Hearts with Haiti

The Belinda Project

On Thursday, September 15, 2011, the St. Joseph Family was saddened by the loss of Belinda.  Her pure joy and larger-than-life smile will no longer grace our daily lives; but we take comfort in the knowledge that she is now smiling down on us from heaven, free from the pain and disabilities that she had here on earth and that she is rejoicing in the loving embrace of God.
 
Belinda joined the Wings of Hope family in November 2007. While she did not have a birth certificate, we believe she was between one and two years old when she came to Wings. She was taken to the Baptist Mission Hospital by her family in hopes that the doctors there could do something for her. Among her disabilities were cerebral palsy, eating disorders and a failure to thrive, which at that time had left her close to death due to malnutrition. The staff at the Baptist Mission Hospital referred the family to another hospital in Port-au-Prince, but as they were writing up the referral notice the family left the hospital and abandoned little Belinda. The staff at the Baptist Mission Hospital, which was next door to Wings of Hope, asked the leadership of Wings to give Belinda a home.
 
Belinda was severely malnourished, dehydrated and very sick when she arrived at Wings of Hope. When she came, the caregivers did not expect her to live, but with their love and unending dedication they nursed her back to health. Belinda's form of cerebral palsy prevented her from developing normally physically, she was always very weak and had trouble moving and controlling her limbs and different parts of her body. She had trouble eating and maintaining a healthy weight. While she grew longer over the years, her weight did not increase much, leading to other problems.
 
Despite her physical obstacles, Belinda was a very bright little girl with a huge personality. She had the biggest, brightest smile in the world and used it and fluttering her deep, dark eyes and long eyelashes to charm everyone who came near her. One look at Belinda and people would melt and fight for the chance to hold her. She was absolutely beautiful, inside and out.
 
Belinda was very observant and was aware of what was going on around her and loved to be involved in all the activities at Wings of Hope. Belinda loved to be held and would cry until she received the attention she thought she deserved. Most of the pictures we have of Belinda she is cradled in someone's arms, whether it be a visitor or a staff member, that is where she wanted to be.
 
When Belinda first came to Wings of Hope, the guests ate in the children's dining room downstairs at the old facility. The dining room was right next door to the girls' bedroom. Every time the guests were down there for an evening meal, and Belinda could hear them speaking English, she began to scream. The guests would get concerned, but KC and I would tell them that she was fine. Eventually someone would give in and ask if they could go check on her. KC and I would look at each other, laugh, and say, "Well, that's what she wants." Then the guest would come back into the dining room carrying a smiling, laughing Belinda, who did get exactly what she wanted.
 
Belinda and Clemene, one of the Wings of Hope caregivers had a special bond. It was Clemene who was primarily responsible for nursing Belinda back to life when she first came to Wings of Hope. Clemene felt something in Belinda's spirit and was not going to allow that precious soul to slip away without feeling the love and compassion that exists at Wings of Hope. Ever since then, Clemene, who is like a mother to all the children at Wings of Hope, was always seen by everyone in a special way as Belinda's mother.
 
Over the past six months or so, Belinda had really struggled with her health. It became increasingly hard to feed her and get her the nourishment she needed. The staff at Wings tried everything they could think of and everything recommended by visiting doctors and nurses to try and get her to gain weight and regain her health. She received special meals and high calorie and high protein foods, but she could not maintain a healthy weight. Consequently her overall health and happiness ebbed and flowed. She would go from eating well and being the happy little girl everyone knew and loved to being non-responsive and very sick. The caregivers and the nurses at Wings of Hope put a lot of effort and care into trying to help Belinda get better and be comfortable.
 
In the last week Belinda's health worsened, with her crying through the night and becoming unresponsive. After she received some IV fluids she brightened up and began to eat and drink, but the next morning was sick again. After this cycle repeated itself for two days, the Wings of Hope leadership decided she needed to see a doctor and Clemene and Mis Durrand, the Wings of Hope nurse, went off with Belinda to try and find help.
 
As sad as we are to have lost Belinda, the injustice of what happened during her last hours of life make us very angry and frustrated and even more sad for all of the other children in Haiti with disabilities and they way they are treated.
 
Clemene and Mis Durrand spent all Thursday trying to find someone who would help Belinda. They rushed her down the mountain on the back of a motorcycle taxi to Port-au-Prince to a hospital. They were turned away by the first hospital they went to, and three other hospitals who refused to not only treat her, but who wouldn't even look at her after they saw she was a child with a disability. At the first hospital the nurses wouldn't even look at her and ignored the request of Clemene and Mis Durrand to call a doctor. At the next hospital, only one person was allowed to enter, so Clemene stayed outside while Mis Durrand went in to talk to the medical staff. They refused to see Belinda and said that they did not treat people with disabilities. By the time they got to the third hospital, Clemene and Mis Durrand thought they might get more attention if the staff thought Belinda was Clemene's daughter, and not just a child they found on the street, so that is how they presented her. They did see a doctor at that hospital, but only so he could tell them "This isn't what we do, these aren't the people we see." Then he told them to go to another hospital, one "where they take in the handicapped." They felt that hospital was too far away, so they went to children's hospital in Port-au-Prince who we have a relationship with and who has referred children to Wings of Hope in the past. Despite our relationship with this hospital and their specialty in caring for children, they weren't any more responsive in the pleas of Clemene and Mis Durrand for help. The receptionist there would not allow Belinda to be seen. By this time Clemene had enough and started getting angry. A nurse was called, but still Belinda was ignored. Not knowing what to do next they sat down in the courtyard of the hospital and it was there that Belinda, cradled in Clemene's loving arms, passed away. They sat there for more than an hour waiting for a driver to come pick them up and in all that time not one employee of the hospital approached them offering help.
 
Belinda survived six hours of heat and travel and was rejected by four hospitals before passing away. Clemene and Mis Durrand fought to get her care, only to be ignored and humiliated. At the end of the journey, Belinda was loved and cared for only by her family, the Wings of Hope family, who brought her home, bathed her, clothed her and put her in a grave, all the while singing and praying for her and her journey home to God.
 
We will never know if Belinda could have been saved that day had she received attention, compassion and care at any one of those four hospitals. But what we do know is that she did not deserve to die the way she did and the people who loved her did not deserve to be treated the way they did just because they cared for her and wanted someone to help her.
 
We know that now Belinda is a very special angel in heaven who will protect her brothers and sisters at Wings of Hope, and all disabled children in Haiti, to help them know the love she experienced during her time at Wings of Hope; and to help them know that no matter what their challenges that they are loved and valued.
 
I would always say Belinda's name in a sing-song way that made her immediately turn her head towards me and give me a huge smile. I will never forget that smile or the happiness it brought to my heart. Before I left Haiti for a trip to the states a couple of weeks before she died, I went to say good-bye to the Wings kids. Belinda was laying in her bed. She hadn't been well, so I wanted to be sure she knew I was leaving and that I loved her. I said her name and got the trademark Belinda smile. I kissed her on the forehead and said good-bye. I didn't know it would be the last time I saw that smile or that the good-bye would be forever, but I am so thankful to have that memory.
 
Thank you for caring for and loving Belinda, for seeing who she was as a person and not just her disabilities. Your lives are richer for that and you gave Belinda the greatest gift of all, a life of love and acceptance.
 
Attached is Belinda's memorial photo page. More photos can be seen on the SJF Facebook page at the link:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150371492066967.399275.98387511966&l=1028c5a6aa

Click here to see how you can help.