I miss my boys, all three of them when I am in Haiti. I know
they are being well taken care of. Karl is a master at keeping children busy
and my mother-in-law, Shelley, is there to help. I don’t know how many of you
have seen the movie, Erin Brokovich but at the end of the movie when she wins
the lawsuit and she brings her boyfriend to one of her client’s house to
disperse a check and he gets to see the client’s elated reaction. Erin then
turns to him and says, “You helped do this.” This is the way Karl and I work in
relation to my trips to Haiti. He has been to Haiti and will go again but he
right now he is trying to find his niche again in Haiti. Our scope in Haiti has
changed since we first started to go. Initially we (Karl and I) went to Milot,
Haiti, here I could work in the hospital and Karl could work with the Bobcat
and on other projects. Now that we work in Cap-Haitien, only at a hospital
there isn’t really a project for Karl to do. He is of the type that he doesn’t
want to waste resources if he isn’t needed. So therefore he stays at home and
helps with the boys. He supports me in a way that I don’t know if I can ever
deserve.
Very thankfully we are at the point with the boys were they
KNOW I am coming home. Attachment has been easy from the start. The boys’ birth
mother (who Ajura is remembering more and more about every day!!!) started the
attachment process and explained to Ajura enough so that he always felt wanted,
never neglected, even when he and Ahmi were orphans. This amazing woman in a
way has also been part of my work in Haiti. Had she not fostered attachment in
OUR children, I would not and could not leave the boys. I would never leave
them if they didn’t think I was coming home.
Many question why I still go to Haiti when I have two little
boys at home. My answer is that I see the reflection of my kids in the eyes of
the Haitian children that I interact with. This could have been my child. The
boy, about 8, who works with his brother on the boat, can’t afford to go to
school. This could be Ajura. The persistent little boy on the street asking me
for pesos (he thinks I am Hispanic because of my dark hair and tanned skin),
his clothes dirty and his belly empty. This could be Ahmi. The mother with her
twin boys who sit on the narrow concrete sidewalk by the hospital every day,
not begging, just having nowhere else to go. This could have been their family.
I keep going to Haiti because I see Ajuras and Ahmis around every corner and
maybe my work here will make a better life for them. Maybe someday they will
need surgery and our foundation will have made it safer for them because the
anesthesia providers taking care of them will have better equipment and
extensive education. Ajura and Ahmi get the chance of a better life, shouldn’t
I try to pay that forward.
When the boys are older I will start to bring them to Haiti
with me. I also hope someday to return to Ethiopia and give back to the country
that connected me to my children. Until then I want to teach them that they are
the most important children to me, I am their mom, BUT the other moms out there
feel the same about their children and they need a chance. That is why I go and
will continue to go. Because I am Ajura and Ahmi’s mom and I am a citizen of the
world.
