Back Laura Ramey: Rocking Haiti to a healthy place
July 8th, 2010
In late February, when Laura Ramey and the rest of the Brentwood Baptist team were preparing for a trip to Haiti with Sweet Sleep, Kim Cox, Associate Missions Minister, asked, “What do we want to do for the kids?”
Kim specifically asked Laura, a Brentwood Baptist member and Master of Marriage and Family Therapy, if there was anything therapeutic they could do to help the children who had lived through the tragedy of the earthquake that had just hit Port-au-Prince one month earlier.
“As I was lying in bed one night, I kept thinking what I would want to happen to me if I were that child,” Laura said. “I would want to crawl into my parents lap and be rocked, held, have a place to feel safe. My mind was racing with thoughts about other soothing and comforting techniques that could bring the orphans of Haiti…a sense of peace. I heard God in that moment and I turned to my husband said ‘Rocking chairs—they need rocking chairs!’”
Through her husband’s connection with Cracker Barrel, Laura contacted them and was given two rocking chairs for Haiti. But, then, the difficulties began. How were they supposed get the rocking chairs to Haiti? They’re not easily transported and are well over the luggage weight limit, but they tried anyway.
“I had my moments of thinking this was a terrible idea,” she said. “It was more work that I thought it was going to be. However, after explaining what the rocking chairs were going to be used for, the airline graciously checked them through.”
Once in Haiti, Laura and her team began working with the Orphan Transitional Village in Haiti as part of the Global Orphan Project. The very first day they heard a child continuously crying—the heart wrenching, screaming kind. Laura didn’t know what was going on and couldn’t find anyone to explain it to her.
The next day, she asked one of the orphanage leaders who the child was and if she could see him. She said, “The leader led me to a little boy who hadn’t been talking or interacting with the other children. His name was Wendie (pronounced Win-sie). He didn’t speak. He had no emotion. He was just blank.”
After a little apprehension from the boy and a lot of smiling and reassurance from Laura, Wendie and his brother, Woodie, became comfortable enough to join her in the special room with the rocking chair.
“I began to rock him. I don’t know Creole, so I just kept saying his name over and over again, along with the word ‘jamal,’ which is French for ‘friend,’” she said. “I didn’t do any intense therapy with him. I just rocked him.”
After 30 minutes, Wendie began communicating with Laura and his brother. Eventually, they rejoined the other children where he sang, danced, and interacted with them again. And as the team continued to help in this particular orphanage, Wendie showed his thanks by staying at Laura’s side.
When she returned home, Laura wrote a letter of thanks to Cracker Barrel for their donation and sharing Wendie’s story. After Cracker Barrel received her letter, they sent an e-mail to all their stores relaying the information.
It said: “This incredible story touched all of our heats and we’ve been inspired to share even more with others. Retail Operations has partnered with the Marketing Department for the following addition to the Mother’s Day Rocker Contest…not only will the winning store receive their prize package but will now also receive five rocking chairs to donate to a local charity of their choice.”
Laura’s late night epiphany to taking rocking chairs to Haiti has inspired a national organization to give more. Laura returned again to Haiti in late April, and she and her husband are currently serving there now with Brentwood Baptist.
“We’re going without rocking chairs because of how incredibly difficult it is to get any type of shipment to Haiti,” she said. “We’ll go and teach other comforting techniques for the orphanage leaders to use. However, we continue to hear how rocking children has helped them heal.”
Haiti Update
• Our work in Haiti with Philadelphia Baptist Church in Petit Goave is off to a great start.
• The church has chosen not to reconstruct its own building yet, and instead will focus on rebuilding homes for others.
• This week, a Brentwood Baptist team is finishing construction on rebuilding a second home in Petit Goave.
• Brentwood Baptist’s recent medical team saw more than 540 patients, filled more than 1,300 prescriptions, and witnessed nine people make decisions for Christ.
• From the first team sent to Haiti in February through the last team we’ll send this year in August, more than 40 Brentwood Baptist members will have served on more than half a dozen small teams (small teams are preferable due to housing and transportation challenges).
To find out how you can be on the next team that will serve in Haiti, click here.
To find out more about Laura and her practice, go here.
By Heather Proctor