Miracles of Terrier Rouge

Today we saw the triplets of Terrier Rouge. Think about that for a minute, triplets, natural triplets, the odds are overwhelming in a developed country, now imagine triplets in Haiti. Add to that a three-year-old sibling, a sister with a four-month-old and two other cousins and five adults, all living in a space about the size of my kitchen. Two beds and twelve people, four of them infants. No running water. No electricity. A lean-to kitchen outside underneath some metal with a stove of charcoal. A house of mud with a tin roof. A floor of dirt and windows with mismatched discarded bed sheets shielding any sunlight as well as the bugs from entering the house. Haiti. This is now my fourth trip and when Pere Bruno said 12 peope live in that house I was certain I had misunderstood him, that just can't be. About a month ago we sent down a care package of sorts for the family after Pere Bruno told us their story. No husbands, just women and the elderly left in the world to raise 7 young children. As I walked in the dark and damp home one of the babies was fast asleep on one of my own Isabelle's blankets and that's when the tears began to flow. I held one of the babies and she smiled and she had cute fat cheeks and we chatted the way we all do when we hold an infant with googly noises and funny faces. And I cried. The rest of the group of ten filed in and out of the house to see the infants, one at a time because it was already crowded and I just wasn't willing to give her up. If the mother had said "you can keep her" I'm certain I would have done just that. Not because they aren't loved. Not because they don't have a home. Not because of all those things that you are thinking as you read this, but because I she's a little piece of a miracle that defied the odds. Triplets in Haiti ... Healthy Triplets in Haiti... now that's a miracle. I felt so silly with what I did next. My Isabelle gave me three of her stuffed toys to give to these sweet little babies that she had heard so much about. There was a bear, a bear dressed as a flamingo and a duck. So pointless in the face of what this family is dealing with day in and day out, but to Isabelle these three toys were a piece of her that she was giving to the three little miracles of Terrier Rouge. So I did... and hopefully when I become blog literate enough I'll show you pictures of just that!