We're here!

We made it here on Friday afternoon with no troubles. We spent yesterday at the two orphanages and then today David came to the house and is actually upstairs napping right now. I'll type more when we're back at home, but for now here are some photos from our first few days.

At the baby orphanage:


Playing:


Eating:


Going for a walk:


Ready for a nap:


Getting dressed for church:


Mom & Dad making friends at church:


Staring down his stuffed giraffe (he has a bit of a love/hate relationship with it):


Opening birthday gifts:


Enjoying the swing;

Off to Haiti

In less than 24 hours, I'll be in Haiti. My parents and I are all packed and ready to go. I'll update with pictures as soon as we're back next Thursday!

Some unrest in Haiti

Some of you may have heard about the recent protests that took place in Haiti this past week. I've been pretty glued to the internet news and various Haitian blogs, trying to get whatever updates are posted.

The basic gist of what's going on is that people all over the world are starving. As food prices continue to rise, what little food they were once able to afford is now too expensive. This has resulted in people taking to the streets and demonstrating. Some of these protests in Haiti became violent this week, leading to a lot of destruction and some deaths throughout the country. Even the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince closed down -- not exactly what I wanted to hear before getting ready to soon travel there!

To put the food crisis into perspective, you have to realize that food in Haiti costs MORE than it does here in the United States; yet, much of their population makes less than $2 a day -- that's less than $800 a year. Unlike in the U.S., Haitians don't have the option to start clipping coupons or shopping at Aldi if food prices get higher. So, when you can't afford food, you and your family don't eat.

The following is a quote from another blogger. It was written by a Haitian who has been through this type of unrest numerous times. I thought it was well-written and seemed to go along with what we'd been told and seen while we were there in January:

"There are several different things going on. First, many, many people are really suffering. They are hungry and they see no future for themselves or their children. People like that demonstrate peacefully - as is their right - and express their legitimate frustration and despair. But there are also people who are taking advantage of the situation to loot and steal. These people I saw today were not Jean Valjeans stealing a loaf of bread because they were hungry. They were taking 5 gallon water bottles and emptying them out, taking ice from the machine and throwing it in the road. They were going from one store to another and breaking all the windows. They were carrying away furniture and even the fire extinguishers. I don't know what all their motives were for this but clearly the motive wasn't to make food prices go down.Without exception, the people from this country with whom I have talked have expressed their disgust with those who are doing these things. They aren't improving the situation of high food prices and a difficult life - they are making the situation worse. Most people here are ashamed that the world is seeing these actions and associating this country with violence and destruction. This is not a violent country. Looters and destroyers do not represent this country any more than serial killers represent the United States."

Right now things appear to have calmed down, and as long as the roads to and from the airport are clear, we should be set for our trip in 2 weeks. The orphanage is far enough away from the capital, that I'm not worried about our safety once we get there. (By the way, I heard from our agency and everyone at the orphanage is doing just fine.)

So unless we hear otherwise from the people we're staying with, my parents and I are still planning on traveling to Haiti at the end of the month. Well, that is if our airplane gets there :-P

More Pictures

Thanks to Laura, here are some more David pics.
3 more weeks till I'm there snapping pictures of my own :-)