Three Hundred More

I arrived safely in Port Au Prince yesterday morning after a two week Christmas break. When I stepped off the plane the smell of the city immediately hit my nose. This was once a smell I found revolting, but now it’s so familiar to me I can only associate it with home. When that warm tropical air surrounded me I was all smiles on the three hour car ride to the orphanage even though I spent most of that ride in the bed of the truck. It was defiantly an uncomfortable ride, but I was more than happy to be home.

Today, another group of missionaries and I packed up a grill, a ton of ketchup, and 300 hotdogs. We went to a nearby beach and cooked out all afternoon. The children came by the hundreds once the smell of cooked food was in the air. When we started someone made a quick head count and was grateful we would have enough hotdogs for everyone there. However, as soon as word got out that we were giving away free food the small beach we were at quickly became overcrowded. We had to tie ropes up to keep the huge crowd of people in order. We began passing out the hotdogs but as soon as the people saw we were out they started getting upset. I could hear the noise of the crowd growing louder as the children began yelling for more food. No one was hurt, but my heart breaks every time I’m forced to send someone away empty handed. “Mwen pa geyen” is one of the first phrases I learned in Creole. It means, “I don’t have”.  There’s never enough for everyone. One girl I was working with started to cry. It’s such a helpless feeling, but I think if we would have stood there all day giving out hotdogs we would have still turned some people away. When we got back in the truck to leave I tried reminding people that we did feed 300 kids. That’s a lot! You have to keep your mind on the positive here. It’s so important.

I remember when I first came to this country I was afraid that if I spent a lot of time here I would eventually become numb to the things I see. I thought, maybe, I would stop noticing all the suffering. I would get used to it somehow. That’s not the case. The more I’m here the more aware of it I become. My first trip I didn’t realize that all the people standing around me were seriously hungry. I didn’t know what malnourishment looked like. I just thought the children were tired. Now I know.  It’s more difficult to know, but it makes my determination to help that much stronger.

Three hundred children were fed today. That’s three hundred more than yesterday…..