The One About Kites

The following was submitted by Ben Trappey, fourth-year Medicine-Pediatric resident.

A mural on the side of one of the orphanage walls, which are made nearly entirely of metal shipping containers

Having other people here has given me the opportunity to get away from the hospital a bit during the day. Thursday afternoon, I got the chance to tour the school and orphanage that are down the street from St. Damien and are also funded by Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs (NPH).

Both were set up after the earthquake and have been growing since. From what I've been told, the school was initially set up to establish some sense of normalcy for the many children who had taken refuge in and around St. Damien. At first it was merely a collection of tents out in a field where teachers would teach to children sitting in folding chairs or on the ground. It has since grown into a collection of concrete buildings where 800 first through sixth graders go to school every day.


 
The school courtyard

 
Inside one of the school rooms

The majority of the children live with their families in the area surrounding St. Damien and walk to school every day. However, 130 children live in the orphanage that is connected to the school. It, too, was established in the aftermath of the earthquake. It's clear when you look around that its inception was of pure necessity, as the organization was inundated with orphaned children.

The orphanage is made almost entirely of metal shipping containers, which serve as both its walls and the dormitories for the children. Initially, there was very little ventilation and few comforts other than a safe place to sleep. Now the containers are surprisingly comfortable and spotlessly clean. Ventilation slats have been cut into their sides, allowing the constant breeze with which Haiti is blessed to blow through. Toys are neatly arranged in and on top of a chest near the door to each container. Vibrant murals painted by local artists have replaced the industrial motif that originally covered the makeshift walls.

 
More of the murals that decorate the walls of the orphanage residence and school

Not all of the children who live there are truly orphaned. In Haiti, if a caregiver is unable to feed her children, it is not unusual for her to seek out an orphanage that will take on one or more of her children. Some mothers simply must abandon a child at a hospital or an orphanage.

A young Haitian man with whom I've been working closely every day was the third of five children. When he was nine years old, his father left and his mother was unable to provide for all five of them. She found a woman from Detroit who ran an orphanage for Haitian boys that agreed to take him in. He lived there until he was 20 years old. His mother, brothers and sisters would visit a few times per month.

He admitted that he felt quite abandoned at first and would cling to his mother every time her visit would end, and that he cried every night for the first year. However, he now realizes that his mother giving him up gave him the opportunity to go to school, to learn English and to have the job that he has today. He now pays for his mother's medical bills and for his sister to go to school. He is the sort of success story that drives the voluntary orphaning of these children.

St. Damien/NPH does not take part in this custom, at least not voluntarily. However, it still happens, occasionally, that a parent in Urgence will ask another to watch a child while she uses the restroom and then never come back. These children end up in the Abandoned Boys or Abandoned Girls rooms upstairs in the hospital, and, eventually, in one of NPH's orphanages.

When I visited, it was clear to me that the orphanage has developed into a place of stability and refuge for these children who have lost so much, due to death, poverty, or both, at such an early age. Despite all that they have seen and all that they have lost (and the chicken pox outbreak spreading around last week), they come across as surprisingly happy (even when covered in calamine lotion).

 
These girls have calamine lotion on their skin due to last week's chicken pox outbreak

 
A boy in the play area of the courtyard

We came through for our tour in the early evening after school was out. In one corner, a group of boys was playing soccer with an under-inflated ball. They were using a bench as their goal. The smallest of them was making impressive saves, apparently unconcerned that he was diving onto concrete. In another corner, a mass of children was absolutely rapt by the television, which was playing Lady and the Tramp.

These children are rapt by Lady and the Tramp, which is playing on the TV in the corner

However, it was a windy afternoon, and the most fun to be had seemed to be in the construction and flying of kites. The boys were making them out of plastic shopping bags, sticks that they found on the ground, and strips of plastic for tails. They were using string like we in the U.S. might use to tether balloons and would wind it around short sticks, which were used as handles.

Talking kites

Posing with their kite

To say that these boys were adept at flying these kites would be a vast understatement. They were infinitely better at flying these handmade kites than I ever was at flying the kind you buy in a store. They were able to keep them aloft without actually looking at them, giving subtle and seemingly unconscious flicks of the wrist to keep the string taut, while simultaneously helping their friends make new kites or posing for pictures. When their concentration was fully focused on their flying, they had incredible control using the kites to dogfight against each other, attempting to cut the strings or break the frames of their friends' kites.

After 3 weeks in Haiti, it was nice to be able to see some healthy, happy children. To be able to realize that there is more than just suffering here. And to recognize the absolute resilience of these children who have lost so much but are still children. Still able to find joy in each other. And in the flying of kites.