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Remembering Haiti -- Three Years Later
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My son told me he was going to the airport tonight to pick up his friend's dad. The dad is returning from an annual mission trip to Haiti.
It was 3 years ago, on January 12, 2010, that Haiti suffered a magnitude 7.0 earthquake.
316,000 lost their lives in that earthquake.
Even though the Haiti earthquake no longer appears in the newspapers, the situation has not changed much.
I was reading an article this morning that actually brought tears to my eyes. It was quite revealing as the writer spoke of the ongoing atrocities that appear to have been forgotten about--along with the many victims living in the southern portion of Haiti.
Pictures of overcrowded camps showing families with children living in squalor as the cholera epidemic continues to plague them brings sadness to my heart.
I'm sure they'd love to leave, but where would they go?
No jobs, no money. Sound familiar?
Hope for help doesn't come and International aid falls far short.
It appears the promise of "build back better" meant using aid money to build 5-star hotels for “rich foreigners” and tourists.
[link to www.clintonbushhaitifund.org]
It has been said the Haitians are a resilient people - they know adversity as well anyone.
But after 3 years of living in those camps, I can't imagine the level of frustration many are feeling.
Once again, I was brought to a place of contemplation in my own life where I look at my surroundings and realize how much I DO have compared to others--and to others, it might appear I do not have much.
And I ask myself: "What have I done to help the less fortunate?" and I see what I was able to do, and I didn't.
But it's never too late to start, right?
I may not be able to physically go over there, but I know of others that do and I can send help through them.
And always pray.
Famines, disease, poverty--these will never go away but we can still pray for safety, protection, restoration, renewed hope and help for these struggling families in Haiti..........and in the rest of the world.
It doesn't hurt and I'm sure it's greatly appreciated.
Here is the link for the article I mentioned above, along with a little snip:
Sometimes you can’t help but be sickened by the behavior of certain international organizations helping Haiti recover from the devastating January 2010 earthquake—hit, that is, by a wave of real physical nausea. The other day, I spent an afternoon in the displaced persons camp across from the ruins of St. Anne’s church in downtown Port-au-Prince.
The place was awful, as awful as you can imagine squalid emergency living quarters might be—homes consisting of tent, tarp, tin, sheets, plywood, some cardboard—after three years of dust, dirt, sewage, torrential storms and, to top it off, Hurricane Sandy, which killed at least fifty-four people in Haiti.
Across the street from the camp, where an estimated 600 families are living, Chérestal Jean-Fougère, a camp leader, showed me the portable toilets that had been brought in by relief agencies in the first days after the earthquake. For months, a cleaning company contracted by international relief organizations and consisting of men in rubber regalia came regularly to wash out these toilets with high-powered hoses connected to special pump trucks.
I remember watching them back then and wondering how long this miracle could last. Now I have my answer: for the past six months at least, Jean-Fougère said, no one has come to clean. The contract for the job has run out.
Read more:
[link to www.thenation.com]
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