Day 4

While at the DFO clinic

While at the DFO Clinic

Children at the DFO Clinic

Last Night we had more Gunfire. I so often take for granted the blessings of things such as safety as I try to sleep at night, no longer will I forget these awaken nights as my heart often beats fast as the thoughts of bullets going through my tent fill my mind. I am finally able to fall asleep to wake up wondering how many people died last night. Today I am suppose to be going with Gale, the president of PID, to check out an orphanage of 500 children with disabilities. However we first stop at the Blanchard clinic where hundreds of patients are waiting to be seen by the little team we have. They wait hours and hours just to be seen for maybe 5 minutes and are usually prescribed something as simple as tylenol, my heart breaks for each one and each time we have to shut the doors. This morning I decided while I was waiting for Gale to leave for the orphanage I would go out and help the boys with the construction. Volunteering with the help of construction was this boy named Omario. Omario was 14 years old. His father was robbed and killed when he was 11 years old and his mother was just killed in the quake. His mother had identification on her and so when they found her body they called Omario and told him that his mother was killed. He never saw his mother again, they had taken her straight to the mass grave. He now lives alone, his school was destroyed in the quake and so he no longer attends, he takes care of himself with no one looking after him. Omario comes everyday to help out and is great to get to know. My hands soon fill up with blisters from the shovel and as I look up at the team trying to get through all the patients my stomach fills up with the guilt that I am not helping. Feelings of inadequacy tear up my heart and I am wondering what I am doing here. Around noon we were ready to head out to the orphanage and I quickly realize I have missed lunch. As we pull up to the village where the orphanage is held we were lead to a tent that was made to become their church and I am given a clearer understanding of the definition of church being the body of Christ. As we enter there are about 500 children however we quickly learn that not all of these children are orphans and hardly any have disabilities but we do agree to come out during the next several weeks and help them. I believe its more of a daycare and we begin to call it DFO (Daycare Fake Orphanage). I enjoy my short time with the children infact one falls asleep in my arms and I continuously pray for God's presence for what seems to be a small tent once all the people have gathered under. We let them know the days we will be arriving and leave heading next to what Gale calls the "pharmacy". I am starting to get better about my directions in Haiti and see that we are heading back to the center of down town Port-Au-Prince. Our driver suddenly pulls to the side of the street where rubble surrounds us on all sides, and in seconds swarms of people with all sorts of medicine surround our car. Hands full of medicine come through and fill up our windows as men are pushing and shoving trying to show us the products they have, It was complete Chaos and I was afraid that a fight was going to break out. I jumped in the back of the blazer and began sorting through the list and what we were buying and what we needed left. Some how we made it through the most unorganized mess, I felt like I was at the hottest auction of my life with sweat pouring off of me and my mind racing with the budget and products. Once we finished and ran some other errands it was time to go back and pick up our team at Blanchard. We are done for the day and I feel like I have not accomplished much and that my day was almost a waist, but tomorrow I am ready to head back to DFO and start seeing patients. As we arrive back at our tent site I was drained, I had no dinner and going a day without eating has worn on me and so I go to bed early tonight in hopes to fall asleep forgetting about how hungry I am.