Into the Embassy
Today we felt like there was actually some progress made toward getting Julie home! Melinda, the Orphanage director was at the airport at 6 A.M. but didn’t get a flight til 10. She arrived in Haiti about 1:30 our time and had told Jason yesterday that he should try calling her after she had been in Haiti about 2 hours. So after trying MANY times we got a hold of her. She was at the Embassy but the security guard wouldn’t let her in because she didn’t have an appointment. She asked us to try to get a hold of someone to call the Embassy and tell them she was outside with all the necessary paperwork and would the please let her in or at least help her make an appointment. So we called our Senator’s aide and she put us on hold while she called the State Department which I believe is in Washington, D.C. There ended up being some back and forth calling but in the end we were told that Melinda had been allowed into the Embassy. We gave her a couple hours then called back (I don’t think it would work for her to call us as phone service is not the best over there yet). This time I got her right away and she said she had left all the paperwork there for processing. I asked if she was just going to wait for them to call her when it was ready and she said she would give them a few hours and if they hadn’t called her she would be back there. She is not one to sit around and wait for things to happen. I asked her if she was discouraged and she said, “Oh, no!” She also said once the papers are processed, her understanding is that they will then go to the Prime Minister for a signature which would then allow them to issue travel documents for them to fly home. She is just working with 3 children right now, one of which is our dear Julie. We have no earthly idea when children will again be flying out of Haiti. Melinda didn’t think any had left since Monday. So I guess I will have another day of cleaning up the house, washing clothes and being ready to leave at a moments notice. The sooner the better as far as we are concerned!
-Jason and Sheri