Ann in Haiti---Week Two

It is the beginning of our second week in Haiti. Time is going so fast! I can’t believe that we will be headed home in just three more days! Friday was a special day. One of the patients who I worked with last year came for a visit. Anese was 6 months pregnant with her first child when the earthquake hit last January. Although she lost her L leg below the knee, she did not lose her baby. Isaac was born last April 14th. When I met Anese she was 8 months pregnant. She had had her leg amputated and had just been fitted for her first prosthesis by a prosthetic team visiting from the US. She was very determined and was never too tired to work with me. She asked me if she would be able to climb mountains with her new leg. I assured her that she would be able to do most anything if she was willing to work hard. In no time at all she had mastered walking with two crutches on level surfaces, then the stairs. By the time I left she was able to walk on level surfaces and stairs with only one crutch. Despite her determination, there were many obstacles for Anese. It was not just that she had lost her leg. It was that she had lost her leg, was 8 months pregnant, had no shoes, and had no home. When I met her, her entire family was staying in her hospital room because they had no tent and no place else to go. I managed to find her a pair of shoes to wear so we could walk outside. When we left Haiti, we managed to find a 2-person tent to give to her. One day when we were practicing walking, I asked Anese what she was going to name her baby. I was very flattered when she told me that her baby would be named “Ann” after me. I asked her what she would name the baby if it was a boy. She assured me that, “It will be a girl”.
When it was time for me to go home last year, it was hard to say goodbye. I felt a connection with her and this baby! I last spoke with Anese last April when one of the translators I had worked with called me from Haitian Community Hospital. He had gone there to work and found that Anese had had a baby boy! She asked him to call me so that I could name the baby since he could not be named “Ann”. I told Anese through the translator that she had been through so much with this baby and that I thought she should choose his name. She insisted that I was to name him. I was not sure what to do, so I told her “Ann means grace. Choose a name that means grace”. The baby was named Isaac. When Cholera hit Haiti, another of the translators tracked Anese down and was able to give me the news that she and baby Isaac were OK and had not gotten ill.
Friday, Anese and Isaac came to the clinic to visit. Anese had a new socket for her prosthesis and was walking with one crutch. We gave her some new socks to help her prosthesis to fit better as her leg had shrunk more. I showed her an exercise to do to help her not to limp. Then we spent time visiting and took turns holding baby Isaac. Anese told me that I was his godmother and that my daughter Maria who is here in Haiti with me was his sister. She asked me when I would be able to come back for his baptism. I told her that I thought that she would need to baptize him and that I would be there in spirit. Isaac and Anese looked wonderfully healthy! He is beginning to walk when someone holds onto his hands. Anese was very happy when I gave him some shoes that I had brought and two little outfits. (What is a godmother to do but bring gifts for her godchild?).
I asked Anese where she was living. She told me that she and her husband and baby Isaac were still living in a tent city in the tent that we had given her. She told me that neither she nor her husband were working. I asked how they were managing to eat with no money. She told me that friends, family and her church helped them. She asked me for money to buy formula and diapers. I gave her the 10 dollars that I had brought to the clinic with me that day.
I don’t know if I will ever see Anese or Isaac again. They don’t have a mailing address. I have a phone # for her, but since I don’t speak Creole, talking on the phone is not a really viable way to keep in touch. Clearly, the biggest mountain that Anese and so many of the people here still need to climb is the huge mountain of poverty, lack of work, and lack of resources. It can seem so discouraging. Even though I have been here twice, supported by lots of good people at home who have donated to pay for the cost of coming, and bringing equipment with me each time I come, it does not seem to be enough. I have so many resources in this life. Coming to Haiti makes me realize that even more and gives me even greater gratitude for those gifts. It also makes me want to do more for Anese and all of the people who I have worked with here. Despite at times feeling overwhelmed by all there is to do in Haiti and being unsure of the best ways to help. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to use my skills to benefit people here. I am also grateful for the opportunity that my daughter Maria has had to be here with me, to appreciate all of the gifts that she has been given, and to experience the joy of sharing the gifts that she brings to the world in being herself and in caring about others.