Haiti, How are you not in the headlines?

Author and speaker Francis Frangipane shared from his heart regarding Haiti recently and we could not have said it better ourselves. So here are his words:

“I think most of us do not grasp the degree of suffering and devastation that has hit Haiti. We think because the front-page news about Haiti has diminished that Haiti’s need has also diminished, but it has not. The urgency of people being buried alive has been replaced with the urgency of a million and a half people without homes or shelter.

To put this disaster into perspective, recall the terrifying Sumatran tsunami that killed 230,000 people in December 2004. Eighteen nations were affected. In contrast, the Haitian earthquake killed approximately the same number of people as the Asian tsunami, but the death toll was focused primarily in one city in the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere! Nearly everyone in Port-au-Prince has lost a family member, friends or neighbors. Many have lost several loved ones. Approximately one-fourth of the city died. The collective burden upon the Haitian people is without parallel.”

Let Haiti be close to our hearts today.
Let us realize the impact that we have on those around us.
We have the potential to cause good or to bring harm, there is no neutral ground.
Let us shake off apathy and do something to change this world.

Consider this your call to action.

An arial view of the UN headquarters in Haiti shows the devastation caused by an earthquake measuring 7 plus on the Richter scale rocked Port au Prince Haiti.

Haitian Red Cross volunteer Ralph Toussaint with Kengo J. at Camp Simon, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photos: Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross (p-HTI0544)