I took some photos of my June trip to Haiti, but I have been so busy that I have not had the chance to upload them onto the computer. Thus, here are some more photos from my April trip.Tamarah is 18 months old now! I have to get the newer photos because her face is slimmer now and she is losing her "baby look".
Teddy (7) and Joshua (15) are going with me on my next trip. We will be staying for three weeks. This will be Teddy's second trip. She loved her first trip. Haiti reminds her of West Africa where Teddy was born and where I adopted her from.
I love this little photo of Tamarah. She is walking much better now. When I was in Haiti in June, when she saw me as I arrived, she yelled, "Momma!" and literally jumped out of the nanny's arms. Talk about a 'tear jerker'! :-)
Back to Teddy... Teddy really has a love for babies. When we were in Haiti over Easter, she just loved helping care for the babies. She made a lot of friends with other little girls her age.
Emmanuel, Teddy's full bio brother, who is 6 wanted to go also, but I could not afford it. I keep telling him, "Next time." --- I feel bad about leaving Emmanuel behind when I go to Haiti.
Joshua is 15, he is as tall as me, 5'11" and this will be his first trip to a Third World Country. He has been to Germany, England, France, etc. but never to an impoverished country, aside from Mexico. He is excited about teaching the kids.
Here is another photo of Teddy feeding Erna Marie when she was about six weeks old.
I bet you are reading this entry and you are wondering? What about the passport and Ministry of Interior Issue?
Well, it is getting resolved. The MOI is actually working on files. To my knowledge a stack of files was moved from MOI to Immigration on Monday (July 2nd). Tamarah's file was not one of them, even though I had been promised that it would be. So much for promises.... :-)
I have to say that the Haitian Government Officials that I have had contact with , in person and/or via email and telephone have been really nice and polite. There is a genuine feeling of wanting to help the situation, that is clear every time there is a conversation exchanged. However, the system is not efficient. Bureaucracy is bureaucracy. Government Employees have the same reputation all over the world, no matter what country your are in, the U.S., Canada, Germany... Haiti.
My general opinion is that the passport issue and MOI hold ups will get resolved within the next couple of months. According to the Haitian Ambassador to the United States, Raymond A. Joseph, the MOI step was included because there was talk of "child trafficking" --- mind you, that should be IBESR's responsibility, right? Well, we cannot tell another country how to run their affairs. However, it would be encouraging news if one ministry communicated with the other ministry, instead of repeating the same steps over and over again. Some streamlining of the process would be great.
It is so hard to not be able to take home your child, especially when the adoption was final in March 2007. I have her I-600 approved, she already has an approved Orphan Investigation by the U.S. Embassy... and we are still waiting for a passport. The irony of it all is that as soon as her feet touch U.S. soil, Tamarah will be a U.S. citizen. Sometimes, I feel like screaming!!!!
It has been over four months now, waiting for her passport approval from MOI. She is even on my U.S. health insurance because as soon as her adoption was finalized, I was able to add her.
I know that there are about 350 other parents in the same frustrating MOI phase. Hopefully it will be resolved soon and when it is time for Erna Marie's file to go through that MOI stage, it will be smooth sailing. .... Hey, I heard that comment!.... Be positive! :-)
