Excerpts from Molly's blog

Molly Mackenzie Hightower graduated from the University of Portland last year. Unlike many of her peers who chose to pursue a career post graduation, Hightower flew out to Haiti in June for a year of volunteering with Friends of the Orphans, which operates Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos/Nos Petit Freres et Soeurs (NPH/NPFS, Spanish and French for "Our Little Brothers and Sisters") in Haiti.

On the day of the earthquake she was trapped on the fifth floor of the building where she lived. Searchers found her body in the wreckage Friday.

Throughout her months in Haiti, Hightower shared her experiences working in the hospital, and taking care of children in a local orphanage. Her writings detail caring for an abandoned child, playing with some of the special needs children and providing physical therapy for some of the abandoned infants.

Below we have provided excerpts from her blog to give you an idea of her volunteer work as well as a better perspective on the country of Haiti.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Molly meets some of the children living in the special needs house.

There about 30 people living there- not kids necessarily. Innocent, one of the oldest residents, is about 28 years old. He immediately grabbed my hand and took me to meet everyone, and would not let me go willingly for the rest of the day. Innocent has cerebral palsy which has at least partially paralyzed one side of his body. He tries to speak, but is impossible to understand. At fist I thought he was just speaking creole quickly and stuttering, but then was told that no one can understand him. He kept kissing my cheek, and if he couldn't reach, would kiss my hand over and over until I said "mesi, mesi!" (thank you, thank you) and took it away.

Innocent took me to the play ground area where I met several more of the special needs children. One of my favorite little buddies was Olsen, who is confined to a wheel chair and blind, but starts to laugh uncontrollably when you sing to him. I sat down and about 5 little girls from other dormitories came over and started to talk to me in French. They discovered my camera and took literally 200 pictures of each other before it died and I had to put it away. Roselene is a 12 year old girl who stayed by my side the entire day, and asked me a million questions. When others asked the same ones, she would answer for me, and remembered everything right down to my parent's names. Continue reading

Friday, July 10, 2009

I've been working a lot with certain children in their physical therapy sessions, taking them into separate rooms and working on their extension and muscle control in their hands.

Jerry is my favorite little guy, who was born with a brain tumor and had some brain damage from it. He is 4 years old, and can walk if he is holding on to something, so I walked with him in his walker and played catch with him and some other children. They are all so happy, but many of them are extremely stubborn and would rather play then concentrate on their therapy!

The kids from the school are still on their summer vacation, but the summer program starts on Monday and that's when I'll start with them in the pool. On Saturday, some of the kids from Kenscoff are coming down to swim and we're bringing a few of the babies over from hospital to see how they do in the water. Continue reading

Monday, November 16 2009

Of course, there's always sadness to focus on if you choose to. You'll look down and see the burns someone put on Yvonne's legs, maybe in an attempt to burn the seizures she often has out of her. Clotaire will get to excited from singing to us and have an epileptic fit. And then Watner, who was found burning in a pile of garbage as an infant, wanders over from the kindergarten looking for a treat. He only has half his fingers and scalp.

But then, Fabien comes in and trips all over herself to run and give you a hug, and Inderra makes eye contact with you from across the room and starts to laugh uncontrollably. You gotta focus on the good.

That's the new[s] from Haiti. Miss you all. Continue reading.

Half-way point

I just got back from home last week, and had an awesome time aux etats unis. My parents met me at the airport with Diet Dr Pepper and Taco Bell around midnight on Tuesday. I spent Friday in Naselle with the fam, Saturday in Tacoma at the wedding, Monday taking the stupid GRE and Tuesday in Portland with friends. I ate at 10 different fastfood places and drank copius amounts of grande peppermint mocha frappachinos. For Christmas, I then received a frappachino maker which I sadly had to pack away. It was 90 degrees when I left Port au Prince and 14 degrees when I arrived in Seattle...

Its very weird to think that my trip is more than half over at this point. Since school started up in September, it really has flown by. I have a ticket back to Seattle on June 8th, so really, I'm only here for 5 more months and some odd days. My frappachino maker is waiting for me. Continue reading.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

We had a very difficult situation on the 28th. Father Rick received a call from the American Embassy that a boy had been abandoned there by his mother and they needed a place for him for a day or 2. He was in the states with his family, and called and asked me to handle it. Renand drove me to the Embassy, where we picked up Jacques Christo and took him to the hospital. He's 7 years old, and very, very smart. He calmly told me his mother left him and wouldn't be coming back, and that he thinks his dad is in Miami. Jacques was born in Brooklyn, so he's an American citizen, but neither of his parents are. He speaks English and Creole fluently. He was born with a cleft palette and has already had several surgeries, but needs another soon. Maybe his mother didn't receive a visa to go to the US with him for the surgery, or maybe she couldn't afford to send him on her own. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt- but what kind of mother just leaves her child, especially when he's old enough to know he's being left?

We spent the evening eating M&Ms and Doritos in the guest house, and then I put him to bed. At first he was having a good time, but after awhile he realized he wasn't going home and was upset and scared. He kept asking if he could call his mother and ask her to come back. I spend almost everyday with the abandoned babies in the hospital, and it's difficult to comprehend why and who would ever give them up. I've never encountered an abandoned child who is so aware of his situation, or one who feels the pain so freshly. It broke my heart. Continue reading.

mollyinhaiti.blogspot.com