Desperate Needs

Craziest motorcycle ride of my life. I challenge any motocross champion to compete with a good Haitian driver. Haitians would win a thousand times over.

Jeremie is no longer green jungle. It's brown and barren.

We drive into the mountains until we can't drive anymore and the bike tips on its side in the rocks. My bag is full of medical supplies. It's heavy. Maybe I shouldn't have brought this many bottles of peroxide and alcohol. All those bags of rice, beans, oil, pat tomat and bouillon have to go to the top of this mountain. Judelin and I talk with the people at the top. We have to come back down because there's fighting and people are stealing the food.

On top of the mountain with the people waiting for food.

Judelin pulled out his knife to be
prepared to make an impression.

A man with a huge machete is angry and yelling as his men behind him carry our supplies. Judelin talks with him and things get more and more heated. I decide it's time to step in. I speak and everyone listens. 

Machete man.

The men that were fighting before
are now quiet and listening.

I explain everything to them and they give back their plunder. They even show me a place where another man had stolen a few bags of rice. His wife is sitting around a campfire holding a baby. He looks at me and explains why he took it. His eyes tell me he is sorry but honestly I would do the same thing if I were him. I'd steal. I'd fight. I'd lie. I would do whatever it took to help my family. I look at his wife and baby in the dirt and I tell him he can steal it this time but next time he better ask. I make them laugh and it's peaceful again. We set up a distribution station in the hills and I care for a few wounds. The need is great but for today their stomachs will be full. Day by day.

The same man threatening is with a machete is now walking hand in hand with Judelin.

Going above Diudonne's house to distribute more food. I go way ahead so people are distracted by the blan (white) and they sneakily distribute food behind me. I climb higher and higher and ask if anyone has wounds. I find a little girl with stitches in her leg. Those of you that have traveled to the four square orphanage remember Lovena. She has been adopted by a sweet family in the mountains.

Lovena and her stitches.

Her stitches aren't ready to be taken out but I'll take them out in a few days. A woman and elderly man come to the door just as I'm finishing cleaning Lovenas wound. Jacques and Judelin tell me it's time to go. One more house...

I climb to the top of this hill where I see a family washing clothes together under a makeshift tarp shelter. My heart is especially moved by this family and I will soon find out why.

The old man brings me to a woman who lays on a bed in their shack. It is hard for her to speak. She has seizures and hit her head a few days ago. I clean the wound on her foot and they tell me their story. The man has nine children. The youngest is just a little baby. He has no work. They have no water. They have no food. They barely have a house. The children sleep on the ground in the dirt with their grandma.

I ask where their mother is. She died in the hurricane leaving her husband and nine children behind. My heart breaks for them. I feel my throat closing up for the first time since I've been here. Why am I so useless? Watching their faces staring up at me full of hope and sadness. I can't begin to describe how I feel. How do I feel? So so so hopeless. I give the family what I can and say I'll be back when I have to take Lovenas stitches out in a few days. I want to cry. No. I leave with a heavy heart until I realize God brought me there. I saw their situation as hopeless but that father saw me and now has hope. I don't know what I can do but I will try my best. Drop in the ocean.

Sitting here with Papa Diudonne and Mama Clanide talking about life and ideas and what we can do. I love my family. I think I love them too much sometimes. Delice comes and brings a friend. Edo and Jeff come to say hello. We talk and talk until almost ten. I tend to their scrapes while we talk. The moon is full and so bright I can see everyone's faces clearly. It's like our own personal street lamp. I

Judelin is making me drive everywhere now so I can be
a "strong driver" in Haiti. I can't say I'm disappointed

love my friends. I love talking about the day and joking about life. I love my tent under the stars. I love my stash of medical supplies. I love taking bucket showers. I love laughing about the tadpoles in the bottom of the bucket. I love waiting too long for things that normally take three minutes. I love that everyone is a neighbor and you can chat with people for hours. I even love the giant cockroaches in the outhouse because they remind me I'm in Haiti. They remind me I'm home. My heart is full.