I'm listening to President Obama talk about the incomprehensible 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. I'm glad that he has dedicated the full support of the United States to a people who are, as he just said, "no stranger to hardship."
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (Nicaragua and Haiti flip back and forth in the unfortunate top spot). 80% of the country lives in poverty and most Haitians live on less than $2 a day. 66% work in small scale subsistence farming and the government is always listed as one of the most corrupt.
President Obama suggested going to the White House website which I did. Here is the link to donate to Haiti but the server is extremely busy and I found it hard to get onto the site.
They provided an even easier solution: You can donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting "HAITI" to "90999."
I did it. So should you. It goes to the Red Cross Int'l Response Fund. You have the option of getting additional alerts on Haiti via text as well.
In a precarious world where madmen fly planes into buildings and people shoot up college campuses the saddest of all disasters are those that don't even require an action by a human being. They are unexplainable, frustrating and they stretch our belief in a loving God.
We all want a God who saves us from disaster. But God doesn't save us and when we go looking for our savior we find Him hanging on a cross. Indeed the wood of the manger has become the wood of the cross today and we find the sufferings of Christ united with the people of Haiti and with our own sadness for the lives that have been lost. Our God is the God who suffers with us, who intimately knows our pain and more importantly, our death.
Our prayers go especially to children who have lost their parents today and for all of the Haitian people. I found this video on You Tube from a mission trip to Haiti. The pictures are of Haiti BEFORE the earthquake. This gives you an idea of the devistating poverty that people experience in Haiti.
1 comment:
It is so tragic! Really awful. I have a link in my St. Edward's blog post to a small charity that is run by a priest and a man in Western Massachusetts. They do amazing work in Haiti, very moving. In any event, I am on Mike's sidebar if someone wants to go that route.
We all must pray and do what we can. I recently opined when we had a parish visit from Food for the Poor, during the height of some of the H1N1-mania fears taht we have the luxury of handwashing and Purell. There are Haitians living in garbage dumps, fighting with each other and with animals over rotted food.
Think on that for a minute... and this was *before* this tragedy!
God help Haiti, please.
(I am writing from work under a different ID than uusual.)
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