Merry Christmas

On Christmas Eve I spent the morning with the children at Kay Ste. Anne.  In the afternoon with all of the children and workers we went to Ste. Louie, the home for the children over the age of six.  There a big meal was served to all of the children and they had an enjoyable Christmas party.  One of the most enjoyble activities was the pinatas.  This is not a Haitian tradition, but a Mexican one, but the first NPH orphanage was in Mexico and the man who oversees the Angles of Light program (which includes St. Anne, St. Louie and the schools) is from Mexico. 

Later, I went with another sister and two medical volunteers from Italy to the Sisters of Charity (Mother Theresa's congregation) for midnight mass.  It really started to feel like Chirstmas especially when we sang familar Christmas hymns in english.  Everyone removes thier shoes when they enter the chapel and the sisters sit on the floor during the liturgy.  Afterwards we had cake and hotchocolate before returning home, in record time since there was no traffic at all. 

Yesterday morning, I went to Kay Ste. Anne, wanting to spend Christmas morning with the children.  There were no special activities planned there for Christmas morning.  When gifts are exchanged in Haiti, they are given more often around the first of January which is when Haiti celebrates independence day, or on the feast of the Epiphany.  Chirstmas is generally celebrated in Haiti by attending church and a family meal.  I enjoyed spending the morning with the children, appreciating their presence and the gift of their laughter and lives. Special moments yesterday morning, had to do with a successful step twords toilet traning for one little girl, and a negative cholera test for a little boy with diareha (better than anything you can put in wrapping paper.) 

  There was liturgy at 5:00 in the chapel, a beautifully simple and reflective mass.  There were two bodies in white bags on the floor of the chapel, cholera victims whose names we did not know.  At 6:00 on the roof of the former volunteer house we continued our Christmas celebration.  It was a fun  party and a delicious meal.  At my invitation Sr. Mary and another friend from Matthew 25 came.  It was great to see them.

Thanks to skype, I was able to wish my family a Merry Christmas.  My relatives including aunts, uncles and first cousins on both sides of my family, have chipped in to purchase a portable library of children's books in Haitian Creole for the children I work with.  This was done instead of choosing names and buying gifts for each other.  I am so touched by their generosity, their willingness to change a family trandition to benefit the children here that just thinking about it, causes my eyes to water.  I am unable to explain to anyone that this is what may family is doing for Christmas gifts this year without crying.  So many people have been so generous to the people of Haiti, and so supportive of my work here in so many ways.  Thank you.

Thanks to for all those in my community, family and friends who sent greetings.  Be assured of my appreciation and prayers.  May you enjoy these days of Christmas!             





Quick and varied updates

This week is going better than last.  No new cases of Cholera among the children at Kay St. Anne, thanks be to God.  At the school yesterday there was a party for Christmas and the beginning of the holiday vacation.  School will resume the 8th of January.

Here are a few unrelated updates you might be interested in:

The child who I was with in the United States while he was recovering from surgery was here at the hospital earlier this week.  The other volunteer who has spent time with him contacted me and brought him over to the school so that I could see him.  He looks healthier, as he has put on some weight.  It was truly a gift to see him, a wonderful Christmas surprise.

Katiana, the child who died of Cholera was buried last week by the chapel here on the grounds of St. Damien Hospital, by the chapel.  On one side of the chapel earth quake victims were buried, now in the ground on the other side, lie the remains of people who died from Cholera. A couple of relatives of Katiana's were present at the funeral.  After the liturgy they decided to take her twin sister home, that maybe they could care for her after all.  I hope and pray that the surviving twin will thrive with her relatives. 

There have been changes in the Cholera hospital.  The sickest people have been moved from tents into prefabricated houses which are more comfortable.  They are the same type of house that I am living in, but in a different location. There is also consrtuction going on there for a premanant structure.

After the comptuer that had previously been my grandmothers broke completely, and my seven year old comptuer failed to connect to internet either wirelessly or when plugged in, someone here gave me a new small computer which is wondreful because I can get internet more easily and more frequenlty. 

Politically things have been fairly calm and it has been safe to go out.  There is apparently a gasoline shortage in the country though which could cause serious problems if it last a long time. 

Well those are my updates.  It is begininng to feel like Christmas. 

May your days be blessed and filled with  joy! Merry Christmas! 
Peace,
Kathleen  

Cholera and Christmas

It really does not seem like Christmas is less than a week away.  Many years it seems like in the busyness of life Christmas just sort of sneaks up on me, but this year it feels different.  There are a few decorations around here and there, but I would not be surprised if the average US shopping mall has more lights and decorations hangining than all of Haiti.  This past week, when it seemed most days we were taking at least one child for Cholera treatment, it was hard to think about Christmas.

Yet, at some point I did think about Christmas.  The story of the first Christmas after all did not take place under a well lit pine tree, but in a make shift shelter surrounded by animals.  Actually, in Haitit there are many make shift shelters; they are the norm for most of the children attending the school where I work.  The hyms and songs we associate with Christmas were not sung in the manger, instead there were the sounds of cows and the sound of a woman giving birth.  Actually, everday I hear these sounds since the little house I live in is right near the the materity ward of St. Damien's hospital, and I pass cows every morning on my way to the school,(which is also in make shift shelters.)  Maybe the gift for me this Christmas is to recognize the presence of God, in the unexpected places, amongst the animlas I see eating trash in the filed,  in the people for whom we there is no roon in the inn or in anything other than a disingrating tent, in babies born in places that do not seem fit for human habitation, in children who could so easily killed not by a jelous power hungry king, but by preventable diseases like Cholera which spread because people have not taken steps to ensure that all the world has acess to clean drinking water and adaquate sanitation.  I am in a place where hope needs to be born everyday; I can not think of a better place to celbrate the true meaning of Christmas.

 Of course that does not mean there are not or will not be moments when I might be wishing for a more comfortable Christmas with my family, my community, or long time friends, delicious desserts and a place where I can take a warm shower.  Yes, I have moments, like on Wednesday just after Katiana died, and while I was somewhere between the school and the cholera camp, I caught a glimpse of an American Airlines plane which had just taken off from the nearby airport and at least for a few seconds felt a bit jelous of the passangers who were leaving Haiti.  Yet when I stop and reflect, I know that yes this is where I am called to be at this time.  If given the choice I would not really leave right now.  It is truly a gift to believe that at this moment in my life I am in the place where I am called to be.

I hope to write again before Christmas, but in case, I don't Merry Christmas.  May you experience the presence of God both in the places you expect and in the people and places you would least expect to find love, joy and hope.  Many Blessings!       



      

Cholera came

On Monday Choera arrived at Kay Ste. Anne.  Working in the cholera camp last week when it was not safe to travel the short distance to Kay Ste. Anne provided me with an ability to recongize it; actually it was the smell which gave it away.  Cholera has a distinct smell, not a pleasant scent, although certainly I have smelled seemingly worse odors though probably less deadly.   The first child from Kay Ste. Anne was taken over to the cholera tents on Monday afternoon.  He tested positive on arrival was given rehydration intervenously and orally, as well as some medication.  He recovered quickly and returned to Kay Ste. Anne aproximetly 24 hours later where he was happily reunited with his baby sister.  Around the same time he was returning another child became ill and was taken over to the Cholera tents.  I visited  him this afternoon, he is doing well; they will send him back to Kay Ste. Anne shortly.

The third child was not so fortunate, a four year old girl name Katiana.  She became ill quite quickly this morning.  Apparently dying within a very short time of the onset of symptoms while staff was in the process of getting her to the hospital.  When I got news of her death I was actually at the school with her twin sister.  It breaks my heart that this little girl who was laughing and playing yesterday is dead today.  A little girl who lost her mother in the earth quake and had experienced so much trauama and loss, now dies so tragically.  My heart breaks today not only for Katiana, but for all of the staff at Kay Ste. Anne, all of the children especially for her beloved twin sister.

Steps have been taken in attempt to prevent furhter tragedy at Kay Ste.Anne. A nures has been hired to spend the night there.  Everything was sanitized very well today.  There is serum oral mixed ready to be given to anyone who does become sick to prevent dehydration.  Staff are becoming vigilent about having children wash their hands more frequently.  

I generally am reluctant to post pictures of the children because I am probably overly cautious about confidentiality, but here is a the picture of Katiana that went out on an email to inform many people associated with NPH of her death.  She was a beautiful child, with a great smile and wonderful laugh.

As you can imagine these are difficult times here.  Please keep the people of Haiti, especially the children of Kay Ste. Anne and in particular the twim sister of Katiana in your prayers.    
      

Katiana

      

What a week!

The week started out more or less like a fairly typical week for me.  Monday and Tuesday I went to the school in the morning to do the groups with the children and some individual play therapy.  In the afternoon I wen to Kay Ste. Anne to do activities with the children.  Then on Wednesday, as a result of the announcement of the elections results everything was different.  People do not believe, and for good reason, that the process was fair, that one of the two candiates announced as the winners who will be candidates in a run off elections really received more votes than another.  People were burining tires, gathering and protesting in different places.  I hardly left the premisis for the rest of the week. Other than remenents of tire fires and distant smoke, I did not directly witness any violence and never personally felt unsafe.  School was cancelled.  Since people could not get to work, there was help needed in the rehydtration center, previously referred to as the cholera tents.

I primarliy helped in the pediatiric tents. I gave children serum oral to drink, fetched sheets and supplies from the depo, changed diapears on babies and older children who needed them not because they are not toilet tranied, but because their diarhea was so frquent and sudden.  Even though my Creole is still quite basic, at times I was able to translate for a doctor or nurse, such as those volunteering from Italy,  who could speak english but not Creole.  I watched children who had almost no energy and frequent diarhea when they arrived one day, smile, laugh and prepare to leave within a day or two.  I saw pain in the eyes of  mothers, a few of whom had multiple children who were ill.  In one family there were three children who were all sick; the oldest sister and baby recovered quickly and then spent a day wathcing their brother who continued to suffer from frequent and severe diareah (there is hope that he will recover.)  Sometimes in the children's tents one meets an ill woman being treated on a bed beside her baby's crib since both are ill.  As most people do recover fully and quickly it is actually a place of hope.  What is of concern is that since there were no tap-taps on the roads for a few days, and people were afraid to travel it is possible that there were people in need of treatment who could not find transportation to the tents.

Today, things seem calmer.  Tap taps are running.  It was considered safe to leave.  I was able to go to Kay Ste. Anne.  It was wonderful to see the children there again.  The calm of course is not likely to continue as the situation has not really been resolved, but let's hope for peaceful, just and quick resolutuion.    

Know that I am well and safe as the grounds here are quite secure, but please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers.

Also, please excuse any spelling errors, as I am using someone eles's computer and I can't figure out how to change the blogspell check from french to english.
    

Anpil Bagay (many things)

A view of the mountains from outside the room where I stayed in Kenskoff. 

It has been two weeks since my last update.  Last weekend, I went to Kenskoff, which is in the mountains.  NPH has an orphanage there, and on the grounds there is a guest/retreat house.  I traveled to Kenskoff on Saturday in a van of children from the orphanage there who had been here, and a sister, Lorraine, who works here in Tabarre. We got off at the Baptist Mission, an interesting place, that has an American style fast food restaurant, a gift shop, bakery, hospital and other program.  I rarely it fast food in the states, but enjoyed it especially the milkshake, since it is not typically an option here.  There were volunteers from Ireland staying in Kenskoff.  I actually had a decent cup of tea (they had brought tea bags with them from Ireland!)  Just sitting around the table drinking tea was enjoyable; a very normal thing, that I have rarely done here in Haiti; I don't even crave tea when it is so hot, but in the mountains it was much cooler. There is little light pollution there as well, and on an unusually clear night, the sky was beautiful so many stars, that are usually impossible to see in other places.  What a wonderful place to begin the season of Advent, as the image of light and darkness is such a powerful one.  Last Sunday, I took a quiet prayer day, enjoying the beauty of the mountains.  Last year during Advent, I really sensed that God was calling me to something different, that I was walking in the dark, barely able to see the next step ahead of me.  Now, a year later here I am in Haiti, a year ago I really did not see that this is where the Spirit was leading, but now here I am, confident that at this moment this is where I am called to be, and where the path through the darkness will lead does not matter so much as being present here, now.   

The presidential election took place last Sunday in Haiti. Apparently, and unsurprisingly, there were many alleged flaws with the process.  The results as far as I know are still unknown.  There have been protests in response to the elections in various places in Haiti, although I have not personally encountered or witnessed any of them.

There are more tents treating Cholera victims here.  A week ago Tuesday I spent some time helping out, mostly organizing supplies and mixing serum oral.  In the past weeks, on the days when there are no bodies in white bags or cardboard coffins on the floor of the chapel it seems almost empty.  One day one of the youngest children in our program was taken to the tents, but fortunately she did not actually have cholera, but diarrhea caused by something else.  After spending a night and getting treatment including rehydration she was sent back to the home, and is doing fine.

On Friday afternoon, I had visitors.  Dr. Coletta who works for Holy Redeemer Health System, was in Haiti with a group of medical professionals doing surgery in Croix de Bouquet, which is not too far from here.  His entire team came for a tour.  It was a truly enjoyable visit!  He brought medical supplies from Holy Redeemer that surely will be put to good use here and are of course very appreciated.  

Every three months there is a family day for the children at Kay St. Anne and Saint Louie.  This occurred yesterday.  While all of the children are considered orphans many of them do have some relatives who may not have the means to care for them, but do love them and are able to come to the family days.  If the poverty was not so extreme and life so harsh for so many, probably many of the children would not have been sent to our programs.  It was an interesting and emotional day.  Some of the children were so happy to see their relatives, and so sad when they left.  Many other children had no visitors at all.  I spent time sitting with, holding, playing with or simply just trying to be present with these children.  The older children had prepared a program of songs and dancing for the visitors; it was well done.   

My work continues in the mornings at the school and in the afternoons at Kay St. Anne.  It is such a privilege to be able to offer play therapy to children, to journey with them, to witness their playing and processing of trauma and loss, and to watch them grow.

I am doing well here, and hope all of you are as well.  Many blessings during this season of Advent