O.K, so in case you haven't heard yet.. I'm packin' my bags and heading to Haiti on August4th. I'm going with Gretchen, a friend from the nursing program at school. You might be asking.. "How can you afford to go back?" or "weren't you just there?" The answers are, I can't and yes, respectively. Lately, I've been dreading going back to school for my final year. This summer has been good, I've been so blessed with nanny jobs and my healthcare jobs, but I've been so far away from friends and my sense of adventure just hasn't been fulfilled yet.
I went to Haiti in July. I was there for 6 days, and I loved every minute of it. I started picking up some more Creole, much to my delight. I can now spit out a few sentences.. ya know the basics such as "I'm hungry" "where is..." "I slept well" and well that's about it, but I swear I have potential. My friend Rigan, brought a few of us to visit an orphanage he wanted us to see. It was so cool. A big house full of little kids, anywhere from a couple months to 12 years. It was clean, homey, had toys, books, and Haitian nannies to help take care of the kids. I told Jasmine, the American who runs it, "This is what I want to do" It just kind of slipped out of my mouth. Did I just declare what i want to do with my life? Who knows, but that place was really cool. I want to help out somehow in the orphanages... whether it's playing the "mom" role, or bringing the clinic to the children.
Anyways, I've been praying for direction from God, because I know that nothing works out right when I try to do things without Him. I wanted to make sure that it was ok with the Big Guy before I made all of my plans. We sent out a couple of letters asking people for support, and we were blessed beyond belief by a donor who is sponsoring our entire trip. Since I heard this news, God has continued to open more doors, by connecting us with a clinic, a place to stay, and transportation around Haiti. He's also slowly warming up Mommapants (affectionate nickname for my mom) to the idea of Haiti. This is probably the biggest answer to prayer!
This time I'm going back and I'll be staying at a different orphanage/clinic. They are in "desperate need of nurses" from the words of Pastor Kelly who looks over the all girls orphanage and clinic. The organization is a nonprofit run from Florida. The website is http://www.fleuryfoundation.org/home.php.
Plans for this trip:
* Help at the clinic during the week- we're bringing down meds and supplies to help them out
* Bring down toys for the girls, play with them
* get to know my Haitian friends better, have more talks with them about life in Haiti, God, goals for the future. Rigan and Shirley are helping us with all of our plans, so we'll be spending almost every day with them
* Learn MORE creole!!
* See the mountains
* Visit the beach
* Possible trip to Cap Haitian to work at the hospital and to see some places of historical significance
* Learn how a non-profit operates. Talk to the people who work there and ask about how they started thier foundations
Sounds like I'll have internet access at the clinic- but what does that really mean in Haiti? We'll see I guess. I'm an amatuer at blogging so hopefully I'll pick up some wit by the middle or end of my trips and then these things will be interesting.
