Bellingham trio:

From the Bellingham crew of June, Jeni and Jessica:

It’s our final night in Haiti. We’re so excited to come home and see our families but at the same time, so incredibly sad to leave. We have put so many hats on this week: ICU nurses, ER nurses, Trauma docs, pediatricians, equipment sterilizers, floor moppers, toilet un-pluggers and shoulders to lean on. We have had sleepless nights caring for Junior Joseph, our 20 year old “ICU” patient who we cared for 24 hours a day in shifts in a room that lost power from midnight to 8 am. After his third surgery yesterday which lasted 7 hours, he made it out of our “ICU” and into the “penthouse” where his family was finally able to assume care. We don’t speak Creole but as mothers we all have somehow able to form an incredibly strong bond with Junior’s family. We have shared many tender moments which in and of themselves have made this whole trip worthwhile. The way his mother looks at us when we come to visit is like nothing else. We will miss them terribly and hope to keep in touch with them and his progress.

This afternoon we went with our new friend Annie to visit her orphanage. She is quite a lady, to say the least. She has collected a crew of children, most of them with physical disabilities, and is providing them with a home like no other. We all took a walk to the beach which was littered with trash. At first we were reluctant to get in but after a few brave souls started dodging flip-flops, we were all in. In a matter of minutes we were surrounded by naked Haitian children who were initially shy but after we tossed the first one of them into the air with a “one, two, three” they were all clamoring and eager to be launched into their best belly flops by whoever was willing. We laughed and had a blast together though we didn’t speak the same language and at one point I turned around to find Jeni standing in waist-deep water holding a 1 year old child who had fallen asleep in her arms. Our hearts are so full of joy, sorrow, heartache and love. We’ve made a promise to ourselves that just because we’re coming home tomorrow, we will never forget these people and will do everything we can to continue to make a difference for them in some way…to be continued…