Monday, January 25, 2010

Sending the Love to Haiti

Happy Monday!


I had the craziest working weekends and so I'm sorry for the lack of posts. Nothing too much to report, except Olympic stuff which I'll talk about another time. I really feel like I need to talk about the devastation that has hit one of the poorest countries on the planet.

I knew that it happened, and I knew it was bad, really, really bad. Yet, somehow I still didn't completely "feel" the pain, the sorrow, and the hopelessness of the people. That is until yesterday. I don't have cable TV so a lot of what I have seen and heard was through brief news articles here and there. So, I came home last night after a long day and I opened my inbox and clicked on the an email from the Huffington Post who is hosting the journal of Dr. Mark Hyman. He is in Haiti providing medical aid, along with his wife Pier who is an orthopedic surgeon. I read his post and totally lost it, tears were just pouring down. Not only was it heart wrenching to hear his stories about the suffering of the Haitians, but it killed me to feel his own helplessness. He is a trained medical doctor and he has to pick and choose who he can treat as supplies have not arrived. It was so personal and it felt like I physically absorbed his words and they settled heavily on my heart. I became angry that they cannot get a bottle of water or a piece of bread and yet here in North America businesses and people alike throw away perfectly good food. I quickly realized being angry would not help anyone and I had to DO something. So, today I made a donation via CBC's website. In Canada, the government is going to match donations up to $50 million which is pretty cool.


There is a special place in my heart for those who are living in poverty and have little hope. I have vowed to myself to visit as many of these countries as I can once I'm an ND and to try to make a difference in some small way.

I live a privileged life, and most people in North America can say the same. The hardest decision I have to make some days is whether to have one piece of chocolate or two. I truly feel humbled by Mark Hyman and the people of Haiti . I pray that all the donations and volunteers can help re-build the crumbled nation and the spirit of the Haitian people.


If you can donate anything to help those in Haiti, please do. Coffee shops here in Nelson are donating tips and earnings. So, check out your local business to see if they are collecting donations or supplies. Below I've listed some charities if you don't know where to donate online and some other cool ways to get Haiti some help.


Red Cross







Click to Help Haiti via Care2 - FREE, simply click on the button and the Sponsors do the rest!
Provides funds to OXFAM.

World Water Relief- Clean water is so scarce. They will use the funds to install water filtration systems.



The little baby below was delivered by a Red Cross volunteer. Unfortunately, her mother passed away.





Please send out lots of prayers and positive thoughts to those in Haiti!




2 comments:

Nikki said...

It really is heartbreaking. I'm a nurse and two of the orthopedic surgeons from the O.R. where I work are leaving for Haiti on Thursday. My friend who is also a nurse is going with them. I'm so glad they're going to help. We've been saving up supplies to send with them because they know that once they get there they will most likely have nothing to use except what they bring. Thank you for posting about this. Every little action to help really adds up :).

Melissa said...

Hey Nikki!

That's really awesome that you have people from your hospital going to Haiti and you guys are taking supplies! I've heard that is really what they need there. The world is really coming together for this poor nation.