Bon Nuit Ami Mwen

Meet my little friend, Ketsia. She is the 50th child at the Children's home. She didn't have a stable enough family to go home to. Considering that the families that most of the kids' families would not be considered stable by American standards - her situation was quite dire. God, though, placed into the care of the staff at the children's home after they found her wandering the streets.  Bob and Vicki are currently taking great care of her in their home. She is approximately 4 years old. She wears a size 1; as in what a 1 year old would wear. She is malnourished. Her top teeth were so decayed they all had to be removed except the back two molars. This little girl has an unquenchable spirit.   She giggled with glee at her new home environment.  What a new world she was entering.  I spent many hours with her while I was in Haiti. She colored, played with stickers, bounced a ball, and got into all sorts of mischief. She was like a sponge though. I felt privileged to teach her all sorts of little things like how to play hopscotch, how to wipe her bottom, how to sing "waves of mercy", how to say "s'il vous plait", how to run out of the house if she feels it trembling, how to say "eskize mwen" before interrupting, how to eat 4 pieces of meat (chopped up of course) before she could eat a "bon bon", how to wash her hands properly (this became her favorite thing to do), how to brush her chompers with a toothbrush, how to play in a bucket of water for hours . . . I could go on . . . she was a sponge. Ketsia spoke 4 year old creole so it was an adventure trying to communicate. Sometimes she would get really frustrated. Sometimes I would get really frustrated. Ketsia had a widespread infection on her head. We were able to get her some antibiotics and some creams. Each night I would debride her head.  She would cry and Vicki would console her.  She wanted to look at every single gauze pad filled with pus & blood after is came off of her head.  I think somehow and someway it made her think, "at least I know why it hurts so bad."  I would blow up a medical glove and draw a face on it and Ketsia would grin ear to ear.  Vicki and I would offer her a peace offering of a jolly rancher after the whole ordeal and then she would be off to bed.  She would say "Mesi Tracy" in the most precious little voice.  I wish I had recorded it on video.  It warmed my heart.  I would often bring Ketsia to the salvage location and play with her there while I was packing up.  She wouldn't nap and I could see that she was really tired - so I found 3 of Vicki's scarves and decided to do like my Zulu friends - tie her on my back.  She absolutely LOVED it.  I think she liked the human contact.  She didn't feel alone.  The pink scarf in my New Locks post is one of those scarves that I would strap her on with.  Vicki made sure that I brought it home with me to remember.  Ketsia would play and sing and I knew exactly where she was.  She would eventually drift off to sleep and I would have to readjust the scarves to make sure she was secure. When the Haitians saw me they would say - "An African Sister".  That of course, made me grin from ear to ear.

For the record, Ketsia's eyelashes might be the curliest I have ever seen.  She'll never need to curl them or even put and ounce of mascara on those babies! 
Stay tuned for another post about Ketsia's obsession with "la machine"!!