How was your Tuesday?
This is Madelene. She is 5 years old and weighs 26 pounds. Her mother died when she was giving birth to her younger sibling. Madelene was just a baby herself then, not even 2 years old yet. Her mother gone. Leaving her dad to raise her and 9 other siblings. Three of those siblings have died. Madelene’s dad needs to work. He has to. He has to feed his family. He does not have time to take care of Madelene and work at the same time in the fields. He made a hard decision to pass her around with family members.
This is what Madelene has been doing for the past 5 years of her life. Going back and forth between different aunt, uncles and cousins. She has been neglected. She has had a hard life for these past five years. I am not sure how long she has been malnourished and suffering from kwashiorkor. Her skin is split open in several places around her eyes, stomach and legs. She has a terrible fungal infection. Her hair is falling out. Many of her teeth are rotten. Her fingernails are long and full of dirt.
I went into the room to talk to Madelene’s papa. I looked at him and told him “I am not mad at you. I understand. I understand.” You see Madelene’s papa gets up each day to work in the fields. He gets up before day break and heads for his small plot of land. He has his hoe and pick and he works the land. The land that already does not produce much. He works all day long. Some days he does not even have food to eat. He plants, harvest and then sells his crop. No tractors to help. All of this is done by hand. No vehicle to travel to the market in. He uses his mule to carry his load down the steep mountain path. He cannot afford to pay for a tap tap (taxi) to carry his load once he does reach a road that can be traveled on. He saves every gourde (penny) that he can for his family. He loves Madelene dearly. He loves all of his children. He wants so much for them. So when I told him I was not mad at him and that I understood. He began to cry. I began to cry. The staff began to cry. We all together understood that there is no easy solution to his problem. But his love for his daughter runs deep. I asked him if he was a christian and he was. I told him to go to his church and ask them to pray for him and his family. Pray that God will heal Madelene. I also told him that I had many friends that would also pray for her. If she does live, by the grace of God, we will have to help her papa find a new solution for Madelene.
Someone came to the gate yesterday and wanted to see me. She needed some advice on a problem she was having. She has 5 children. Four of them are currently living with her. The two older children are on the school sponsorship program. The two younger children are in school but got kicked out of school this week because they could not pay their bill. The mother was very discouraged and told a few of her neighbors about it. That afternoon someone came to her house and told her that she could put her kids in an orphanage. She told me many other promises that were told to her if she would give them up for adoption. She was thinking about it and wondering what the best choice would be for her kids. She wanted to know my thought and if there was anything RHFH could do to help her. I asked her why she would consider putting her children in an orphanage to be adopted. She said that she cannot feed them a plate of food each day. They cry and are hungry. She cannot pay for their school. She cannot buy their uniforms or books. She lives in a stick house that is falling apart. All these things she could not do for her children were promised by the orphanage. I asked how she really felt in her heart. “I would rather know that my kids had a plate of food to eat each day and get and education than to hear them crying.” was her response.
I have never known this pain. I have never had to make this decision for my children. I have never been in the place that Madelene papa has been in. These are only 2 people who I have talked to in the past 24 hours. I sat and listened to them and their stories. It is easy in our western lifestyles to think and judge. Why do they have so many children? Why don’t they get a job? Why don’t they feed their kids? Why do they live like that? Why don’t they have a bed for them to sleep on? Why is their so many problems? Why don’t they this and that…. I have heard it so many times from so many people. But not one of us has any idea the daily pain that many go through here in Haiti. RHFH has a unique ministry to be able to offer help to many of this families. We are not againist adoption at all. But want to keep as many families together as we can. I want each of you to be in prayer for both of these families. Maybe someone could sponsor the two children in school for the year. Do not think “that is so sad” and do nothing. Pray for them and ask God what He would have you do.
I have asked you this before and now I am begging you. Please, please support Licia and Lori in their work in Haiti. Please don't say you can't spare anything. We all can spare $5.
All of us.
