Note: This is the third in a series of journals that will be written by members of the SRU Athletes for Forgotten Angels group that will be in Haiti Jan. 12-17 helping the country recover from the earthquake that rocked the country two years ago. For more information and links to all journal entries, visit the Forgotten Angels homepage
Hi from Haiti after day three,
This morning we divided into two groups again, half returning to soccer camp, and the other half went to visit IDADEE orphanage. IDADEE has around 30 orphans, with the majority being under the age of three. They absolutely loved all of the attention we gave them and we absolutely loved spending time with the babies. We each had at least three little ones in our arms or on our lap the whole time.
We played duck-duck-goose, patty-cake and tag. They loved the books we brought and had us read them over and over again and bubbles were a huge hit too! Some of us took fussy babies and calmed them down just by walking with them or sitting and singing to them. The girls at IDADEE loved playing with our hair and we all had ours done in braids. The only thing we didn't like about IDADEE was leaving. It was so hard because all of our babies cried as we tried to put them down.
After we came back and met up with the soccer group, we all headed up to the EBAC orphanage. We spent time talking with our friends, swinging and the girls took on some Haitian boys in basketball. Yesterday, one of the boys from soccer camp broke his wrist and
Jessica Shroyer and
Teresa Elliott used a survival bracelet and a t-shirt to make a sling for him. Some of the kids also showed us they enjoyed us visiting them by giving us beautiful bracelets that they made. They made these with string we brought yesterday, and we have also brought other crafts for them, including beads and yarn, stickers, coloring books, markers and crayons.
On the soccer fields today, we all got a little sunburnt. To start the camp, we played some juggling drills, then took a snack break and finished with a whole soccer match. During a break, a couple of the girls entertained everyone with a bit of a dance contest, including the Douggie dance. Then, we all took a team picture and the kids loved being able to look at the picture after it was taken on the screen of the camera because they haven't experienced this before. Ending the camp was an emotional time for us and some of us came back barefooted as we gave our shoes away to the boys who didn't have shoes to wear outside of soccer.
Tonight, we had a challenge of preparing a meal for 25 people. We didn't know this was possible, but we succeeded in messing up instant mashed potatoes. Pastor Fan-fan and his wife, brother and seven children, Don and Karen and their girls, and an interpreter came to visit for dinner. After dinner, one of Pastor Fan-fan's daughters has a gorgeous voice and sang a song for us. We received lots of love again, as each of the kids gave us all a hug and kiss before they left.
Until tomorrow,
Love, your bloggers:
Emily Lobdell,
Jessica Shroyer and Dana O'Neill...who received this honor by being the first to lose in Uno!
