We are up after a very good night's sleep (earplugs). Marcia, Lauren, and I head to the school to see if we can help out. As we approach, the older kids are outside singing before classes. The kids sing to us a song of praise. A very good way to start the day!
We help with various students. The classes are divided into four. Pre-school, elementary/middle, middle/high school, and five students who are in a class needing some extra attention. The children arrive at the orphanage usually with no education. Since they arrive at all ages, pre-school can have children 5 to 9 years of age. Classes are divided up by levels of education. Below, Lauren helps one of the students with reading.
Mid-morning, Caroline Gast, who runs the Medika Mamba program, asks us to accompany her to the orphanage mentioned earlier in the week. Eight boys had been brought over Tuesday for the program, with six qualifying. We were told there were many more children at this orphanage and today we will go see. We travel a short distance from Canaan, about 15 minutes. The orphanage is right on the roadside and the desperate poverty of this orphanage is immediately evident. The Pastor who runs this orphanage greets us and begins to take us on a tour. There is so very little. A few small dark buildings and very little grounds.......all swept dirt. Two outhouses are at the back of the property. A cow is wandering through the common area. The "dorms" are being cleaned and are shells with wooden bunks---the foam mattresses have been washed and laid out in the sun to dry. We visit the "school", a very small, dark, windowless room with long benches. This is where we sit and visit with the Pastor to hear his needs. They have nothing but love and compassion. Marcia, Lauren, and I are silent in our stunned disbelief of what we see. Compared to this, Canaan is the Ritz.
28 girls under the age of twelve are lifted into the back of the truck to ride to the Canaan clinic where they will be measured and weighed for the Medika Mamba program. Lauren and I ride in the back with them. They are all so obedient and quiet and well-behaved.
Once we get to the clinic, all sit down to wait on the benches outside. I have never seen children sit so quiet for so long.
Caroline begins to see the kids one-by-one. Lauren, Marcia, and I use this time to care for the girls and hold them and tend to any that need us. Before long, as you can see, Lauren is enveloped by little girls who just want to be held for a while.
Dr. Ric Bonnell and Dr. Wendy Bonnell take this opportunity to give each girl a quick physical. They are all relatively clean without lice or fungi or worms. But when asked what they had eaten that day, every last one answers "nothing". And it is 2 pm.
This is Naphtali. She was alert but could not raise her body. Once in a sitting position, she could sit up, but she could not raise herself. She was so complacent that I believe she must be left on her back most of the time. Marcia gave her a bottle as well as some water, and she became very alert. Whatever physical issues she has, her brain seems to be fine.
All of the girls were given a packet of Medika Mamba, which supposedly tastes a little like Reese's peanut butter cup. No wonder they licked the packages clean, tearing them apart, and even attempting to try to take any remains from the trash can.
28 girls under the age of twelve are lifted into the back of the truck to ride to the Canaan clinic where they will be measured and weighed for the Medika Mamba program. Lauren and I ride in the back with them. They are all so obedient and quiet and well-behaved.
Once we get to the clinic, all sit down to wait on the benches outside. I have never seen children sit so quiet for so long.
Caroline begins to see the kids one-by-one. Lauren, Marcia, and I use this time to care for the girls and hold them and tend to any that need us. Before long, as you can see, Lauren is enveloped by little girls who just want to be held for a while. 
Dr. Ric Bonnell and Dr. Wendy Bonnell take this opportunity to give each girl a quick physical. They are all relatively clean without lice or fungi or worms. But when asked what they had eaten that day, every last one answers "nothing". And it is 2 pm.
This is Naphtali. She was alert but could not raise her body. Once in a sitting position, she could sit up, but she could not raise herself. She was so complacent that I believe she must be left on her back most of the time. Marcia gave her a bottle as well as some water, and she became very alert. Whatever physical issues she has, her brain seems to be fine. 
All of the girls were given a packet of Medika Mamba, which supposedly tastes a little like Reese's peanut butter cup. No wonder they licked the packages clean, tearing them apart, and even attempting to try to take any remains from the trash can. You can google Medika Mamba and read about this amazing ready-to-eat therapeutic food.
This was our last day of work in Haiti. Caroline added 33 kids from the orphanage "down the road" to the Medika Mamba program. Within a week, the boys had returned and they had gained weight! My prayers are that this situation for these children is about to change.
Still, I am haunted by a face. Every day.
