The Impossible Dream??

When I traveled to Jacmel, Haiti in January it was for the purpose of being the "house grandmother" to 11 children while my daughter and her husband were out of the country. That was a very rewarding, exciting and empowering time. Stretching and growing far beyond my imagination. A short year ago I thought I had reached my limit of courage when I traveled to Haiti...alone! But now...well here I was going far beyond my obviously limited imagination..in Haiti without the cushion or comfort of my safety net. (Nick and Gwenn) Ok..so it really wasn't scary..it was great. Riding on a moto..taking language lessons..playing with and doctoring boo-boos for 11 children. It is fun to reach high and then find you can go higher still. And that is really what I want to blog about..reaching and allowing yourself to imagine that you can actually go to places tha tyou thought were beyond your reach. That same week I worked with my students making sea glass necklaces. I spent some one on one time with each of them to get to know them and to hear about their stories and dreams. All but one of the eight students is deaf. Being deaf in the US is hard. Being deaf in Haiti is far harder. Deaf are often shunned by society. Most are unable to communicate eailsley with family. Education is limited at best. Work is largely unavailable. At first it seemed hard to even communicate clearly my question. "What are your dreams for the future?" "If there were no limits what would you like to do?" At first the responses were shy. "I would like a cleaning job." Any job in Haiti is a good job and I encouraged this young woman in that. Most of the answers were similar. Good and noble goals but not limitless dreams. As the week progressed I began to witness a stirring..an awakening of sorts. And then the damn broke wide open. " I want to drive a car! I want to own my own car!" (My daughter seems to be the only woman in Haiti who drives so this coming from a deaf woman is a huge goal!) The others followed. "I want to own a house. No, two houses. One for me and one for my grandmother!" This from a young girl who was orphaned at an early age who was raised by her grandmother. Then there was " I want to work in a restaurant. No!! I want to own a restaurant." The dreams evolved with excitement. Finally, an my personal favorite " I want to be a teacher. I want to open a trade school for the deaf so I can help them to get work." The day before I left PP came to me to tell me that my deaf friends have a plan to meet once a week. First they will make sea glass necklaces and then they will take time each week to talk about their dreams. And to find ways to make these dreams a reality. As the roof came off the dreams had room to grow and now I find myself with bigger dreams and I am excited that God is making Jacmel Bay a reality for me. This that will move my dreams from my heart to my head and then to the sky.