Bless these people for sharing with my family when they have so little and need so much. Crystal said the meal she made tonight was well received from the big crowd who shares her table these days. Some sort of sausage potato bake. With a lovely juice to wash it down!
Well let me offer up one little bright spot: She to have a good cry when she came home from work today. After about a 13 hour day she found that her maid had been in, cleaned her whole house and (from somewhere?) brought in REAL VEGETABLES and put them in her fridge! Her maid, who lives on the streets with about 14 family members was worried about our girl!
I hope this is not too depressing for everyone, but everyone wants to know how she is and how it's going and I still have only one answer: She is so tired and her work right now is very demoralizing because there is a bit of "Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians" and with all the "bosses" almost zero organization.
The need is great and the help is slow. I told her to hang on baby,"The cavalry is coming!". I read her all the notes from facebook, etc. of all who has sent so far and she wiped more tears. It means everything to her that while her precious offerings may not amount to more than a drop in the ocean (in her eyes) th...at if we help her she might actually make a splash (she feels the need is so great).
They have stripped every blanket they could our of their house (except for the ones their new house mates are using), given away food, clothes, shoe, medical supplies. A store finally opened.... and as you can guess they went shopping through the poorly stocked shelves...for others! All the stuff they bought, they ...took to work the next day and it was gone before noon.
She said that many of the Haitians have expressed to her that they wish they also would have died because life is so hard for them. The tremors continue and even the people whose houses stood are afraid to go back because of instability", I just listened and cried too, and comforted the best I could.
She had a good long cry and poured out her little heart. "There is just so much sadness Mom", she repeated this several times. "So many people have lost everything, and I don't just mean stuff, but many or all of their friends, many or all of their family, and every inch of their security and peace of mind.
I spent a good long time on the phone with my girl this evening. In case any of you were wondering why there are no pictures here it is. Her heart is just too broken and tender and she just can't bring herself to take pictures of this.Crystal did hear that about 12 children from Rosa Mina have been sent to America, but that still leaves as many behind because their numbers are growing as there are so many more orphans now.
This made me cry, but both she and Dom went through their closet (again!!!) and each pulled out two garbage bags full of clothes and took them to the lady who is a kind of manager of some of the workers. Crystal and Dom said they knew they were just one size each but maybe their contribution could help a little. She said the woman laid everything out in a cubicle and has been quietly pulling some workers aside one by one sending them out with a little bag of items.
Got to talk to Dom and Crystal last night. They are thankful to be on similar schedules again. Poor Dom was working double shifts from Afternoon till morning and Crystal was working from early morning till late evening so they were not getting to see each other at all! Dom is now working 12 hour days and that’s about what Crystal was working already so they were much happier last night.
Crystal went to Syracuse to get her masters in photography. The last time I saw her was when Stacy and I went to New York City in 2006.
1 comment:
Thanks Julia for posting. It made me cry. I knew there was a Crystal from McMurry there. Brandie Brown has mentioned it. Thanks for posting her picture. I remember exactly who she was. What an incredible lady!
Post a Comment