One of the very great pleasures of my job is watching moms interact with their little ones. From the new moms cradling brand new lives to the more experienced moms wrangling multiple children while waiting in line to be seen, I love seeing how these women love their children.
As far as I can tell, mothering is hard, no matter where you live. Including Haiti. Day after day I meet women who became moms, often before they planned to or were ready, doing everything they can for their babies. There was the woman who became a mom at 19, teaching her two year old French, an early way to get a step up in this country. There was the mama of rambunctious twins, exhausted by 8 am and wrestling one child off the clinic shelves while explaining about the other child's illness. All the activity did not stop her from demanding detailed answers about what was going on with her daughter, and why. Then there was the mom who, while waiting in line with her child, assisted one of our students with his little brother who was boiling hot with fever and crying from the pain in his feet (thank you chikungunya). Day after day I hear women in line, talking to each other about their children, what foods to feed them and how to care for them.
These days I have women who come in and lecture me about why it is important to breastfeed their babies exclusively for the first six months of life, or how they are helping their children heal from infections. I delight in the creative ways these moms find to get their children the things they need to be healthy. Day after day I get to celebrate with women as I affirm the choices they are making for their babies. Here's to you mamas!
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