It's a Hard Knock Life

Mary Kay had promised had promised Rachel, who ran a local orphanage associated with MTM, that we would test all the kids for anemia. This news was not well received my me as I hate testing kids for anemia, as they scream and fight and don't bleed well. Plus you have to stick them in the heel, rather then the finger, and often they are able to give a well-aimed kick to the face.

Mimose seeing Suzette at the airport in Haiti

In Haiti, you are considered an orphan if you have lost one parent. Many single parent households will put their kids up for adoption if they can't take care of them. One girl in my group, Suzette, was actually adopted by her mother Kelly (also in the group) when she was nine, she went to live with Kelly at 12. Her birth mother met us at the airport and stayed with us for a few days. We have often wondered what Suzette is thinking as we see her with her biological mother. Kelly, her adoptive mother, is obviously who she thinks of as her real mother. Suzette does not seem to hold any anger towards any party for her situation, but seems like a well adjusted young lady with two mothers. She was adopted when she was nine, but didn't get to live with her current other until three years later.

Suzette and Mimose

Rachel told us a bit about adoption while we were driving up, stating that the mothers can come and visit thier kids while the kids were in the orphanage, and many often do.  This can be very hard for thier kids, and sometimes the mothers will change their minds.  Single fathers generally balk at the idea of a closed adoption (which all are by default) while mothers tend to view adoption as an act of compassion towards kids and feel that they would have a better life.  Rachel's kids are generally gone in about 18 months, which is a very short time here.

Attacked on the couch (Judi, Kristen, and myself)

We pulled up to the house and saw a kid, standing in the driveway staring at us.  I got my supplies out of the car adn started to walk towards the house when two more kids came running out.  The first kid ran to me and threw his arms around my legs and squuezed for a second, looking up at me with angelic eyes before moving on to Kristen.  The next few kids did the same, and soon we were surrounded by enegetic and outgoing todlers who had obviously never heard of stranger anxiety.  After we got into house, Krisin sat on the couch and three kids hopped into her lap.  I saw next to her and was similarly tackled.  I wondered if Rachel had trained the kids to act this way to help encourage perspective parents to take them home.  Whatever she was doing, it was working as almost all the kids already had homes.

Me comforting a munchkin

Work time.  I got out the kits and started on the kids and almost immediatly became very unpopular.  The caretakers would hold the kids while I poked them.  One of things that I noticed was that the caretakers, like the translators, were very disengaged.  (You can sort of see what I mean in the picture.)  I wondered if this was because it was the end of the day.  The kids were pretty interested, however.  They gathered around and watched with interest as I poked thier compatriots then screamed like banshees when it was thier turn.  I needed to scream myself (for help) periodically as they started to crawl onto me as they fought for attention.

Drawing blood

Many of the kids, sadly, were anemic.  Rachel feeds the kids well, lots of greens, meat, and milk, but almost half had low hemoglobins.  We left them with some children's vitamins and instructions to give iron with juice, and not give milk within an hour of getting the vitamins (milk prevents the absorption of iron, while vitamin C enhances it.)  This isn't easy when you have 15 kids that you are caring for (most meds are given with meals) but I know that Rachel will try.  With so many kids, she was able to keep them very straight.  She knew the background and active illnesses of every kid.

Orphanages like Rachel's, that focus on adopting out kids, are only one type.  There are others that focus on keeping kids in Haiti and trying to help them become productive members of society.  What Haiti doesn't want is for mothers to receive funds from overseas to support their kids, since this would encourage parents not to work. But there are a lot of kids that need homes and food, and no real solution.