The women of Maison

Angie, the missionary at Maison where our children live, shares this story today about some of the women she has the joy of serving with.  She writes,

"Yesterday at 4 am on their way to work, Madame Gaston and her friend, Murielle, were getting on a tap tap in a faraway place on the other side of Port au Prince to come to work at Maison.  Madame Gaston saw three young boys, filthy, smelly, and thin, on the side of the road and asked them what they were doing.  They had been asleep somewhere on the street and a man had woken them up and said to move on.  She said she could hardly handle the smell coming from the boys, yet she continued to talk with them.  They slowly began to tell their story, eager to share with this stranger who seemed to care.  Madame Gaston knew of the boys' house near Maison, and decided to try to get them in there.  A man, a stranger, gave her 50 gourdes to put them on the tap tap with her.  She instead bought them some food, and used her own 50 gourdes to pay their fare.  

 

"At 10:30, Ruth and I arrived at Maison.  As we entered the gate, we saw birth parents waiting for the meeting to begin, lined up along the side of the driveway.  Next to some of them sat three lonely looking, raggedy, thin boys.  This isn't uncommon, so I went inside to put my things away and check on Jean Marc and all the babies before I went to greet the birth families.  The moment I entered the room, Madame Gaston began telling me the story of the boys.  She told me again that she has 9 children of her own.  She has raised them, and I don't know how many countless others have called her Mama.  She said that when she saw those boys at 4 am on the street, hungry, dirty, smelly, it made her heart hurt.  She knew she couldn't leave them there; the street is no place for a child.   She is well aware of what happens to children living on the streets of Port au Prince.  She said that riding in the tap tap with them was a huge challenge because they smelled so very bad.  She could see the sickness on their skin, and in their eyes.  But she knew she had to do what she could to help them.  So she used $1.25 of her $3.25 that she made yesterday to get them closer to help.  She teared up telling me how the one cried because he was itching so badly.  I hugged her, tearing up myself, and told her I would check on them."

These are the women who love our kids.  Though we ache to have them home, we also know that they are loved deeply by the women of Maison. 

Read the rest here.