I just had to post this

Here is the story brought back to us by the doctor (now my GP):

"On our recent Medical Mission trip to Hinche, Haiti we had the privilege to meet Mme Accilien Jacqueline and her twelve children, ranging in age from three to eighteen. This is a family at the very edge of disaster, living in extreme poverty, who need our help in many ways.

By way of background, Mme Jacqueline is a 38 year old woman struggling to raise these twelve children on her own. Her husband passed away about 2 ½ years ago of tuberculosis and she has been doing the best she can to raise her children by reselling goods at the local market in Hinche. But soon, the situation became overwhelming and unmanageable for this single mom with no support network of friends or family nearby. Before long, there was not enough money to feed her kids and certainly nothing available to send them to school. Currently, only two of her twelve children are in school and on many days they do not know where their next meal will come from. The family eats once a day, if at all. There "home" is a ten by ten square room that is rented. The room contains only one bed that is shared, and a small table and chair. Mme Jacqueline and 6 of her kids sleep on the bed, the other 6 sleep underneath on the dirt floor. When one of the children gets sick, they all get sick due to these very tight living arrangements."

There are more details of the living conditions of this family. We were approached to "adopt" one of the children to be "Godparents". We are to help this child and family financially and spiritually, and anything given to the family would go to them 100%. RT and I adopted Lucson, the 5 year old boy.

The good news is I received an update on them today. Each set of Godparents sent school supplies and Jim delivered them in person to each child. Together, the Godparents were able to send each of the 12 children back to school, with uniforms, supplies, food in their bellies and help their loving mother with not quite as many worries.

They are some photos of their home, with 13 people living in two rooms. They now have two beds for the family, where they used to have one. The clothing line is strung across the top of the wall with all their clothes on it to keep the dust off. (You can tell their clothes are donated from Americans, as sometimes there is a silly ass saying on their shirts.) There is a small toilet out back and a tiny garden, no more than 2-3 square feet.

I wanna go back so badly. My goal is to get my immune system back, after my January stint. I really need to go back . . .

Lucson receiving our school supplies.: )