Hot Pink Glasses

I brought one of our older boys, named Junior, to see the doctor and he brought his scratched pair of glasses with him.  He hoped the doctor could give him medicine for his ailment and give him a new pair of glasses.  Few people wear glasses in Haiti (and many are amazed at how contacts work...I wrote about this in a previous blog) and I didn't know if this doctor had glasses, but we were hopeful.  We visited with the doctor, he prescribed medications, and then Junior asked if the doctor can fix his glasses?  To my surprise, the doctor said we needed to talk to a different man at the clinic named "Big Samiel".  So, we walked to a different room and I asked, "Ki kote, Samiel gwo?" (which means, "Where is big Samiel?").  A man asked me to wait for him.  I told him, "Mwen pa konnen li." (which means "I do not know him.").  The man told me in broken english, "He has big head.".  I said, "OK." and we waited for Big Samiel.  Soon, we saw him walking towards us and he asked us to come in a room that already had about 5 other people in it.  He asked for the Junior's glasses prescription and we didn't have one.  He had never seen an eye doctor.  He was given a pair of glasses to help him read in school and they were perfect for him.  Big Samiel told us he was very busy today helping people, but he could look for a pair of glasses for a little bit.  I thought to myself, that is great news...he can read the lens strength on the glasses frame that we have, and go into an organized storage room to find the exact same prescription.  Instead, he grabbed a huge duffel bag (see photo below), plopped it on the desk, and began digging through it.

Each used pair of glasses was in a plastic baggie with a small piece of paper that had the prescription written or typed on it.  There must of been thousands of glasses in the duffel bags.  I asked if I could help him look and he showed me how to read the paper with the prescription.  We both were digging through the duffel bags while Junior stood close by, peering over our shoulders, in hopes for a new pair of glasses.  Big Samiel found a pair and Junior tried them on.  They were the right prescription, but the wrong style.  This young man wanted something cool and with small frames...possibly rectangular in shape.  So, we kept digging.  I reached to the bottom and pulled out a pair of hot pink, large circle, plastic frames and noticed they were his prescription.  I said, "Gade li!" (which means "Look at these!") and Junior's eyes lit up and he had a huge smile on his face as he said, "Mwen remen anpil!" (which means "I love them so much!").  He is so thankful to have new glasses and especially loves his pink frames!  He is a trendsetter!