Sunday, January 27, 2008
So Hard To Say Goodbye
Well, it's my last evening in Haiti - for now. I am so sad to leave this place and these people. The country of Haiti is so beautiful and has such potential to be a place where people thrive and are truly happy, a place where people from the developed world wish to visit. But for now, I leave it like it is - a place of desperation and suffering, sadness and struggle for survival. However, I also leave it a place where there is great hope within the people and determination to rise above all of the odds that have been stacked against them throughout history. While absolutely looking forward to seeing Kevin and Porterhouse, along with the rest of my family and friends, I dread the return home. The transition is never easy and poses a whole new set of challenges for me. But I consider myself the luckiest, most blessed person just to have had this opportunity. I am so grateful for that. Thank you to all of you who so generously support me. Please know that you have made a difference to a people that are often forgotten and dismissed by the rest of the world. Thank you!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Stephanie
This is Stephanie in her new wheelchair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm pretty sure that this TiLite chair makes her the coolest kid in Haiti!
One of the BEST Days Ever
Today was one of the best days... probably my favorite day I've ever had in Haiti. I was supposed to go to Food for the Poor again today, which is the orphanage I was at yesterday. However, we were sending 4 wheelchairs I got donated to Mercy and Sharing. So one of the people on the team asked if I'd rather go to Mercy and Sharing to help finding kids for the chairs I brought. I had to choose between seeing Evans one more time and getting to help give away the chairs that are so important to me. I decided that since I got to see Evans all day yesterday (which was awesome!) and have yet to be there when the wheelchairs are given to kids that I would go to Mercy and Sharing. Besides, I really didn't want to have to go through leaving Food for the Poor - I left yesterday thinking I'd be returning today, and I'd rather just leave it at that despite how much I wanted to see Evans one more time before leaving Haiti.
So we loaded up the four wheelchairs into the van this morning and headed to Mercy and Sharing, the place we were at on Tuesday (the really sad place). We had measured about 20 kids on Tuesday for chairs, but they were all kids that need very customized cerebral palsy type wheelchairs, which is what is coming in the big Wheels for Humanity shipment in a couple weeks. We didn't have enough time in the day on Tuesday to figure out whether any of the other kids that we did not specifically assess would be candidates for the great chairs we brought with us. So I was a little unsure about how today would go since we didn't have anyone in mind. The last thing I wanted to do was to force to to work for someone just to be able to give it away. I didn't want to waste such fantastic chairs.
As soon as we got to the orphanage, we had to figure out a game plan. It is never as easy as one might think. Everything in Haiti takes about 20x longer than it would in the U.S. We develop some serious patience while we are here. Everything gets off to a very slow start and the cultural and language barriers are very challenging which also adds time.
So we decided that some people would assess a few more kids that the orphanage staff asked us to while others of us did a walk-through of the orphanage to see if we could find anyone that would be a candidate for our chairs. At first my teammate and I felt very discouraged. There were kids sitting in wheelchairs that are able to walk, kids sitting in chairs that belonged to someone else, chairs without any kids anywhere near, etc. We were frustrated because it was overwhelming to even know where to begin in trying to figure out who belongs to which chairs, and who even needs a chair at all!
Eventually, we learned that this girl (that can walk, by the way) was sitting in a boy's chair who was laying in a nearby bed. So we got the girl out of the chair, sat the boy in it, and determined that he no longer fits into this chair. He needs a different chair, and by getting him a different chair, we could put someone else into his chair! Very confusing. So we found a little girl (Kathy) with hydrocephalus who didn't have anything to sit in. We put her in the boy's old chair that he'd outgrown and she fit perfectly! We made some modifications, like adding foam hip supports, adjusting the head support, creating a chest strap, etc. It is perfect for her!!!
We had solved that problem and created a fantastic chair for Kathy, but still hadn't identified anyone for any of the four chairs we had. So we kept looking. We found a little guy named Jerome who didn't have a chair. We gave him one of the Convaid stroller-style wheelchairs (same kind that the Down's Syndrome boy got) and he was the PERFECT kid for that stroller. We made a lot of great modifications using all kinds of tools and things. Our amazing wheelchair tech Richard was with us today - thankfully! It was SO much fun to help modify the chairs and it was so incredibly rewarding to be able to assist with that tangible part of it. Jerome was smiling the entire day! He was so happy and comfortable and thrived on all of the attention he was getting. When we said "au revoir" (goodbye) to him this afternoon, he started crying for the first time all day.
So after we found Jerome and started working on his chair, we asked the therapy tech at the orphanage if he knows of anyone else that might be good for the other Convaid chair. He took me into tiny room FULL of kids laying on the floor with no one supervising or entertaining them. He went into the corner and picked up this little that was sound asleep on the floor. We set her into the other Convaid chair and she fit perfectly. She was so calm and quiet. So innocent. We made similar modifications (such as head support, drilled holes so we could raise the foot rests to her level, etc.). And then it was the absolute perfect wheelchair for her.
Then we found a small child that fit the Snug Seat chair. It looks like a car seat, but it's much more than that. It has a fancy mobility base that allows the child to be raised up to eye level. It also is collapsable and has very sturdy wheels. It's a great chair. Richard (the wheelchair tech) is going to do some modifications on it next week when he returns. He's staying in Haiti another week to work with the Healing Hands team from Portland. The Snug Seat chair is perfect for this little girl and she will be so happy in it.
We were about to leave and we still had not identified anyone that is appropriate for a TiLite wheelchair. I brought 5 TiLites here to Haiti (thanks to TiLite's generous donation). These chairs are cutting edge, state of the art wheelchairs. They are used for sports a lot - paralympics athletes. They are made of titanium and require the child to be strong in the upper body and capable of propelling themselves using their arms. I knew we'd find kids in Haiti that these chairs would do wonders for, but I didn't know if we'd ever find one at any of the orphanages. (The rest will be given out through the clinic.) So a few minutes before we left, someone said, "How about Stephanie for the TiLite?" We all thought she'd be way too big. But we were feeling a little desperate to find someone for it (and we all really wanted it to work for one of the kids), so we decided to give it a shot. We picked Stephanie up, put her in the TiLite, and it was almost like it was made for her! We had to lower the foot rest, but once we did that it was incredible. She was rolling all over the place in that thing! We asked her if she liked it and with a huge smile on her face she told us through the interpreter that she loves it and thank you. We were trying to teach her how to do wheelies... she's still working on it.
It was such a great day. This one day made every bit of work prior to and during the trip worthwhile 1000 times over.
Thanks for visiting the blog and have a GREAT day.
Love,
Erin
So we loaded up the four wheelchairs into the van this morning and headed to Mercy and Sharing, the place we were at on Tuesday (the really sad place). We had measured about 20 kids on Tuesday for chairs, but they were all kids that need very customized cerebral palsy type wheelchairs, which is what is coming in the big Wheels for Humanity shipment in a couple weeks. We didn't have enough time in the day on Tuesday to figure out whether any of the other kids that we did not specifically assess would be candidates for the great chairs we brought with us. So I was a little unsure about how today would go since we didn't have anyone in mind. The last thing I wanted to do was to force to to work for someone just to be able to give it away. I didn't want to waste such fantastic chairs.
As soon as we got to the orphanage, we had to figure out a game plan. It is never as easy as one might think. Everything in Haiti takes about 20x longer than it would in the U.S. We develop some serious patience while we are here. Everything gets off to a very slow start and the cultural and language barriers are very challenging which also adds time.
So we decided that some people would assess a few more kids that the orphanage staff asked us to while others of us did a walk-through of the orphanage to see if we could find anyone that would be a candidate for our chairs. At first my teammate and I felt very discouraged. There were kids sitting in wheelchairs that are able to walk, kids sitting in chairs that belonged to someone else, chairs without any kids anywhere near, etc. We were frustrated because it was overwhelming to even know where to begin in trying to figure out who belongs to which chairs, and who even needs a chair at all!
Eventually, we learned that this girl (that can walk, by the way) was sitting in a boy's chair who was laying in a nearby bed. So we got the girl out of the chair, sat the boy in it, and determined that he no longer fits into this chair. He needs a different chair, and by getting him a different chair, we could put someone else into his chair! Very confusing. So we found a little girl (Kathy) with hydrocephalus who didn't have anything to sit in. We put her in the boy's old chair that he'd outgrown and she fit perfectly! We made some modifications, like adding foam hip supports, adjusting the head support, creating a chest strap, etc. It is perfect for her!!!
We had solved that problem and created a fantastic chair for Kathy, but still hadn't identified anyone for any of the four chairs we had. So we kept looking. We found a little guy named Jerome who didn't have a chair. We gave him one of the Convaid stroller-style wheelchairs (same kind that the Down's Syndrome boy got) and he was the PERFECT kid for that stroller. We made a lot of great modifications using all kinds of tools and things. Our amazing wheelchair tech Richard was with us today - thankfully! It was SO much fun to help modify the chairs and it was so incredibly rewarding to be able to assist with that tangible part of it. Jerome was smiling the entire day! He was so happy and comfortable and thrived on all of the attention he was getting. When we said "au revoir" (goodbye) to him this afternoon, he started crying for the first time all day.
So after we found Jerome and started working on his chair, we asked the therapy tech at the orphanage if he knows of anyone else that might be good for the other Convaid chair. He took me into tiny room FULL of kids laying on the floor with no one supervising or entertaining them. He went into the corner and picked up this little that was sound asleep on the floor. We set her into the other Convaid chair and she fit perfectly. She was so calm and quiet. So innocent. We made similar modifications (such as head support, drilled holes so we could raise the foot rests to her level, etc.). And then it was the absolute perfect wheelchair for her.
Then we found a small child that fit the Snug Seat chair. It looks like a car seat, but it's much more than that. It has a fancy mobility base that allows the child to be raised up to eye level. It also is collapsable and has very sturdy wheels. It's a great chair. Richard (the wheelchair tech) is going to do some modifications on it next week when he returns. He's staying in Haiti another week to work with the Healing Hands team from Portland. The Snug Seat chair is perfect for this little girl and she will be so happy in it.
We were about to leave and we still had not identified anyone that is appropriate for a TiLite wheelchair. I brought 5 TiLites here to Haiti (thanks to TiLite's generous donation). These chairs are cutting edge, state of the art wheelchairs. They are used for sports a lot - paralympics athletes. They are made of titanium and require the child to be strong in the upper body and capable of propelling themselves using their arms. I knew we'd find kids in Haiti that these chairs would do wonders for, but I didn't know if we'd ever find one at any of the orphanages. (The rest will be given out through the clinic.) So a few minutes before we left, someone said, "How about Stephanie for the TiLite?" We all thought she'd be way too big. But we were feeling a little desperate to find someone for it (and we all really wanted it to work for one of the kids), so we decided to give it a shot. We picked Stephanie up, put her in the TiLite, and it was almost like it was made for her! We had to lower the foot rest, but once we did that it was incredible. She was rolling all over the place in that thing! We asked her if she liked it and with a huge smile on her face she told us through the interpreter that she loves it and thank you. We were trying to teach her how to do wheelies... she's still working on it.
It was such a great day. This one day made every bit of work prior to and during the trip worthwhile 1000 times over.
Thanks for visiting the blog and have a GREAT day.
Love,
Erin
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Evans
This is Evans. Every kid here is wonderful and absolutely special. I truly love and care about them all. But this little guy has a very special place in my heart. I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. It was on my first trip to Haiti a year and a half ago. There were all these kids laying in beds and I was totally overwhelmed by how awful it was. I started to walk around and when I walked up to Evans' bed he immediately developed the biggest smile I've ever seen - similar to the one in this picture. I was afraid to touch him he was so tiny and frail. But when I did, he just smiled and smiled and smiled and I sat with him for a long time just holding him. He puts his arm around my neck, holding on with all his might. He is the sweetest little guy and I wish more than anything I could bring him home and take care of him like he deserves to be taken care of. He is one special, special kid.
Big James on his PET Chair
This is James at Institut Espoir. He is such a sweet kid! We brought this PET chair (as I mentioned in an earlier blog) for him, as we thought he would do really well with it given his great upper body strength. He loved it! He actually helped put it together - he's really good with tools and did a great job. He's such a sweetheart!
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