Spiteful People, Changed Plans, and Rescued Kids

We went to the tent village in the slum area of Port-Au-Prince today to check on some children we found last week.  We were told by a local clinic that there were a couple of families of children whose parents died in the quake that were basically living on their own.  As soon as we arrived, last Tuesday we immediately found the kids in question.

A litlle girl in a tattered dress approached with her face covered in dried blood carrying a naked, filthy baby.  She looked to be about 5  years old but her missing front teeth clued us in that she was probably a little older.  She said she fell down the day before and hit her head on a rock.  No one was around to nurse the gaping wound.  The baby was a little boy, quick to smile even through his apprehension of a big white man playing with him. 

Another little girl with all the signs of malnutrition and worm infestation stood naked nearby, a sister in the same situation only clothed in tatttered clothes held her close.  We assumed we had found the orphaned children.  As I inquired from the gathering adults about the family the stories were inconsistent.  Finally word slipped out that there was a mother and she slept somewhere nearby.  I sent for her.  When she came up you could see that someone had tipped her off about the "blancs" asking about her children.  She quickly informed me that she was a single mom living in the tents since the quake with no one to care for her babies.  Not even a look of concern for the festering wound on her little girl's head. 

She claimed to have 3 kids so I asked about the third and a little girl darted off to find her.  A few minutes later she returned with a naked toddler with no hair and distended belly, naked and filthy.  "I found her playing in the street" she explained, happy about her accomplishment for tracking down the child no one had known was missing.  

As we inquired further we discovered from other sources that there is indeed a father that comes around when he can although he does not take any care of the kids.  I felt we could not do anything until we talked to the father and no one seemed to be of much help contacting him. 

The other two little girls belonged to another woman that quickly showed up on the scene. She told us that she had 4 kids with a man that was killed in the quake and that she also inherited his other two kids from another woman that suffered the same fate.  She claimed to have no way of providing for them and wanted us to take them.  I told her that we would return in a week after some prayer and giving them time to set up a meeting with the father.  So we decided to wait on God to reveal His plan.We left with heavy hearts knowing the kids would spend more time in conditions that would cause people to be arrested in the U.S. if they treated their DOGS that way.  Much less God's precious children.

So that brings us to today.  We had contacted the mother of the 3 children and asked her to set up for the father to meet us today.  When we arrived there  was no father or mother just the three kids playing in the dirt.  They quickly sent a friend to try to track down the mother.  When she arrived we asked about the father.  She adamantly explained that she had talked to him and he wanted us to take the children.  I insisted on talking to him so she left to fetch the supposedly unreachable father.  After thirty minutes of  playing with the kids, the father came.  I explained the situation and how the mother wanted us to take the children because she could not care for them.  I asked what he wanted.  He hesitated and explained that he understood the situation and would like for me to take the children so they would have a better opportunity to live a healthy life. 

So then the other mother shows up with the 6 kids.  She tells me she wants me to take all 4 of her biological children.  I told her that we felt we needed to help the smallest two children.  After about 30 minutes of trying to figure out the many lies that were being told we decided we were going to just take the three original children.  This other mom had lied and only the father of 2 of the children had died, but that is not the two she most wanted to get rid of.  She had a teenage boy that skipped school and gave her problems and if we didn"t take him we weren't taking any.  That was fine with me.  Then she decided to convince the father of the other three that the little baby, 15 months old, did not need to go.  The mother disagreed and wanted us to take the baby.  But the spite won out and the father decided to make the mother keep the baby even though she does not want it and he is not there to care for it.  After a very thorough explaination of my opinion of that situation, we took the two precious jewels and loaded the bus bound for The Mission.


The situation did not turn out exactly like we had planned.  But we are grateful.  Little 7 year old Naica  will have her wounded head and heart cared for in love along with her 3 year old sister Kimberly.  Although our heart breaks for 15 month old Marckenly we rest in the fact that the Lord is in charge.  The first ride in an automobile started out exciting for little Naica but turned quickly as car sickness set in.  We are arriving now in the mission just before dark.  Their first night in a bed.  Their first shower.  Their first secure night surrounded by love and compassion. 

These are the first children we have taken into the mission that are not true orphans.  But I know they were worse off than most orphans.  A mentally unstable or uncapable mother and absent father left them living in a tent village vulnerable to vile predators of the kind we don't talk about in civilized society.  So our plans were modified to an extent.  Those of you that know us, know that Josie, Judah, Jaxon, and Justice all came from bad situations but not as orphans.  We trust God will put these new little ones into homes where love and protection are the norm and God's plan is revealed.