Life

The meaning of life changed for me today at Mother Teresa's. Words can not explain the emotions that I felt or the things that I witnessed. I can't grasp the events that happened today, but I felt God's love and energy through the missionaries, the nuns, and the mothers trying to save their small babies. As soon as I walked into the door today, people were gathered around a small girl hooked to IV's. I could hear the chanting of the Rosary as missionaries prayed around the small child. The girl had arrived 10 minutes before we did and was taken into immediate care- she was having siezures, had a heart rate of 150, and a blood glucose of 41. It was so intense, but incredible to see the nuns come together to try and save her life. The intensity in the room settled as the managed to bring down the infants heart rate, proved her with a glucose solution, and put her onto an oxygen tank. This event brought tears to my eyes and took my breath away.

Today, I witnessed a mother caring for her malnourished baby. She would not leave her little infant's side; the nuns told me that she has been there everyday breast feeding her little one and caring for it. I could see her concern and love for her small child as she watched it sleep attached to IVs. I couldn't even imagine watch she was going through. She brought tears to my eyes.

It was the one pound, 3 month old infant that broke my heart into a million pieces. When I saw how small this baby was in Paulette's arms, when I saw the ribs of the infant, I cried more than I have yet to this trip. I saw how hard it was for him to cry, to breath, and to move. All he wanted to do was nourished and be loved. It broke my heart. I was able to hold him in my arms and to proved him with love. He was so light; I felt like I was holding a feather he. I prayed and I prayed that God would help him to feel no pain and to be protected by his love and saving grace. I could not believe the things I was seeing; I never thought I would see a living being so small and so helpless. He changed my life.

Please pray for baby John Paul and all the other sick, malnourished, and dying babies at Mother Teresa's.

God bless,
Kristina DeMuth

Healing Haiti Team Member

January 2011

My 5 Senses in Haiti...

I have found that while in Haiti my 5 senses have never experienced so much. Here are some of the details:

Sight:
* Seeing an elderly woman unable to walk, so she crawled on her hands and knees across a busy highway
* Watching children sing and pray to us with their hands in the air and eyes closed as they belt out beautiful music
* Seeing the colorful fruits and vegetables of Haiti at the open farmer's market lay across the tarps and blankets of the vendors, as well as their laps as they chop cabbage heads and peel open pea pods

Sound:
* Constant honking of horns as drivers weave all around the rocky and bumpy streets of dirt as to warn of their passing as there are no street stripes, stoplights, or signage
* Sounds of many babies crying as the visiting hours end for parents of very sick children who all lay the children down in their cribs at once
* Sounds of the water trucks backing up and laying on the warning siren so that the people begin to line up with their buckets to receive their week's water

Smell:
* The smell of burning plastic and garbage in the air as there is no garbage service anywhere
* The smell of human waste all around the 'tent cities' as there is no sewage system
* The smell of fresh Haitian fruit and coffee grown by the Haitian people

Touch:
* The grasping hands of the children at the orphanages as you arrive and as you leave as they claim one of your hands and fight to keep others from it
* The touch of the unpaved dusty & rocky roads slip under your feed as we walk the inclines and declines to our destinations
* The touch of food on our lips as we eat our meals and snacks, while at the same time we are remembering the 5 year old we saw at Mother Teresa's Home who is literally starving to death and physically just skin hanging over bones

Taste:
* The taste of the dust and dirt covering our lips from the constant haze of dust in the air that instantly covers us when we leave the house
* The quenching taste of water after working hard all day, and then realizing that we ran out of drinking water for the people we were serving and seeing the unbelievable disappointment in their faces

Tiffany

Healing Haiti Team Member

January 2011