Haiti orphans

Haiti orphans

January 23, 2010

Don’t worry, I’m still working on the recap of my 2009 daddy blog posts, as I promised you. I’ll publish it as soon as I finish the necessary revisions to my blog, as described in my previous post. But I felt inspired to write this tonight.

Before reading any further, I hope you will watch this 2-minute YouTube video entitled Rescuing Haiti’s Orphans …

 

Until today, I’ve simply been catching headlines about the 2010 Haiti earthquake disaster.

I’m a glass-half-full type of person — a perpetual optimist — so I try to avoid reading and watching BAD news whenever possible.

 After sitting in disbelief while watching countless hours of news coverage of the September 11th attacks, I found it hard to focus on later disasters. I guess after a while you get numb to shockingly bad news. You get desensitized. Plus, the media puts a microscope over every disaster and horrible occurrance. But there is also so much good … so many positives … so much to be happy about in the world that I try to concentrate on the silver linings.

But today — for better or worse – I decided to sit down and watch CNN for a while. Immediately, my senses were bombarded by images, video and detailed descriptions of the horror that is life in Haiti right now.

Once in a while, the anchors sprinkled in a POSITIVE story about a family who was able to reconnect with a survivor who had gone missing or the man who was rescued today after almost 12 days under the rubble. (According to a friend of mine who is a news producer at a TV station, this is done so that you don’t get too depressed by all the bad news and change the channel.)

In case you missed that POSITIVE story that broke today, here is an ABC video (again via YouTube) entitled Man Found Alive After Days Trapped In Quake Rubble:

 

But mostly it was bad news followed by more bad news. Backlogs in getting supplies out of the Haitian airport. People whose homes fell apart due to the lack of Haitian building codes in some places and lack of enforcement of those codes in others. You get the picture.

I felt sorry for the people there, but it wasn’t until I saw the story about Haiti’s kids that the full impact of this disaster hit me. I watched a CNN report that showed a nurse who said she was overwhelmed by the struggles in caring for the injured Haitian children. She detailed some of the problems, many of which involved trying to treat the kids with medical equipment designed for adults. She talked about…

• Non-sterile conditions (leading many children to get infections, as if their injuries weren’t bad enough already)
• Pain medications that are not strong enough
• Needles that are too long
• Oxygen masks that are too big

And the list went on. The cameraman rudely kept the camera on the nurse when she stepped outside to cry (reportedly, she refuses to cry in front of the children … something which can’t be easy and for which I applaud her). When she regained her composure and returned to the reporter, she made a statement that struck me as most profound:

It’s like the children are forgotten.

Five days ago, Secretary Napolitano recentlly announced a U.S. Humanitarian Parole policy for certain Haitian orphans.

Many of these injured kids were orphaned prior to the earthquake. Many others were orphaned by it. Most have no one they know anywhere in sight. No parents. No teachers. No friends. Just exhausted and frustrated doctors, nurses and military personnel trying to do their very best to help where possible. To make a small impact here and there. To be good people. To show compassion and empathy. To love.

 

The CNN news segment ended with an image of a wounded little girl … about my daughter’s age … sitting on a table with a Barbie Doll in her hands. Actually, the doll was still in the manufacturer’s plastic box.

No one had helped her open the packaging that encases toys here. I assume it was donated by someone in America and given to her by an aid worker. But she just held that box and looked around the room as if in a daze. Like she didn’t even know she had the toy in her arms. She glanced at the television camera … and looked at me. I turned off the TV.

I sat here in the quiet living room, thinking about how much I love my wife and daughter. How glad I am that they are safe. How blessed we are to be together. Today.

Take a minute and think about the people you care most about. When was the last time you told them how much you care about them? When was the last time you said “I love you?” Life is short. Let them know how important they are to you. Don’t assume they know. Tell them.

Maybe you have donated money. Maybe you haven’t. It’s not my place to judge. But if nothing else, I hope you will say a few prayers for the helpless children over there. They are scared and alone. Right now, I think your prayers will go further than your dollars.

 

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