
An hour later I look over the crowd again and it looks like there are no less people waiting. I am drenched from my own sweat, tired and realize that the smell
coming from me is probably why the gnats won’t leave me alone. And I’m in the shade. My heart goes out to these people. They have next to nothing, but keep pushing forward. Every day is a struggle to find work, to find food, to find water, to survive.

Our treat for a hard day’s work is seeing the kids at the orphanage. They are AMAZING. So full of love and happiness. Wanting your attention, they cannot get enough. It is a surreal picture. Like seeing a rose growing in a pile of garbage. Despite so many things going against them, they laugh, they play, they smile. I see my special boy, Jerry. During the July trip, he ran to the van only to not find me and starting crying. This trip, he did not come to the van when we pulled up. He did not want to have to go through that disappointment again. When I found him, for a few minutes, I hugged him hard and he hugged me back.
Our bond grows stronger and so does my commitment to the people suffering in Haiti. I have to go back. There are people who need me and the care I can provide. And to be the kind of person I want to be, to fulfill the blessing of my own good fortune, I need them. I am going back in November.
Robert J. Ferreira, MD
Co-Founder, People For Haiti