During my stay in Haiti, I stayed in Barbara's home. It is also called "the village". The compound has about 12 small houses that are colorfully painted. I stayed in the upstairs studio (see photo of the two-story building).I was so glad that Barbara welcomed me to stay with her in the village. Everybody was so nice. I was impressed how well the children were behaved and how they shared.
As mentioned, I stayed in the upstairs studio apartment. It has the only real toilet and has a sink, but no running water. It also has a two-burner propane gas stove, kitchen table, three beds, etc. I was quite comfortable during my stay. Tamarah stayed with me of course. I was happy to have a little bit of alone time with her when we finally got to the village.
Keep in mind that this was Saturday evening. I had been "on the road" for about 24 hours since I left California. Three plane rides later, the emotional experience of holding my daughter for the first time, coupled with the emotional experience of seeing Tony's dying children...I was plain exhausted. I had such a headache!
Tamarah was still very quiet with me. I was starting to worry about her because she was so quiet. Johny had brought a playpen with him from the U.S. so I had something for Tamarah to sleep in. I really did not want her to sleep with me in a twin sized bed. I am a wild sleeper and chances are that I would have booted her out of bed during the night. The floor in the studio is tile, so that would not have been a pleasant experience.
I fed Tamarah, changed her, checked her out! 10 toes, 10 finger, all limbs accounted for. I felt like a mother who had just given birth to an almost one-year-old. I had brought some fat Avent bottles with me. (I would recommend that because they are easy to clean, especially when you don't have running water and have to use bucket water.) The bottle that she had, had a huge nipple hole! Poor Tamarah was gagging when I was trying to feed her with that bottle. So, first thing, after changing her diaper and washing her was to feed her with one of the bottles that I had brought.
One thing that I learned was that the big hole nipples are used for mixing baby cereal with rice and feeding from the bottle. Tamarah was not willing or interested in feeding from a spoon, so the big holed nipple got good use while I was in Haiti.
It was so nice to hold Tamarah and to cuddle with her. She stared to warm up to me and liked being talked to and held. She started "talking" back to me and if I had to get something and put her in the playpen, she would cry in protest. Or she would cry if she did not see me.
I had brought some toys for her to play with and she liked the plastic rings that I brought and the little animals that made noise.
After spending an hour or so alone with Tamarah, Barbara and Mirland came upstairs to see if I wanted to join them in a game of Yatzee. Even though I had a huge headache, I did not feel that it was polite to turn them down. They play all 10 games simultaneously, so a game takes a while. Even though my headache was so bad that I could not add the numbers correctly, I won! That was the first and the last time that I won though...beginners luck.
Tamarah fell asleep at around 7 p.m. seemingly content, belly full and diaper changed. She was okay with us being in the room throwing the dice. The noise did not bother her at all. Best of all, she sleeps through the night. I felt so much better the next day!
