Wednsday morning I took a spontanious flight from Jacmel to Port Au Prince, and a half hou lay-over later, flew from Port Au Prince to Cap Haitian. Here I met up with a friend of a friends, Vanessa. One of my best friends all of the whole wide world, Victor, from California introduced Vanessa and I to one another over email, cjust prior to my arrival in Haiti. Victor, who is a family practice medical doctor, completed some trainings through an organization called Medical Ambassadors Interntional(MAI). Victor met Vanessa through a two month long Internship program he participated in, in the Phillipines.

Vanessa now volunteers in Cap Haitian Haiti for Medical Ambassadors working primarily doing training/outreach and care for children with HIV/AIDS. For over a monthprior to my arrival in Haiti, Vanessa and I remained in contact with one another over email, and a month after my arrival in Haiti, I finally met her, just yesterday morning.

Flying to Cap Haitian was very easy, and I had no problems to speak of. When I arrived, my initial thought was, I wonder if I ever emailed to Vanessa any photos of myself...then I remembered and thought to myself as I laughed under my breath, " I am the only white woman on the flight!" Not only that, but she knows through our emails that I am a little odd...or 'unique.' I did step off the plane with a big ol' Cow Girl loking hat on...it was really fun!

Immediatly after arriving in cap Haitian we had to fend off the many many beggars, those offering to shine my web strapping sandles as well as the many car washing boys begging to wash the car. First stop was to Vanessas church that she works with and attends. Her vehichle is broken, so she shares a truck with her pastor. We picked up after a tour of the newly expanded church, and he drove us home to Vanessa's house and dropped us off so that he could run some errands. He returned the car shortly before the 29th day of a 40 day revival his church is putting on, began.

On the way from the airport to the church I experienced and viewed yet another aspect of Haiti. Here the country is just as beautiful, but in a different way, then that of where I have previously been. Cap Haitian is directly on the ocean and very lush with greenery all around. THere are sailboats, and fishing boats, junkers and small rafts filling the rivers and the nearby waters. Thick ooey gooey mud and trash are everywhere. In fact, as we drove the bridge that goes over a river, Vanessa pointed out that land mass countinues to expand as people throw their trash out into the waters, and pointed out how much of the city is actually built upon nothing other then literal garbage.

Haiti is a country that does not lack priorities, rather their priorities are in very different ways then our American mind can concieve of. Their roads are far from smooth, far from from comfortable. The pot holes begin to take form and never do they shrink...only as time goes on, do they get wider and deeper, excellent traps for the water. When it rains these holes fill up make it quite difficult for the motorbikes and 2 wheel drive vehichles to pass through. However, in all the time that it takes to do things here, people are connected. People are aware and people take time here. (Sometimes more time then I like, as I am very Americanized!) Nevertheless, the beauty is that these people truely value their relatiohnships with one another, over the frills of monotnous living.

Yesterday I visited an Orphange in Cao Haitian with about 60 some children. It was truely, a little sad to see. These children were very quite, shy and semed unhappy. It was not a very effectivly run home, it certaintly lacked order. It was sad to watch the children sit to pass time.

After that I returned home with Vanessa for a very quick brief dinner before heading back to Church to attend the 29th night of a 40 day revival that her church put on. This was quite the Haitian cultural experience! With over two thousand people in attendance nearly 20 people accepted Jesus into their lives last night. The singing was long, the preaching was more then passionate and the volume extreme. Haitians seem to really value loud music, preaching, singing etc. The louder the better. I had forgotten my hearing aids at the house and was afraid on the ride to church that I would not be able to hear much. Little did I know that when I arrived at the service I was wishing that I had brought my earplugs, only becuase the volume was so loud! Watching 2000+ plus Haitians worship God is quite a sight!

We returned home to get some rest before the upcoming day. This morning I awoke, prepared myself for the day and went upstairs to join the girls. Standing at the tops of the stairs was a great friend of Vanessas who had stopped by for a visit. This woman has lived in Haiti, from Ohio, for over twenty years. She married a Haitian man and they now have a ministry of sorts out of Cap Haitian. Soon thereafter, Pat, another missionary of sorts stopped over for a visit as well, soone all four of us ladies where sitting around the dinning room table drinking our tea, eating very rare but prized doughnuts and talking endlessly with a little listening here and there. I learned a lot and really enjoyed the chance to talk with three long-time woman missionaries to the country of Haiti, I learned a lot!

In the course of our conversation this morning, the Children of Promise Orphanage became a topic of conversation. Long story short, Vanessa having voiced her long-time desire to visit this orphanage, recieved directions from her friends on how to get there. Immediatly after her girlfriends left, Vanessa and I prepared ourselves as well as her foster child, a 10 month old little Haitian girl, (who is awaiting her adoption process to be completed in order to be recieved by her new parents in Canada - hopefully in one month.) and began our journey into the countryside to find this home for small children 4 years old and younger.

It took over an hour of venturing the crazy roads of Haiti, large, some exceptionally large potholes, some filled with deep water, while others just thick mud. Despite the very bumpy drive, at least the truck we were driving has air conditioning!

When we arrived at the gates of this orphanage, I immediatly had a sense of hope, hope for the children. The drive out to the home was exceptionally beautiful. So very tropical, so very lush and green. Banana trees, sugar cane, large steep and jagged mountains in the distant, with the smell of the ocean not far off. I learned today that Haiti has more mountains then all of Switzerland, and that they are more intense and veritical. I witnessed this today on the drive into the country. Very beautiful. Very beautiful. Go figuare, the camera battery was nearly dead, I did not take more then 5 photos all day long.

We asked for the American directors of the orphanage when we arrived, but instead were greeted by a young 26 year old woman named Mary from South Carolina. Mary is just one semester away from completing her nursing degree, but due to the staffing needs had committed to stay for one year before returning to the states to finish her degree.

Mary has been volunteering at this Orphanage since it began in 2000. The American directors returned the states for the next month and she now is in charge of over 50 children ages 4 and under who are malnourished, test positive for HIV or AIDS, have Tuburculosis, Cerebral Palsey, or some other type of illness. There are many children who are in this very beautiful and very serenly located home who hopefully will be able to eventually return to their families after they are re-nourished, or their symptoms are stabalized. Sometimes the issue is that the parent (s) are too sick to care for the child, and the orphanage works to provide neccessary resources to help the parent (s) get well again so that they can eventually take care of their child. Sometimes the mother dies at birth and the father is not able to care for the child and work at the same time to provide for his other children. The Orphanage will then care for the child until it is able eat solid food, walk etc. in order to be cared for by older brothers or sisters. For other children who are absolutley without parents are capable family to care for them, they are adopted out.

I held a little girl who is 4 months old and weighs almost four and half pounds. The mother has been extremly ill since the birth of her daughter and was unable to feed her child. I held a little baby who is due to die soon, AIDS and Tuberculosis. I got to love on a little2 year old girl who is doing very well after being brought into the home 6 months ago weighing less then 12 pounds. She is now up to 30 pounds and soon to be going to her new adopted families home in the states.

The Home itself is beautiful, the surrounding country-side is tropical and the other woman who are hired to work with the children are so generous and very loving towards the kids. It is a very intimate environment, being sure to provide one on one attention with each child. There is a 1 staff to 3 child ratio. Very good!

I was really inspired and encouraged through what I experienced today, especially after the orphanage experience I had yesterday downtown Port Au Prince. If ever you are looking for a great opportunity to volunteer caring for some extremly precious little babies in an incredibly beautiful environment with very comfortable living quarters, I can give you the info. you need to get on the path to getting there!

On the drive home, we were on a mission as we had to meet up with doctor in order to do some pre-planning for an upcoming event, at the hospital in Cap Haitian. We had less then an hour to get to the destination an hour away. We were ten minutes into town, and just like that, the truck quit. Vanessa went to turn it on again, nothing, it would not even turn over. Immediatly I began to say a prayer outloud. She tried again, nothing. Granted that the people nearby are very friendly, the countryside beautiful, this was not a place to have to spend the night on the side of the muddy road! Long story short, after ten minutes of inspecting the car, a few Haitians suggesting random things, Vanessa tried again, it worked! We drove home, ate lunch, Vanessa met with doctor, and I took a walk through the nearby neighborhood. Many more experiences to share, but we are leaving the house now and I have to sign off. I will write more on Saturday when I return from Limbe where I will attend an area wide council meeting of the Dominican Republic/Haiti Medical Ambassadors yearly meeting. This will give me a lot of knowledge about Medical Ambassadors and how the program works. Adventures Continue!