I've been staying at the orphanage for the last couple of weeks and this has made my stay here so much more enjoyable. I really feel like part of the family now and love getting to know each of these children individually and spending nearly every waking moment with them. There's nothing like waking up to their beautiful voices singing to me at 5:15 in the morning outside my tent.
This is Louisnis, Jean Marc's wife. She's usually with her two children taking care of their home about a mile away, but the kids love it when she's around.
The kids sleep don't seem to mind sleeping on the floor. It's a big step up from what they were used to in the tents. Last night we had a big rain storm set in and my air mattress was almost floating on all of the water inside my tent.
Meals are usually the same each day- spaghetti noodles for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch and thick drink they call “le bwi” for dinner which is blended spaghetti, rice, or cornmeal.
Jessica says my name every time I walk by now and puts her hands out for me to pick her up. So hard to turn her down.
Gregory is a new addition to the orphanage. He is very kind-hearted, always eager to help out and is as strong as an ox. One night he was off by himself and a little solemn. When I walked up to him I could see that he had tears running down his cheeks. I asked him if everything was OK and he said that he was just missing his mom. I asked if she was alive and he said that she had died in the earthquake. I asked about his dad and he said he died when he was young. He says that he's very happy to be at O.E.E. and feels like he's needed and loved.
Vladimir is another new addition. He loves to joke around and is always positive. His father died and his mother couldn't afford to feed him so she sent him away to work at a mechanic shop in Leogane at the age of 14. He was working long hours there and they weren't paying him anything and he wasn't going to school when Jean Marc took him in last month.
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