Homeward bound

Are you confused by that title? I am. You see, since the age of 15, the longest I have stayed in one location has been 2 years. In that 9 year period, I have lived in 4 different countries and at least 12 different towns (maybe more, but I lost track after the 12th). So at age 16, home was a little village in France called Wailly. At age 19, home was alternately Brussels, Belgium and Brookline, Massachusetts. At 21, it was Jamaica Plain. And this year, home is 3 places: Brookline, Chop Point, and Haiti.

This particular homeward bound is to Haiti. I have tickets for September 7th and I will be there all year, with a little vacation at Christmas for my brother's wedding. I am going to continue my work in the Ravine on Delmas 31 and with the youth group at Quisqueya Chapel, and in addition, I will be working with Angel Missions Haiti, an organization that obtains medical visas for children with medical conditions that cannot be treated in Haiti. Their office is on Delmas 91 and I will be both living and working there.


My connection to Angel Missions was the USNS Comfort. I met Vanessa Carpenter, the woman who runs Angel Missions while I was working with the Navy and I started doing some minor work with her in the few days I had left before my departure for the US. Now I have the opportunity to continue that work.

My first engagement upon my return to Haiti will be once again with the US Military. The day after my arrival, I will ship out to Jacmel for 3 weeks.




I will be working with US Army medical personnel doing a medical operation in or near Jacmel. At this point, I don't know many of the details, but I know that Vanessa will be with us for the first few days and after that, it will just be me and the Army. I will probably be doing the same work that I did with the Comfort: mainly translation, referral to local resources, unraveling mysteries of Haitian culture, and gathering information for patients who may need medical visas. I'm a bit nervous because I don't know exactly what to expect, but Comfort was such a great experience for me that I am mostly excited about this new venture.



Since I am not living at Faith Hope Love Infant Rescue anymore, I will not be seeing those darling babies or Kervens as frequently as I used to. However, I will still be able to visit them reguarly since my new residence is in Delmas and since my church is just down the street from Dorothy's. I may have to steal Johnny J every now and then...