Day 3, part two

That orphanage. Good gravy. That orphanage was worth some creep giving me funny looks all week. It was absolutely incredible.
Thank you, church family, for your many generous donations. I wish you could have seen the happiness that our visit brought them. I am so fortunate that I got to participate in something this special, and it was all thanks to you!
This orphanage used to operate mostly as a school before the quake. It was a three story building, and also served as housing for the family in charge of it and the orphans. It was decimated by the 7.0 earthquake. It cost $5000, provided by a donor, just to clear the rubble! And even though her home and all her belongings were gone, this lady continued to be a mother figure to these motherless children. She even gained more wards because of earthquake casualties. These days the orphanage is a ramshackle thing, hardly what you could call a building. The door is a large, black metal gate.There were some walls, which bunk beds were placed between. It did not look like they had nearly enough beds for the children; there were about 45 kids there. The roof was made entirely of tarps. I can’t imagine what they do when it rains, as it does a lot during this season. The tarps were held up by long sticks topped with tin cans and were ripped in places. Their kitchen was a tiny, unlit, L-shaped corridor. They had some rickety wooden benches to sit on, as well as a brown chalkboard. (Or something that served as one, anyway.) In addition to the children and her own family, this woman, whose name we think is Lillian, housed several coyote-looking dogs and their puppies. Thought she was up against a giant, Lillian had a huge smile on her face as she showed us around the orphanage. What she has done with this organization and these kids is incredible. If I am half the woman Lillian is when I grow up, I will have lived a good life.

After a brief tour, Lillian chattered something in Creole to the children and all of them went immediately to the rows of benches near the front gate. Every one of them was incredibly well-behaved, I was astounded! They were all cheerful and compliant. (Except for one little boy….he cried the entire time we were there. I have no idea why; I didn’t think I was that ugly.) Another little dude was hangin’ with us at the front of the room, as if he was one of us, a visitor. He was super chill. So much so, that he didn’t feel like responding when I asked his name in French.(:

I stepped forward and in my limited French introduced myself and the other members of the team, told them where we were from that we had shoes for them. They were politely hesitant to come forward, but after beckoning to a few kids specifically, they all crowed around. We decided to pass out all of the shoes we had, because we didn’t know if we would be going to another orphanage and we felt like it was the right thing to do. Although it seemed that each child already owned a decent pair of shoes, those shoes will soon wear out from constantly walking over rubble and concrete. Lillian deserves to be free from the worry of buying shoes for her kids for a while. Lillian deserves the world. She is a remarkable woman with a remarkable family and a remarkable, generous spirit.

Unfortunately, we ran out of the bigger sizes more quickly than anticipated. We didn’t know what to expect coming down here, so we tried to get a variety, although it largely depended on the donations. However, I’m fairly confident that each child received at least one pair of shoes that fit them correctly. We knelt to the ground and fit each child as they tapped on our shoulders. We also gave Lillian some toothbrushes, a few school supplies, some toddler clothes, and the suitcase we carried it all in. She really perked up when we handed her a few boxes of pencils. I wish we would have known more about the situation; she probably could have really used school supplies more than almost 200 shoes. Still, she was very grateful, and each child said “Merci!” after receiving a pair of shoes. One little boy kissed my cheek upon being fitted with a pair of lightning bolt flip-flops.

After each child was in possession of a pair of shoes or two, they assembled back into the benched and at Lillian’s encouragement, sang to us. The songs included jumping and clapping and shouting. They slapped their new shoes on the benches to the beat. They called, “Merci!” and “God bless you!” These kids were joyful. After all they have been through, they are genuinely joyful. (Except for that one little guy.) They didn’t care that I was white. They didn’t care that I didn’t speak their language. They didn’t care that they lived in a slum. It was difficult to say au revoir.
How....ironic?....coincidental?....sad?....that we should visit an orphanage on Father's Day.

It’s raining now. Thunderstorm. I hope those kids are okay.

-Chloe