The Caretakers of the Children

The nannies and nurses and cooks who work here at GLA continually impress me. They feed children thrice a day, they bathe the kids daily, they dress them, they change diapers, they take temperatures, they are amazing at doing hair, they even put up with us American/Canadian volunteers quite graciously. They stay here for four consecutive days, and then they go home for two days before coming back and starting it all over again. Their beds are in the kids' rooms. They have dedicated huge amounts of their lives to raising these children and preparing them for a new home. I feel it is a great honor to be working alongside them, and one of the best parts of my trip thus far has been building relationships with the nannies/nurses/cooks who speak French or English.

One of the cooks always greets me with a wonderful smile and a “Bonjour, ma cherie” (Good morning, my dear) minutes after I walk through the door. Her warmth and her genuine good morning greeting serve to set a glowing tone of happiness for the entirety of the day.

One nurse I've enjoyed getting to know rides on three different tap taps to get here. It takes her about two hours to get to work. She speaks English decently well after spending only one year of her childhood in an American run orphanage.

One of the nannies closer to my age loves to giggle at my accent and teach me new French words. Her smile is radiantly contagious.

One of the night nurses has been particularly warm and welcoming and kind to me. Usually the volunteers stay up on the balcony with their kids, but ever since she first invited me to stay, I love to sit in the NICU after dinner and talk to her. She speaks French and a little bit of English, and she's been teaching me lots of Creole. She has two children, and one of them celebrated her birthday the same day that Clara did! Every day, she asks how I'm doing. Then she asks about how my day was and what I did that day. When I talk to her, I feel important. I feel encouraged. I feel loved.

One late night in the NICU in the heat and with the buzzing mosquitoes and the plethora of sleeping babies, she and I talked about our God and what we love about Him. She showed me her Bible – a book she brings with her to work every day. It is worn through and through, the pages are tattered, and it is taped all along the spine. I asked her what her favorite verses were (though I did not ask if she had favorite verses; I knew without asking that she did). Right then and there, she began to recite to me her favorites. For several minutes, she sat there, scripture flowing smoothly from her mouth. Every now and then, I caught a line, a word, a phrase that I could understand. She ended with Psalm 23. I certainly recognized that one, even when spoken in a foreign language. Oui, le bonheur et la grace m'accompagneront tous les jours de ma vie, et je reviendrai dans la maison de l'éternal pour la duré de mes jours.