Bonjour,

As usual we had no power for me to send this off.  I tried sending smoke signals about my adventures for the day but I was competing will all the other smoke in Port au Prince and it didn’t work.

So in the morning we were going to take the kids for their horse therapy.  I think this is around their 4^th time or so.  They know that today will be an exciting day.  My friend Susan and I had to ride in the back of a pick up with the wheelchair and the kids rode in the truck.  They don’t use seat belts or child safety seats, they just all pile in. My friend Jamie rode up with the kids. 

Halfway to the equestrian center, Rosaline started having a seizure.  It scared the driver and he pulled over.  My friend Jamie thought for a moment that Rosaline had died.  It was very scary.  We had to turn around and go back home.

It is not practical or possible to call for an ambulance.  It could take an hour for an ambulance to just show up.  I think many people die because they cannot get to a hospital in time or get proper emergency care.

Rosaline finally came to about 15 minutes later.  She was very exhausted and weak.  We took her to lie down.  She’s paralyzed on her left side so she has a hard time walking.  The nurse there gave her some kind of medicine.  I don’t know what it was.

Every week a mission group from Helping Haiti comes in and visits with the kids.  There were quite a few people and most looked like College or high school age kids from the

U.S. mostly.  Unfortunately, sometimes when the kids schedule gets crazy, well, the kids go crazy.

It all started at lunch and it looked like a giant food fight except, the kids scramble for loose food.  They were trying to steal it by the handfuls from each other.  One kid caused such a commotion that half of another boy’s lunch ended up in my friend Susan’s hair and clothes.  The kids even tried eating the rice out of her hair!  Gross huh?  They just always think they are starving.  The kids eat three meals a day but it is mostly rice and cornmeal.  I would not like to eat the same food every day.

We took a little break after the lunch feeding and went for a walk to find some sugar cane.  We got a little lost (don’t get lost in Haiti) and a nice woman helped us find our way to the road we were looking for.  Since there are no street signs it’s hard to figure out where you are.  I just started look for familiar things.

We did eventually find the sugar cane guy selling it out of a wheelbarrow.  It tasted pretty good.  Some people kind of got mad at us because we spit the used sugar cane out.  You chew and suck the juice out of the cane and then spit out the fibers when it’s out of flavor.  Think gum.  I think they may have either thought we were littering or being unladylike.  I think it was neither. 

In the afternoon, we got some of the boys some newer clothes.  They were so excited to get them and we let them pick a few things out too.  Everything they own fits inside a dishpan.  Can you imagine having everything you own fit into a dishpan?  It’s not a lot.

The kids here are very small.  I think the biggest size we used was a size 10 or 12.  An 8 year old boy down there wears clothes at least two sizes smaller.  A three year old boy wore baby clothes.  I was just glad I wasn’t shopping for these kids because nothing would have fit.

Gus

Wolton's funny face

Jr.

Leo

The kids have to help feed the little kids

This is Maxo.  He just had eye surgery and now he can't keep his finger's out of his eyes.  We are working on helping to eat alone.

The kids are getting a little educational lesson from Gabriel. They are off school this whole week.

This was the secret passage we took when we got lost on our walk.

Sugar Cane.  You have to cut off the brown outer  stuff before you eat it.

A kitty that lives at the orphanage.

Almost every kid here has a belly button that sticks out a couple or few inches.  I don’t know why.   It reminds me of those punch balls you blow up and you roll up the end and stick it in. 

I was thinking today that I will be glad to be home when I can take a shower with real hot water.  The shower here only has cold water.  It will wake you up in the morning that’s for sure.  I have to still take pills even when I get home so I don’t get malaria from the mosquitoes.  I have a lot of mosquito bites and I swear they look for me at night.  I have to put on spray so they don’t bite me so much.  It’s kind of gross.

Rice in the hair!  Ick!

Ok,  here are some pictures of today.  Thanks for reading!