I wish I could say that I woke at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning but the truth is that it was much, much earlier. Who knew that Haiti had so many roosters that don't know how to correctly do their job?? I woke to cock-a-doodle-doo-ing starting at about 3:30 in the morning. Stephanie, whom I did not know at all at the time, sat up in bed and said, "I really want to get up and punch that thing in the beak!" That was the first of many laughs that she got out of me!
We got to meet our translators Sandro and Gaelleson. They traveled with us everywhere we went and thankfully so. I was amazed at how bright both of these young men were!
We had heard about the Haitian tap taps via our conference calls but didn't really know what to expect. I googled "tap tap" and found a picture of quite a few fun and colorful ones. Here's one I stole:
Our tap taps were not nearly as cheery. I would describe it as your uncle's 1981 run down s-10 topped with a shanty cab and completed with unreliable wooden benches surrounded by metal bars in direct contact with your spine. Add in some really awful roads that desperately need the attention of a Haiti Department of Transportation and you can imagine what we all looked like when we emerged. 
We had been prepared beforehand of the condition of the orphanage we were heading to. I'm glad we were, but I still felt totally unprepared when we got there. We came pretty much empty handed and these kids had nothing. We spent most the entire time there on the first day just giving out love and hugs. Here's the chicken coop/bathroom (it was just a squatty and I saw more than one kid just pottying wherever.)
The back of the orphanage: baby crib, clothesline, and their non-working water well.
Samantha made a quick friend!
Pretty much upon arrival I used Steve's handy dandy trauma fanny pack to do a little wound cleaning. This boy, Jameson, had a nasty burn on his leg and it was filthy.
It wasn't hard to find someone that needed some hugging. 
This is the other side of the orphanage. When I looked back at my pictures I thought, "man, I didn't take many at Well Being!". The truth is, there was really nothing to take pictures of. This place was bare bones. 
I happened upon the shower area by accident. As I was passing by, I noticed that there was one boy dumping a bucket of water over another. No soap. No rag. No towel. Just cold, and probably dirty, water.
Sam and Fabiola
I noticed some boys sitting away from everyone else so I went to ask them to play with us. I was quickly corrected by a man that helps at the orphanage. He said, "These boys don't belong here. They are bad. They teach the little ones bad things." Then he shooed them and chased them off. I felt really sad for them. I know they just wanted a part in the fun but I also had to respect the rules of the orphanage.
The dust in Haiti was indescribable. I had dirt boogers by noon every day and we got a good laugh one afternoon when I removed my sunglasses and looked like a raccoon. This little boy is a good example of how the dust and dirt were inescapable.
Kari, one of our team's leaders, was/is big loving BIG and her inviting smile (which we learned a LOT about later :) ) was a kid magnet for sure!
We were present for lunch which consisted of an enormous pile of rice and some mangos. I was shocked to see that some of those kids could eat all of that rice. Then again, it's generally their one big meal of the day. I guess I'd eat all I could while it was in front of me, too. Even more shocking than the kids eating ALL their food was how patient they all were. Not one kid even so much as touched their plate before everyone was served and the blessing was said. Unbelievable. Most of the time at my house the kids are 3/4 of the way finished with their meal before I even get to sit down. Looks like I'm going to use Haiti kids as an example for my own! 
Some of our team spent several hours the first day at market buying food for the orphanage. We got them huge bags of rice and beans and about 20 chickens.
All the kids happily helped carry the food. 
That was our first day....loving and playing with kids. Day 2 would bring a big feast at lunch, a little handy work, and some last minute crafting. One of my last sights that day was this little girl, all smiles, wearing one very large dress shoe and one kid's size flip flop. Shoes there were few and far between. 
I'll admit this day was a long one. Hindsight would have had us doing more planning for our days here long before we left the United States. The bottom line is, though, that the kids didn't mind. Bored isn't something that comes easily when you've never had a single thing to entertain you anyway. Touch, love, and smiles were the best and only gifts we could hand out on this first day and I truly believe that that is exactly what God intended. 
