Thanksgiving was very fun, with 5 Americans and 40 Haitians to cook for. We made 2 turkeys plus all the regular other stuff, and had a big celebration in the living room of the Father Wasson center.

We have a problem everyday getting TiBeth off the school bus (“ti” like “petit”= little beth). She’s probably 10 years old and has Downs Syndrome. She rarely smiles, but rather stares at you very seriously while refusing to do anything you say. When we get to school or get back to the center, she sits quietly in her seat and tells us she’s too scared and to leave her alone, please. If you touch her to help her off, she screams and it’s no use trying to lift her because she’s a heavy girl who knows how to squirm away. It takes a lot of coaxing and often bribing her with my sunglasses to get her to stand, and even then you have to pull her. Last week, she was almost off the bus, but then decided to jump into the driver’s seat and scream madly that she wanted to go to Port au Prince while trying to shift the gears. Yesterday, I went upstairs to the living room on the 6th floor after we came back with the kids. 30 minutes later, I heard the very familiar voice talking in the stairwell, and found TiBeth talking to a statue on her way upstairs. She somehow bypassed at least 20 employees to climb 6 stories, and still just stared at me when I tried to help her down the stairs. She sat down and refused to budge, so some staff members came up to literally force her downstairs. She is one of my favorites. When her dad comes to pick her up, he puts her right on the back of his motorcycle and she has absolutely no problem with that form of transportation.

TiBeth in one of her happy moments

Recently, my photocopy Robin has decided that her time in Haiti is up for the moment. After being volunteer coordinator and getting me here, she moved up to Assistant National Director, and then to National Director while Father Rick was out of the country so much. I will miss her quite a bit, but we have had several goodbye parties for her so far which usually involve gin and tonic. Here’s a picture of us on the roof of the hospital with our drinks and Mexican pringles.

Today was the Universal Day for the Handicapped, so we had a big program at Kay St. Germaine with the preschoolers and some of the Kenscoff kids coming down as well. The volunteers started off at mass at the hospital, with Father Rick back in town. After that, we went to bless the babies that died in the hospital the night before, which I’ve never done before. It was devastating to see them be unwrapped, cleaned, blessed and rewrapped to be buried. 2 children died last night, and 3 more the night before so there were several bodies on the tables. The hospital, on average, loses 2 or 3 children a day.

The kids have been working on their dancing and singing for a month now, and were so cute in their dresses and ties. At the end, they all received presents from Santa Clause, who we have been calling on the phone every morning in class to remind. It was my last day of work in Tabarre before I leave for vacation in the states early next week.

Nazarelle, from the preschool

Emmanuel

My Aunt Christina, who did NPH in Honduras, did a shoe drive at her school and raised a lot of awareness and supplies for the orphanage. I made this video with the kids to say thanks!

After I figured out how to use the movie making program on my computer, I made one of today’s festivities, too:

I’ll be home on Tuesday and am so freaking excited to see everyone! I plan to get Starbucks in Ft. Lauderdale, McDonalds in Atlanta, and Taco Bell in Seattle. Love you all! See you soon.