We Can Build An Orphanage

Very, very sad news……….last Sunday June 13th 2010 our little Idoris has passed away, at 10.20 AM.

Idoris was our little boy who, even though he just had turned 3 last May 17th 2010, looked like a 6 months old baby, because he was severely handicapped.

On May 17th 2007 Idoris was left at the doorsteps of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in DesChapelles in the north of Haiti. According to the doctor who examined him at that time he was a day old, and at that time it was not apparent something was wrong with Idoris.

The last 2 years Idoris has been in our care. He came to us through a physiotherapist friend of ours, Chery Kay who was working at that hospital at the time and took notice of Idoris. She told us he was laying in a little crib, appeared to be blind, deaf and paralyzed, was only given milk through a tube straight into his stomach 3 times a day.

No-one seemed to have the time to hold him, rock him, give him love and affection. It was a very sad existence for Idoris. Chery then asked us of we could please take him, and of course he was welcome with us.

From the moment Idoris came to live with us we started to try to find out what was wrong with him, in hope for a cure. After many tests, a head-scan, MRI and an examination by an American neuro-surgeon it turned out that Idoris had microcephalie. This is a condition in which the head does not grow along with the speed the body grows, and in his case it was even worse, he also had liquid in his head, so not enough space for any brain tissue to develop. So Idoris had no brain tissue, just the brain stem.

Nothing could be done for him, no medication, no operation,  nothing could cure him. The surgeon told me that the only thing I could do for Idoris was to keep him as comfortable as possible, that that way he could still live for many years to come, but he also told me to prepare myself for the fact that Idoris could die at any given moment just like that.

It is still a mystery to me how this sweet little life was able to function, breathe etc the way he did without any brain tissue. Every few seconds Idoris suffered a little seizure, by some doctors explained as a spasm, which made his little head shake.

He always had trouble breathing, more than once did we rush him to the hospital in the middle of the night, or at 6 Am one time, because he was not breathing anymore, had a high temperature of  103 F and his eyes had turned away in his head, showing us only the white.

2 of those 3 times it was “false” alarm, the moment the doctor in charge at the emergency room came to look at him he turned “normal” again, his temperature had dropped and his eyes were back to normal. One other time we had to admit him to the hospital and he spend 10 days on oxygen and a drip.

When Idoris was hungry or in pain, had problems again with his digestion and needed a suppository to be able to go to the bathroom he was able to cry to let us know about it, but in all those 2 years I have never seen him smile or laugh.

I find it very intriguing that one can cry, because you are hungry or in pain, even without brain tissue, but that happiness, joy does not have a clear form of expression in that stage of awareness. But I am sure that even though we never heard or saw Idoris smile or laugh, he did have the best life possible for him with us, and that he did experience some form of happiness or contentment, at least I really wish that for him.

I have always felt that somehow he was aware of it, every time I held him, touched him, fed him etc. His eyes would always roll around more than usual at those moments, as if he was searching to see me.

He received so much love, attention, affection etc the last 2 years with us, I hope that that made up some for his first year in this life that he passed quite miserable and lonely. Since the last year Idoris was able to eat more substantial food, like baby food. It could take him almost a full hour, but with a lot of love and patience from us feeding him he did manage to eat 2 cans of baby-food a day.

The week before he died Idoris had us worry a lot again. He was having a mild temperature, and so as usual we did all the obvious tests for him, like typhoid, malaria etc, you do in the tropics when someone has a persistent temperature.  It turned out that he had malaria. And even though his temperature that week had never surpassed 101 F, in fact his temperature 1 hour before he died was 98 F, and since friday he was on anti-malaria medication, most likely the malaria was too much to handle for him.

Last Thursday June 17th we buried Idoris on our new land. Between 4 and 5 PM that afternoon all our friends and staff came to say goodbye to Idoris. For 1 hour our staff sang and prayed for him in the front-yard of the old damaged orphanage, where we held our wake for him. After that we took him to his final resting place with a few close friends.

In Haiti you are allowed to bury your loved ones on your own land, and in Haitian tradition we had build him a “kav” a tomb which is above ground, see pictures below.

According to Haitian beliefs the first person buried on a piece of land, automatically become the “Baron” of that land. Which means, that that person becomes the protector of the land and all who live on that land………….who is us in the near future.

So from now on it is Baron Idoris.

Baron Idoris was very dear to me, I was totally in love with this little boy, he was so cute and adorable, and very special in his own way. A little miracle that he was able to live this long, without brain tissue, blind and deaf, his little body totally stiff.

We really miss him a lot, but at the same time we also do feel at peace with it and glad for him that he has some rest now, and does not need to struggle so much anymore for every next breath.

ADIEU BARON IDORIS

Please be aware there are pictures of Idoris’ body at his wake in this gallery