Urgent Prayers for Safety

Manman and Papa have left for PAP and Justa has come to stay in the house along with three kids. We drink coffee and talk sitting behind the house. We cut vegetables. Justa and I talk about life, Haiti and food. People and the way they are. God and how he blesses and provides for us. I really like her. I've only known her for four or five years but she is always the same. She takes care of these three children and they're not even hers. They are her family's and they don't have the funds to care for them. She gets a phone call and leaves us. I hear her say she is going to try her best and her voice is stressed. I sneak around the corner to snoop. I am my mother's daughter. I don't always snoop but I felt like I needed to. She is talking about paying someone it seems. She comes back and acts like everything is fine. She hands me a chunk of flabby meat. She says it's delicious and I ask what it is. She responds by saying it is cow stomach. Yum. Nothing like steamy cow stomach for breakfast. At least it's better than the intestines. 

While waiting for things to cook I work on carving a circle out of coconut to make a necklace.

I want to visit the hospital today so when we finish cooking I get my things together to leave. Justa has to go sing for a church so she walks with me. I visit her home and she takes a bucket shower. When she is done a precious man enters her house and is asking for rent. She hasn't payed them since July. She pays around 600 dollars a year for rent. The average salary is 50 dollars a month if you're lucky enough to have a job. She hasn't found work since she worked at the hotel so I know money is tight. She looks at the ground ashamed and says she can't pay it yet but she's working on it. He is kind and says thank you and leaves. I want to pay the whole bill but I won't. I will let this sit until morning and give her what I feel is right. She owes 300 dollars still. We walk down the street and she goes one way to sing and I go another to the hospital. Upon arriving Jacques pulls up on a motorcycle. As we enter the hospital hallway I notice it is fairly quiet which I am thankful for. In the first room there is a little girl laying on a dirty hospital bed. Her leg is swollen and bloody and puss oozes out and onto her sheets. 

I kneel beside her bed and ask if I can pray with her and Jacques and I pray over her. I sing her a song and tears are streaming down her face. I talk to her and tell her she will run again and play with her friends. She doesn't need to be discouraged. God is with her and her family is with her. She needs to stay strong so she can heal faster. I wipe her little tears and tease her that she is spoiled because she gets to lay in bed all day. I get a smile out of her. Walking into the next room a woman lays on a bed staring at the ceiling. Her eyes are hollow and drained. A man sits beside her holding her hand. I ask what happened and he tells me her baby died during the delivery. 

My heart sinks. I can't even begin to imagine her pain. Laying there staring at the ceiling wishing he baby was swaddled and snuggled up next to her. Months of waiting to see its precious face. Her boyfriend holds her so gently. I kneel beside them and sing and sing. Her eyes have a little life in them and she turns to look at me. I sing with all my heart. I sing and pray that God heals her little heart. When it's time to enter the next room, I see that it is full of women, some pregnant and some holding their newborns. They all greet me with huge beautiful smiles and are fighting over who I am going to pray for. I tell them I will pray for all of them and they relax. They depend on prayers. They depend on God. It is so easy for us to not believe in anything in the states because even if we're homeless there are shelters. Even if we have no food there are food banks and food stamps. We sing and pray together. We laugh and I look at their small perfect beautiful babies. I tell them I'm going to steal them away for myself and they tell me I better not. One little girl is 14 and about to have a baby. Another is in labor. She has no one with her. I hold her hand and she squeezes it so tightly. I just squat beside her bed for a long time and sing gently while holding her hand. She moans and tears stream down the side of her face. I will be back tomorrow to check on them. Jacques and I go into the hallway and sit. It's empty and the smallest noise echoes. He starts to sing. At first his voice is quiet and cracks. As we continue to sit and he continues to sing he gets lost in his song and he sings loudly and powerfully. It brings tears to my eyes. I see a different side of him right now. A feel love for God and worship. He finishes his song and we leave the building in silence.

Jacques and I walk down the road and I feel a tension in the air. I can't explain it so I look at Jacques and ask him if he feels it too. He says he does and so we grab a taxi to head downtown. We are heading down a road when all of a sudden hundreds of people are running towards us yelling and screaming and waving pieces of paper in the air. Jacques yells at the driver telling him to turn around the crowd is running straight for us and Jacques is tense. He screams at the driver to hurry up and we drive off into an alley. Jacques tells him to pull over so he can explain to me what is going on. They are protesting for their senator to be set free. Supposedly some blan (white person) took him captive. Jacques says there are rumors that this group will kill blan because they are blaming all blan for what is happening. I want to run with them. Jacques manages to get one of their papers and hands it to me. He says as long as I am standing with them they can't do anything. So we run. We run right into the middle of this insane protest. Hundreds of people sprinting through town. Chanting and waiving anything they can get their hands on. So loud. I can't believe I am in the middle of this. A little hand grabs mine and I look down at a little boy running beside me with a mischievous grin. We are obviously a team now and work together to dodge motorcycles and cars and people. We run and run. I haven't ran for this long since I was a little kid. It feels good. I feel wild and free. The sun has set and lights and flames fill the street. The group running gets bigger and louder and more tense. My adrenaline is pumping. Some Haitians tell me I'm going to get killed and others run beside me telling me they are happy I stand with them. What an experience. Jacques and I hop on a taxi to to the bottom of The mountain and hike from there. I am drenched in sweat and covered in dirt. I shower and rinse off before I take Jacques home. Mackenzy comes to pick us up to take Jacques home. Burning tires litter the streets and the town is covered in thick billowing smoke. Flaming tires block the road to Jacques' house and so he gets off the bike to take a side path. As we drive Mackenzy says "Haitians are passive until they are mad. Then they are like fire." He walks me home and I get ready for bed. What an experience. I've always watched Jose wild rally's but never been a part of one. I am not allowed to leave the house today. The town is fiery and tense and if they see a blan they will take them. I can hear gun shots and wilds roars from town. But don't worry for me. I am sitting in the roof of Papas house on the mountain.

This blan is locked inside today