A Day in the Life of Kurt and Laura

You probably spend most of your day thinking about what Kurt and Laura are doing. Well, here is a glimpse of our daily lives at Children of the Promise.

Laura takes charge of her day starting at 7 am with ARV meds for the HIV+ kids, then gives out meds to all the other kids. Giving meds can take upwards of 35 to 45 minutes depending on how many fires she has to put out in the process. Kurt gets up in the mean time and usually takes care of the baby that was in our room through the night. If we don't have a baby he goes to the office and prepares for play therapy. Before that he eats jelly toast so he can make it to breakfast, thanks for the jelly mom.

From 8 to 9 there is usually down time for Laura to grab a cup o' joe and plan her day. During this time Kurt has made a trip out to the yard guys to engage in conversation about what they will be doing that day. Two days a week Kurt makes juice with a special reverse osmosis system donated to us by a company in Oregon. The system takes any polluted water and creates a juice with a similar taste and substance to Gatorade. This juice is given to the older children at snack time.

9 am is prayer time in the baby house. The nannies sing worship songs and read Bible verses and one of them usually preaches a short message. Laura uses this time to sit with a baby on her lap and try to comprehend at least a little bit of the rapid flow of Creole.

After prayer, breakfast is served. Laura's favorite day is Tuesday spaghetti day while Kurt enjoys French Toast Fridays.

At 10 am, Kurt begins the walk over to grab his first kid for play therapy. The kids have caught on to why he comes over in the morning and a chorus of "me, me, me" partnered with a couple kids running and attaching to his legs. After prying the kids off his legs he takes one to the playroom that is littered with toys. The child plays for about 30 to 45 minutes while Kurt assesses their interactions and tendencies. Kurt usually does 2 sessions between 10 and 12.

During this time, Laura's activities vary. Often, people come from outside the gate with a sick child, or machete wound, so this can keep her occupied for different lengths of time. If there are sick babies, she will take care of them or delegate to other willing volunteers:) She also tries to stay on top of charting in each child's medical file. Tuesday is weigh day, once a month for all 53 kids, but once a week for about 25 of the babies and smaller children. This can go fairly quickly with other volunteers helping and catching the kids right after lunch and bath time.

2 pm brings lunch, which usually alternates between typical Haitian cuisine (rice, beans, chicken, pate) and more American style meals (tortillas, lasagna, casseroles). Many volunteers take this time to drink their Coke for the day, which comes in large 1/2 liter glass bottles. Yes, Laura drinks regular Coke every day. Apparently they don't have diet Coke here.

Recently, Kurt has been working on the starting of the prenatal program. This includes organizing employment for the teachers, researching vitamin options, and building benches for the women to sit on. The start date for this project is September 30 and will be once a week after that.

In the afternoons, Laura does what she didn't get finished earlier and tries to take a walk around 5pm. These walks rotate in pace between speed walks to the pye bwa (big tree at the end of the road) or slow walks with a baby in her sling.

Every other day, Laura draws up all the medications for the next 2 days, which includes a lot of iron and vitamins that like to spill on her clothes and leave nice stains. Sometimes she can convince others to help her so it goes faster, but it usually takes about an hour to get everything in order.

At 6:30pm, Laura gives a tube feeding to one of the special needs kids who has a G-tube. He eats normally during the day, but benefits from the extra calories at night.

7pm is a busy time for most (not Kurt). Laura goes and gives ARVs again and all the rest of the meds. Other volunteers brush teeth, turn on the kid's movies, and give the nannies the supplies they need for the night. Kurt usually plays Dad and watches the babies in the volunteer house. This includes managing the diapers and feedings. Laura goes to each room in the baby house and checks on the kids, making sure everyone is doing okay. This takes roughly 45 minutes, depending on how many nannies ask for ti cados (small gifts) for their headaches, tummy aches, toothaches, and back aches. Tylenol and Tums solve most problems.

When everyone finishes their night-time duties, we sit down and discuss what we're going to make. We have a cook for breakfast and lunch, but we're on our own in the evening. Sometimes, one of the volunteers will make something yummy, but most nights some form of pasta is eaten (mac & cheese, ramen, spaghetti).

Wednesday night is Bible Study, which Kurt has been leading. Friday night rotates between game night and movie night (this week was Teen Wolf). But most nights, we're usually tired and ready to call it a night, that we'll go to our room and read or watch a couple episodes of 30 rock or Heroes on our computer.

Most nights we have a baby sleeping in our room, which can determine how much sleep we'll get for the night.

This is a rough estimation of a common day here, but many times other things come up such as trips to town (Cap Haitien) or to the hospital in Milot or to the airport to pick people up. Weeks seem to fly by here and so much can happen in one day.

We are both loving our roles here and our time spent with the kids. We feel blessed to be here and appreciate all the prayers and support we continue to receive.