Jesus Loves the Little Children

This morning, I sat under a tree with Nalda (pictured above) on my lap. I was enjoying the shade of the tree and the laughter coming from her as the leaves kept blowing onto my shirt. She would pick up the leaf, throw it on the ground, and wipe my shirt a little as if it had left my shirt dirty. Then she would giggle and do it all over again. 5 minutes into our time together, she picked up a leaf that was a little more colorful than the others had been and she showed it to me ... and then began tearing it apart into little pieces, throwing each one into the air and smiling. When the last piece was gone, she began to sing. She was singing in Creole, but it only took a couple of words for me to realize that she was singing, "Jesus Loves the Little Children." Nalda loves to sing ... and dance. As she sang it through the second time, I joined her in English. Nalda singing in Creole, me singing in English. The very same song, the very same words ... about the very same Jesus. As I walked away a few minutes later, for no apparant reason, tears formed in my eyes and I glanced over to the nannies sitting on the porch with many of the wee ones. They were singing as well (yea!!) ... "Jesus Loves Me" ...

I came upstairs and took out my journal, but fell short on what to say. So much in my heart, so much on my mind, yet to try to write about it seems so ... even now, the words don't come.

I have seen and heard things in Haiti that I would never have imagined. I have laughed so much with the children and enjoyed them immensely. Yet I have cried just as many tears. Thinking of those living in the village when it is pouring down rain outside. Thinking about a woman we drove back to Bercy from Port Au Prince whose husband beat her with the wooden handle of a hoe. Thinking of the many mothers and fathers who want nothing to do with their own children. Seeing the many children who deserve so much better and knowing I cannot fix their situations. It is a hard life and it breaks my heart over and over again.

(the two photos above, I took the other day in Bercy, our village). Okay ... in the time it has taken me to post this, I have treated one child for scabies, put medicine on a cut behind another child's ear, gave medicine and gobs of water to 4 wee ones with diarrhea, and checked out the awesome shelf that Hermen finished building for the computer room. Hmmmm. Never a dull moment around here. And ... it's only 11am :)