The Last Kid in Line

They wake up early as the sun rises and somewhere a rooster crows. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. Probably don’t take much time making the bed, after all it’s just a mat or blanket on the dirt floor or cement if they’re lucky. Nothing to eat for breakfast and if it’s Monday have had no food since 3:00 Friday afternoon. Wearing the same clothes as yesterday and all last week, in fact they are the clothes. By now pretty hungry but Mom doesn’t have anything and she may not have eaten since before Friday. Can’t wash their face or brush their teeth, no bath for sure. One thing they have to do today is be at HOPE good and early. No one wants to be the last kid in line!

Being the last kid in line is a life or death event because if the pot is empty and there is no more rice and beans you get to go home and wait another day. That’s why they get there early. Genet, Wilmond and Zacherie will be there with Bible stories, Bible verses, prayers and praise songs to while away the time. You learn a lot about Jesus when you’re the first kid in line.

We return from Haiti with fond memories and good remembrances of our dedicated and hard working staff. We’re not able to pay them much, but for them even a little is a lot compared to everyone else on the hill. We also have some very hardworking volunteers helping the cooks, carrying the water, and guarding the facility when it’s over for the day. Their pay is they get to eat, not much but it’s better than nothing, and we really need them because our staff just couldn’t handle the burden of more and more starving children coming each day. At last count up to 310.

We also return with our hearts in our throats thinking of those who we couldn’t serve that didn’t get anything. We had some hungry young adults try to wiggle in through the gate with their little tin cups. Our staff on whom we depend to make these decisions has ruled the feeding program is only for children and they have a volunteer enforcer at the gate. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it. And it’s not only the feeding program. Our little medical clinic was overwhelmed with a line of people with all kinds of illnesses from scabies, ringworm, ear infections, terrible prostate problems, feminine hygiene problems and even a severe case of shingles. Many came from very far away and stood in line all day, just for a few minutes with Doctor Mom, hoping for just a little relief. At the end of the first day we couldn’t go on and had to tell them to come back tomorrow, and early next morning there they were! At the end of the day after we had run out of most of the medicine we had we simply had to lock the gate and turn them away. What a sad sickening feeling!

It was a wonderful trip, warm good feelings that perhaps we had made a difference in the lives of some poor people in desperate need, but also the empty agony that it just wasn’t enough. There are over 300,000 people in the poverty stricken slum community of Carre Four Feuilles, one half under the age off fourteen.

Why do we go? We can’t not go! We love them and they love us, we feel like they are our children. How do you tell starving sick people I can’t help you today, how can you just go away and turn your back on them when you know you could make a difference?

How do you tell the last kid in line I have no food for you today!!!