Becca's New Adventure in Haiti!: 18 kids and counting... AGAIN

Now we’re back to 19 kids again. This time it’s a different little boy who’s going to live with us. His name is Marvins. He is 5 years old and has the sweetest little face. A woman, who we will call his guardian, showed up at the gate today with him saying that she couldn’t care for him any longer. She said she was friends with Marvins’ mother and that he was left with her one day. She said she hasn’t heard from the mother since he was dropped off. I don’t know if this is the truth or not, but either way, he’s here to stay. She can’t care for him and wants him to be adopted. She’ll be back (hopefully) later to have a meeting with the man in charge of adoptions as well as to visit Marvins within two weeks.

When Marvins first walked in the gate, he was visibly scared and unhappy. The look on his sweet face brought Katie to tears. When his guardian left, Marvins ran to the gate and yelled out “mommy!!” For the first half hour or so, he just sat on the steps looking so pitiful. After some time and a lot of coaxing, he finally came to get a tour of the house. I made him a bowl of corn flakes which he seemed to enjoy. At this point, he was being responsive and answering questions and the like. After a few hours, he finally got up and started running around with the other kids. He and another boy were were running around the house while I was inside doing school work with Peter and Michaelle. Marvins walked in the house with Katie and blood was streaming down his face and onto the floor. Apparently he ran into a piece of metal sticking out of the side of the house and cut his head open. Not one tear fell from his eyes and not one sound came out of his mouth while Katie was working on him. If we had been in the states, I’m sure he would have needed 10 stitches. The cut was big and head wounds bleed a LOT. I couldn’t watch and knew I’d be of no help so I went to mop up the drops of blood which led all the way outside to the crime scene. Makes me nauseous just thinking about it. Katie ended up using little strips of duct tape to close up the wound. Paulette shaved off the hair around the cut so the tape would stick. Marvins did so well and although I’m sure he was scared and hurting, he didn’t freak out and let Katie fix him up calmly. Every time a Haitian kid gets hurt, I am amazed at how brave and tough they are. All Haitian children have been through so much. I can’t even imagine what this precious little boy was thinking today. First, he was abandoned (I don’t like using that word because it has a negative connotation towards the “abandoner” although many times, the “abandoner” is making the best decision they are able to) and then, the poor kid got a giant head wound only hours into his stay here. I thank God for the resilience of human beings, especially Haitian ones. A lot of hardships make for strong people. I can already tell the Marvins is hardheaded and will likely be a little stinker, but I will have to look back to his first day here remember where he came from, and how he’s had to learn how to live in this unfair world. A teacher in college once told me that every behavior is born out of a need. When working with kids, it’s my job to figure out what that need is and meet it. That has really helped me remember to have compassion and patience when working with all people, but especially kids.

One more kid in this house will make things more hectic. It will be a challenge but I will need to remember that all these kids come with needs. They won’t ever behave perfectly because I can never meet all their needs and there’s no such thing as a perfect kid. There’s no such thing as a perfect me either. That means that I need prayer for patience and compassion times nineteen!

On a silly note, I unintentionally started a water war with the five kids who stay at home for school. It started innocently enough with a few drops of water on peter’s foot. It ended with me getting soaked from head to toe. Peter, Claudeson, Michaelle and Samantha made it out pretty dry but at least Katie and I got one good bucket of water on Jennifer’s head. I also spent a good part of my day laughing with Jennifer, Samantha and Michaelle while they braided my whole head. It’s moments like those that make me want to stay in Haiti forever.