Protests in Haiti. What are they all about anyway?

I want to touch briefly on how the most recent protest affected us this month and then give a little background on how things got there...

In prior posts I touched briefly on the complicated emotions involved with Mark going to see the girls for a visit. I was so grateful for he and his mom to go spend time with them...I just ached to be there also. I loved the pictures and videos they sent, but just yearned to be able to interact with them myself. To complicate the emotions I was dealing with...the political situation in Haiti was become dire. And I was really worried.

Before Mark left there was some question about if he and his mom would be able to take the trip. Big protests were planned to start the morning he got to Haiti. It was decided that since they arrived early they should be able to quickly get out of Port au Prince before things heated up. The stress began with a storm that came in...would it delay their flight leaving?...even without a delay would they be able to make their connector with their short 50 minute layover in Florida??...and then we got an email about construction at the FLL airport slowing down connections between flights. If they missed their flight they would have to wait until the next day to fly to Haiti and would the protests be too heated to allow them to fly in? Would a driver be able to pick them up???...so many questions.

It all turned out ok. They made their connecting flight and the driver was there when they arrived! They got out of the airport quickly, but roadblocks were already popping up and they were stopped at a heated roadblock where rocks were placed in front of the vehicle's tires to prevent them from progressing. Their driver was able to negotiate and they let them pass. They stopped at the grocery store to get food for their time in Haiti, but the store was already low on some supplies (out of bread for example), and this was the first day of protests. Luckily we packed some essentials in suitcases (which also both arrived thankfully!) and they were able to get some things from the store.

During their stay there we watched as things spiraled out of control in Haiti. Everything was shut down...public transportation, government offices, schools, government hospitals...access to gasoline was slim (and increasingly controlled by gangs), electricity was spotty (more than usual), roadblocks were inhibiting travel. Food and water were scarce and the already high cost of food that was to be found (due to inflation) was skyrocketing to even more expensive. 

The protesting had turned violent (even deadly) on multiple occasions and there was concern about if they would be able to get Mark and his mom safely back to the airport. They looked into leaving a day early, but the roads/protests were deemed too bad. The morning they were supposed to depart (several hours earlier than planned) they originally told them they couldn't go that day. The driver talked staff into letting him try to get them out. He is very experienced and said that if things looked to bad that he'd just come back.

They hit one particular roadblock on the main road coming down the mountain that was not passable. The driver (Jean Robert...don't know if I'm spelling that correctly) was able to drive off-road up the mountain and back down just 15 feet or so past the roadblock. Protesters tried to stop them, but he was able to negotiate with them and eventually they relented (this is not always the case). When they got down to PaP Mark said it looked like a war-zone. Burning tires, rocks, debris everywhere. They had to quickly find alternate routes to avoid roadblocks and Mark said they were driving at least 80 mph through the streets of PaP to get to the airport. They got there. I tried all sorts of things to get them on an earlier flight to no avail, but they got home safely. Not every American trying to leave the country was that lucky. I know of several that weren't able to get to the airport that day who eventually had to be evacuated out of the country after things got even worse and the US declared a level 4 "no travel" warning - the highest level possible, usually reserved for countries at war. And honestly, that's pretty much what this is for the Haitian people. War against their government. Here is a brief, simplistic summary of why...

It isn't anything new that the government in Haiti has a history of corruption. However Haiti also has a history of rising up and overthrowing their oppressors...they became the first black republic and Haiti was the first ever nation to gain independence through a slave revolt! So, it's part of their heritage to rise up when they need to. Back to current government corruption though...

I'm not good at being concise, but this is my best attempt at a summary on recent Haitian politics!!!...

In 2006 Haiti joined a coalition (alongside other Caribbean nations) called PetroCaribe with Venezuela. In short Venezuela provided oil to Haiti at 60% of the cost with the remainder due in payments over 25 years at 1% interest. The money saved by purchasing at this discounted rate was to be funneled into government programs to strengthen the economy, improve infrastructure, etc. 

Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti (which killed hundreds of thousands of people) the US under Clinton basically muscled in to get the current Haitian president's candidate pushed aside and helped Michel Martelli  into power. From 2011-2016 Martelli's administration corruptly mismanaged, embezzled and misspent most of the PetroCaribe money (and hefty donations on Venezuela's part post-earthquake also). For years Haiti was so decimated that there was no accountability from the government on its financial dealings.

On February 7, 2017 (this date is important) Martelli used his money and influence to get his protégé Jovenel Moïse "elected" (with 20% voter turnout and lots of corruption in the process). This allowed the corruption of PetroCaribe fund to continue and continue to be covered up. However!...now enter Trump administration in the US. They began to slap heavy economic sanctions on Venezuela which made it impossible to continue PetroCaribe and without those funds, Haiti could also no longer afford to make any repayments.

Although the Haitian government had nothing to show for these billions of dollars of aid (due to embezzlement and misspending) they now also no longer had PetroCaribe to rely on and needed to raise gas prices. The Haitian government tried to pull a fast one and announce the huge price change during a world cup game that the whole nation was enraptured with. This backfired royally. Not only was Brazil (the team all of Haiti was rooting for) ousted from the world cup after losing that game, but Haiti found out that their government was planning to raise gas prices so significantly that it would be devastating. Huge riots and protests broke out. These protests became the precursor for the protests/riots that would follow in November and April (both of which we were there for)...

Let me add that around this time the value of the Goude (Haiti's currency) began to diminish and a steady march of inflation took hold. The senate committee completed an investigation of the handlings of PetroCaribe which showed a paper trail ending at several government officials so the people demanded the president to investigate...and he declined. This happened as we were leaving on our 2 week bonding trip to Haiti in November. Protests flared as people demanded the resignation of their president. They no longer could have any faith in him if he wouldn't represent them by holding those accountable who participated in this corruption. The protests (sometimes violent) lasted a couple of weeks and fizzled out as protesters had to be able to go back to providing for themselves...

Now enter February 7, 2019. Inflation is skyrocketing. Gasoline is difficult to come by and electricity is spotty. People are struggling even more than before not being able to buy food, and their president who ran on the platform of food on every Haitian's table has now been linked personally to the years of PetroCaribe corruption. He was the president of a company that was a financial beneficiary of those funds (but never provided services contracted for). Haitians are hungry and tired of being lied to...and they want their president's head. Can you blame them?? So, they chose February 7th...two years to the day from when President Moïse took office, to begin aggressive protests. Of course that is the day Mark was set to arrive in Haiti to visit the girls.

As I mentioned, with good negotiating on their driver's part, they were able to get safely up to the orphanage, but protests continued and spread over the time he was there. As "Operation shut down Haiti" took effect protests became more aggressive and at least 7 lives so far have been lost as things became violent. Most Haitians just hunker down and stay out of the fray, but thousands marched and protested and demonstrated...and they were angry at no response from the president.

The day Mark and his mom were able to leave Haiti the protesters marched on the Presidential Palace. Things were heated and unpredictable. After 8 days of aggressive protesting and silence on the part of the president he finally gave a speech saying that he will not step down. Immediately following his speech the US government raised its travel advisory to level 4 (highest possible level) indicating do not travel, and advised Americans in Haiti to leave the country. The next day C4C evacuated its American staff. US Embassy employees evacuated. I continued to read about Americans who were in Haiti trying to get out on helicopters. One tried to get to the airport for his flight the day Mark left, but was unable to get there. 

As I watched all of this unfold (with nearly zero attention from US media) my heart just broke for all the Haitian people affected by all of this. Comprehensively it's so tragic, but acutely the lack of access to food and water was so difficult to read about. People chasing water trucks with containers to fill. Wondering how long this would go on. I was grateful to learn that an employee at C4C stocked up on food and water for the orphanage out of his own pocket since the banks were closed to withdraw money from the organization's account. Anybody would worry about their children being somewhere in that state of unrest, even in the most ideal of circumstances, when they can't be together with them. That being said, I did recognize that our girls were in far better circumstances that most children in Haiti...they were safe and have food and water.

So, 10 days into the shut down/protesting the Haitian Prime Minister gave a speech outlining 9 changes he plans to oversee in the Haitian government including a list of measures he will oversee including revocation of government employee perks and further investigation. Perhaps party due to his promises and party due to the affects of 10 days of protesting, things lightened up significantly as the general consensus from protesters was to give the government a few days (one source I read said 72 hours) to show that they are going to implement these changes. So far things are looking more promising. Nothing has been fixed, but people are able to move about and get to food and water, return to work and open businesses. We will continue to pray for improvement, but we also need some big changes to happen...otherwise this fire will simply stay stoked and only need to be fanned to break back out into a giant uncontrollable fire again very quickly.

A few friends and family members fasted with us for Haiti last Sunday. We continue to pray. There is nothing that will be a quick fix for the complicated economic situation in Haiti, but we pray that a new trajectory will be set and that things will move generally in the right direction for this beautiful country that is so subject to so many struggles. I am so inspired by the Haitian people's grit, how hard they work, and at their tenacity. My girls should be so proud of the heritage they come from.

Bright spots!

I haven't taken to this blog to dump my emotions over the difficult situation in Haiti that started on February 7th (the day Mark arrived). I will elaborate on that in my next post for documentation sake, but first I want to write about the some beautiful, bright spots!

You know how occasionally in life you make friends that because they love you, they also grow to love your children as an extension of you?...Forget the fact that sometimes that is literally true...the point is that it is so meaningful to have friends that mourn over your child's hurts with you and rejoice in their joys alongside you also. In this case, I'm referring to my dear friend Sarah. Let me give you a little bit of background about our friendship just for fun...

July 3rd of last year (yes I know the date) I was looking at the prayer list on the Adopting from Haiti FB group I'm part of. They keep a running list of families that have been waiting a long time for referrals for those that want to pray for them. Once a family gets a referral they come off the list. So! I was feeling particularly sad and tender about not having our referral yet and wondering when it would come...then I decided to just take a peek at other families that had been waiting a long time like we had. The length of time on this list is determined by the length of time since a family's file entered IBESR (division of the Haitian government that issues adoption referrals). 

I looked at a couple other families that were both Canadian (of course I'm looking for any correlation between waiting families where there is none to find, but I was looking anyway out of curiosity I guess). I continued looking and saw and saw Justin and Sarah Bagley who entered IBESR a couple months before we did. I looked at her FB page (yes, it's a bit stalker-ish) and was floored to see that her most recent post was asking about if anyone had a phone they didn't use that they could use for their son's CGM. What??! There is someone out there who not only understood the heart-wrenching wait involved in adopting from Haiti for so many years, but ALSO had a son (also her youngest child) who has type 1 diabetes?! Not only that, but I had literally just posted the same request a couple weeks earlier because Max ruined his phone when we forgot to take it out of his pouch when we went to the beach on vacation. 

Anyway! I commented on the thread that I hoped they get their referral soon, that we're at the same stage as them and that we also have a child with T1D! She responded tongue in cheek with, "No way!!! Oh my gosh can we be best friends?!" Apparently I took her literally. Haha...we messaged back and forth a bit and then I sent her a private message and we messaged that way for a while, then I said that I'd love to talk to her about adoption and diabetes stuff and would she be willing to download an app called Marco Polo. In hindsight I'm pretty impressed that she was willing to do that!  I just took a screenshot of the beginning of that first conversation over 7 months ago. Here it is...

Sarah sent me her first Marco Polo and we launched into a friendship that neither of us new would become so deep and meaningful. Of course at first we talked primarily about diabetes and adoption, then we shared lots of things about our lives and what we like/don't like. Eventually we shared things that were more personal and began to provide emotional and spiritual support for one another. We just connected on so many levels and still have yet to miss a day Marco Polo-ing one another since we met! It is pretty uncanny how many things we are similar on...right down to sharing the same birthday (a few years apart)!

We have sent some pretty random messages, in some pretty weird places (and with lots of less-than-flattering angles), but with the number of hours that we've logged talking I'm sure we've invested in what would take a "normal" friendship years to accomplish. I absolutely consider her one of my very best friends. We share everything with each other. I even had the opportunity to travel to NYC with a childhood friend of mine to meet Sarah and her daughter for a fun girls weekend!

Sarah and I daydream about what it will be like for her to get her referral. I not-so-secretly pray that it's in God's plan that she could get a referral to the same orphanage as us so we could travel together and hold one another's girls. She celebrated alongside me with us receiving our referral to the twins. I've shared as much as possible about the bonding trip (giving her tips of things to do ahead of time and sharing everything about the journey along the way). I was elated that she didn't push away when I recently doubled down on my urging her to contact Chareyl to ask questions about changing adoption agencies...and I can't tell you how thrilled I was when she knew for herself that was the right  time to make that move for their family. I'm so glad to know that the most knowledgable, experienced person facilitating adoptions in Haiti (Chareyl) is in Sarah's corner now too. I simply can't WAIT to see her experience the joy that I experienced after 6 years of waiting to know who my daughters were!

So! That is a bit of background about the tender connection Sarah and I have when it comes to our friendship, but also our connection to our future children from Haiti. So...when Sarah was shopping sales she found some screaming deals and couldn't help but snatch up some darling clothes for our girls...and she included my favorite maple caramel chocolate bars that she introduced me to (from Vermont where she lives)! This package arrived the day that Mark was traveling back home from his recent visit to see the girls (I'll write a little about that in my next post). It truly was such a bright spot in my day...not only to receive such a fun package and things for our girls, but that I have a friend who is yearning to know her own beautiful Haitian girl and still finds it in her to love on me and our girls. I'm pretty dang lucky.

Now! On to more bright spots! I've shared here the frustrations and hold-ups that we've had with getting provisional approval for our girls' I800 applications. It's been hard to come home and miss them so much and not see any concrete steps moving toward being able to bring them home. There are a lot of steps to get there, but it helps to see baby steps moving that direction and we've been at a stand-still. Well! Today we got their provisional approval in the mail! Woot-woot! I panicked a little bit at first because I thought there was only approval for one twin until I realized the other paper was stuck behind the first one. Now...since US Embassy employees were evacuated from Haiti (I'll get to that in the next post) there is nothing we can do to move on to the next step which is provisional visa approval so we can exit IBESR and move on to courts. For today though, I'll just celebrate the bright spot of our government giving a nod to us bringing these sweet girls home once we can get this adoption finalized!!

Last bright spot! This is why I'm writing these down...so when things are slow and that ache for my girls is deep and painful I can go back and remind myself how blessed I am. And so my girls can read someday all the big and little ways that the hand of the Lord orchestrated all of this. I know that Heavenly Father reaches out to comfort me through other people. I'm so grateful for them and I'm so grateful for Him! One of those people is named Cherry. 

Cherry has a joyful spirit and brightness to her...the name of the sweet (also tart) and cheerful summer fruit is so appropriate for her. She's thoughtful, smart and spunky. She participated in the Haitian Creole class that we recently participated in and she came up to the Haitian Roots fundraiser last fall. I enjoy seeing the things she shares on social media and feel connected to her through her wit.

I was feeling quite sad over the weekend about the state of things in Haiti and got a message from Cherry just letting me know to expect a little something in the mail and that she hoped it would help with morale. At first I was surprised that she knew I was struggling, then I realized that all of us who love Haiti are struggling. Cherry just managed to realize that and act on trying to help someone else...are we seeing a pattern here? I continue to be blessed with people in my life who, while struggling through their own journey during this adoption process look for ways to lift and bless others who are struggling alongside them. What a beautiful example...and truly what a bright spot for me.

Here is a picture of the coloring book Cherry sent to me. She said that she finishes a page each month and has found it to be therapeutic for her. I'll give it a try!! Underneath it is our I800 approval!

I'm so grateful for these bright spots in this long journey. Grateful for people I can link arms with, even if it be from across the country through Marco Polo, on social media, or through items sent/received in the mail. Grateful for the little network I am building and connecting myself with now that will be wonderful to watch grow as children join their families and we can continue to support one another with new struggles when the REAL journey begins!

In his arms and in His hands

The only real news since I blogged yesterday is that Mark made it to the airport safely (with some crafty work-around of roadblocks by our skilled driver) and they left Haiti. Mixed emotions of gratitude and sadness there.

I got a whole bunch of wonderful pictures that Mark took yesterday though. He and his mom were able to attend the local church run by c4c with the girls...and I sent dresses for the girls to be in their Sunday best of course. I wish I could show you all those photos complete with personality on display, but for now this picture will have to suffice...

I was staring at this picture smiling and then started to feel sad that the girls aren't in their papa's arms anymore...and then I realized that while Mark isn't there to hold them, I need to remember that they are in His hands. And they always have been. He has watched over them through all the trauma, loss and struggle they have faced in their short two years...and has seen them through it all. He has guided their lives to meet ours and brought us together. These girls are strong and resilient and I know that they will continue to be under His watchful eye until they can also be under ours. And I will continue to hold on to the gratitude for all that He has done for them and for us...but I still do miss those sweet and spunky little girls.

Scrambled emotions

The last four days have been a tornado of emotions for me. Worry. Elation. Sentiment. Frustration. Longing. Giddyness. Adoration. Appreciation. Sadness.

Yep. Throw those all in the frying pan and eat them for breakfast piping hot.

Mark left with his mom on Wednesday night to go visit our girls. The worry started early with protests and blockades being a concern for a big, scheduled protest the day they arrived. Luckily their red-eye flight arrived early so they got out of Port au Prince early before things got too heated. They did hit one road block where they put rocks under the tires, but the driver was experienced and knew how to negotiate and they let them through.

My first sight of the girls in over 10 weeks was on a Marco Polo at the orphanage. The girls were in pajamas and sitting on a couch eating a snack with Mark and Mary. My heart sang. Soon after that we did a FaceTime call...first of several attempts to record these electronic interactions. They were usually pixelated, broken connectivity, and frustrating. It was exciting to have brief moments of interaction, but they ended up leaving me feeling really sad about the inability to just be able to interact with our little girls when I had the opportunity.

Mark was so good about taking lots of pictures and videos though, so I absolutely loved being able to look at those and live vicariously through his and his mom's interactions with the girls. I was really happy to see the girls with their daddy and getting to know one of the Grandmas though! That was really sweet. You can tell they already feel connected to their Granmè.

It was fun to see Il interact so easily with Mark (since I wasn't there for her to show favoritism to) and to watch El open up a bit more with her expressing herself.

They were both significantly more verbal and they loved times that we would use a bit of Haitian Creole when we spoke to them. I loved watching the way they enjoyed Mary signing to them (I'll have to try more of that), and it was so fun to hear about El being so squealing and giddy about one of her outfits (that's usually Il's role)...right to the point of strutting around to each member of the staff at the orphanage to elicit compliments. Funny girl. El also had a scab on her forehead from hitting her head, poor thing.

They each still chose the same color of sunglasses and nail polish though...El pink and Il blue.

And the first thing they asked for as soon as they walked into the guest house was where the baby dolls were! Mark asked Alison to get them out of storage for them to play with at the guest house while they were there, which was really nice because they really (I mean REALLY) love those baby dolls.

Mark wasn't able to follow up on some lab work with the doctor since the clinic was closed the whole time they were there due to the protests. He was able to deliver a package from another family with kids at the crèche, facilitate a FaceTime call for sisters there who are coming home soon, and take pictures for each of the families that have children there at the crèche.

The girls really do feel most comfortable on their turf at the orphanage, especially in their room. They love their nannies and nurse and are very outgoing and confident when they are in their element.

They still didn't seem to understand or be upset by the concept of goodbye, but that didn't mean it wasn't hard for the rest of us...even me here in another country. I will miss my daily updates, photos and videos. In the meantime I will continue praying for them, praying that their paperwork picks up speed (since it's been stuck in the same place for 12+ weeks now), and praying for the country of Haiti with her heartache and turmoil that is peaking again right now.

Now to get my husband and MIL home safely tomorrow...

Where the other part of my heart lives

C4C recently posted this picture on social media and it made me so happy to see this vantage point of this little corner of the world that holds such a huge part of my heart, so I had to download it and document it here!

The yellow building is the guesthouse (where we sleep when we go there), the blue building is the medical clinic on the main level and houses the women's empowerment center - their sewing center and jewelry making supplies. Across the street where you see that green gate is the white building where our sweet girls live. That is the orphanage. That is their world right now. They rarely leave that white building, but if they do it is almost surely to go to the yellow or blue building.

It is such a surreal feeling to look at this picture and remember being just there. To look at the window in the orphanage that we held the girls and looked out together. To see the green gate we walked through dozens of times together...and to imagine the flood of mixed emotions there will be when we walk out that gate with them to bring them home with us.

I miss them so, so very much.

Mèsi to Gloria!...not so much to USCIS yet.

So it's been almost 4 weeks since I posted last. I certainly thought that by now we would have received our I800 approval and probably would have already had the girls' visa appointment complete in Haiti.

Nope.

I restrained myself on more than one occasion from writing either a crying with frustration or fuming with anger post at how long this is taking our government to process this. I began calling to follow up...the first time I called I was basically told that they had no information, after that I began insisting to talk to the officer in charge of our case. The first time I spoke to her she told me that she hadn't had time to look at our file yet. Say whaaaaat? She promised to look at it first thing the next week. I called twice the following week. Nope. And another promise to finish looking at it soon.

Finally I talked to her today and she told me that she was ready to approve their files, but that now our fingerprints were about to expire. I asked myself how we didn't catch that and realized that is because when we originally filed this THREE months ago (this should just take a couple of weeks) we had plenty of time to take care of that, and then that fell off our radar.

Anyway, she apologized about not getting back to me sooner since they'd been having bad weather (????) and said that she sent in a fingerprint refresh for us. At least she didn't just submit a request for us to do that through the mail, however once she gets that back she said she'll approve the files but still has to send them to her supervisor for review. I'm just so frustrated that our government is the side holding things up. I know this won't be the last time we are drumming our fingers at hold-ups and waits during this adoption, but I am anxious to at least get this step done and get that visa appointment done! Pretty soon we'll be headed into Carnival and that will come with its own delays...let's just get this ball rolling! I want my little girls home!!!

Now that I have that off my chest...

Last weekend we were able to attend a Haitian Creole boot camp put on by Gloria, who is Haitian and is an amazing teacher! It was such a neat experience to come together with other people who love Haiti and who are either adopting, facilitating adoptions & running schools there (Chareyl), married to a Haitian & operating a non-profit there (Sharla)...and to have Noah and Lincoln there learning with us too!

The class was Friday night and all day Saturday. It was a great base to starting to learn the language and I feel like I can attack the online course that we have now. I can't wait to go to Haiti and use the language to communicate with our girls and other kids at the orphanage! AND! Mark leaves tonight for his visit with them!!!! If everything goes smoothly with his connection then Mark and his mom will arrive in Haiti tomorrow morning. Praying that is the case, it's a short connection and we're having crummy weather here right now too.

I am especially on edge for Mark to meet with the clinic doctor tomorrow to go over some medical information on one of our girls. That will bring me a lot of peace of mind that everything is being done for her that can be. I am also especially anxious to FaceTime with those two sweet girls!! Mark and I spent quite a while trying a few different things to record FaceTime calls or use an app that's new to us called Zoom. Anyway, we ran into a lot of problems, but think we got it all figured out. I really want to be able to record this calls so I can watch and re-watch them during this long and difficult wait, but also so the girls can see them someday. I am soooo excited to see their sweet faces! I hope they remember me.