away, with all of the traffic in Port au Prince you want to try to give yourself way more time than you would think you need and you will still probably be late. While we were at the airport Liony’s brother, Jesus, was also coming to Haiti at the same time on a bus from the Dominican Republic to see the orphanage and hopefully help with some construction in the future. Unfortunately, Monica’s plane was late arriving and with all the traffic that time of day we would not have made it to pick up Jesus and get J from the orphanage. Yvon was going up to Petionville where the buses come in so he picked up Jesus and we went back to the orphanage to get J. By the time we all got back to the house we were exhausted and starving. We made plans for the next day and then we all went to sleep.

After breakfast on Wednesday we decided to hike up the mountain to Sarazin. Each of the children hikes down the mountain and bring bricks up to build their new school. The school has come a long way since I had been last up there in February. After spending some time up there, we all hike down which takes about a third less time than going up. The views you get from the mountain are unbelievable. After the hike back we all took showers and then headed off to the orphanage for the rest of the day. Monica had brought art supplies with her for the children to paint pictures that she could bring back with her and sell at a fundraiser with all of the profits going back to the children. She had help from Alex who is a young local artist in Port au Prince. He recently received a scholarship to study at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY for 6 weeks. She brought watercolor paints and shimmery pigments and the girls went crazy for the pigments. By the end of the day most of the girls were covered in it. It was amazing to see how all of their faces lit up when they were given the opportunity to express themselves in a way they have never had a chance to before. After the kids were finished painting we handed out new shoes to some of the kids that the Sisters had left when they were here back in February.

J is learning some Créole and when some of the girls asked him if they could come back to the house for the night, he said yes not fully knowing what he was agreeing to. After some back and forth from everyone we decided to take 4 of the older girls, and sisters Miciale and Fortuna. J and his wife Princess (the third person I met at the airport) are in the process of adopting Miciale and Fortuna. These normally loud, rambunctious girls were as quite as church mice the whole way to the house. All you could hear from them were whispers and fingers being pointed out the windows. Once we got into the house the girls had to take showers. Monica and I showed them how to use the showers since I doubt any of them had ever used one before. As the two little ones were showering, the four older ones were cemented into place in front of the mirror check themselves out and talking to one another looking in the mirror. After everyone was showered we went upstairs to eat dinner. We moved the TV into the room we were eating so that J could watch the Heat game. Even though the girls had no idea what was going on they were watching the game as intently as avid basketball fans. Since the two younger girls usually sleep with someone I let them sleep with me. They started to lay on me as they fell asleep so I was stuck in my position for the night with each girl on one side. It is extremely humid here this time of the year and sleeping with a sheet is sometimes too much. I didn’t mind not being able to sleep and being uncomfortable as long as the girls were able to sleep and felt safe. Everyone was up at 530 the next morning to eat breakfast and then we had to drive and drop them off at school. To get to the orphanage takes about 30 minutes without traffic. We had to get the girls back between 730 and 8 so we left at 7 thinking that would be plenty of time. It was not. We did not get back to the orphanage until after 830. Apparently there was construction going on, but no one can be certain what the problem was.

Later in the afternoon we went to do an interview at a local radio station to try and raise support for the orphanage. We were told the interview would only take about 45 minutes at the most but of course it ended up taking 2 hours. We had planned to head back to the orphanage for the rest of the afternoon but after seeing black clouds rolling in we decided it might be best if we headed home instead of sitting in traffic in the storm. Of course this being everyone’s last night we had to have a get together and invite everyone we had been working with all week. Some people couldn’t come because of the weather but overall we had a bunch of people who were able to make it and we all had a great time. We all woke up early the next morning to bring everyone to their forms of transportation. J was headed to the airport and Liony and Jesus were headed on a bus to head back to the DR for a few days.

Monica and I finished editing some pictures and video from the week and then we headed off to the orphanage one last time to do some interviews with the kids and pick up their artwork. Alex and Rama were both there to help us and as the sun began to set we headed off to see where Alex does his artwork. If you didn’t know what you were looking for you could easily miss it since it is off the road behind some stores in the industrial part of town. All of the art work is made from things that are found; wires, broken car parts, broken dolls, tires, and skulls. Some of the stuff is amazing and to think that it was all trash before it was made into works of art is remarkable. It was a nice way to end a crazy busy week. The next day we dropped Monica off at the airport with her promise to come back as soon as she can. Once people come and see the beauty of this country, they can’t seem to get out of their system.