What we did all day: Part 1

Can you endure another sad story?

Mma (madame) Claudine, my new Haitian friend, is a lady of great dignity and grace. She came to the clinic a few months ago with her daughter, who was pregnant. Her son had killed himself and, as a result, her husband abandoned the family. She was forced to move in with a male relative in order to provide for her family. The relative raped her oldest daughter and she became pregnant. The two left the relative's home and had nowhere to go. She begged Sarah to help her and Sarah, in her compassion, found them a place to live and allowed them to come to the clinic each day to eat. The house is really a tiny room with no space for the other children, so another teenage daughter remains at risk in the home of the relative. Claudine makes herself useful around the place, gardening and tidying and helping every time she sees a need. I love that she doesn't expect a handout, but is willing to work. 

Sarah has also taught Claudine to give a chair massage, so sometimes at lunchtime the volunteers and midwives will sit for a massage and pay her. 

 Dolly and I spent some time in the mornings working on sewing projects.
Well, Dolly worked the treadle machine, because this handy seamstress just could not get the hang of it, and I measured and cut. We made baby slings and cut post-partum pads from the left-over fabric..

The slings were in high demand with the new moms and we didn't always have enough to go around.

This young lady sat and watched us for a few hours and Dolly handed her a sling as she finished it. She was so enthralled that she wore it all day and she hasn't even had her baby yet!

Isn't she beautiful?

One morning, the machine was vacant for a few minutes and when I turned back to it, Mma Claudine was gesturing to me as if she wanted to sew. I smiled and gestured for her to go ahead.

From then on, this sweet lady was the new seamstress.

And that, my friends, was what we did in the mornings.

Well, some of them.