I never really though much about dirt-poor Haiti other than to know that my Haitian neighbors are really nice people.
The area in which I live in Florida has one of the highest percentages of Haitian Americans in the United States. Around 20% of the people in my town, and many of my immediate neighbors, are from Haiti. Most are solid, working class people who are doing their very best to move up the social ladder to build better lives for themselves and their children. I sort of take it for granted that my neighbors are exceptionally polite and watch out for the community. Two years ago, I went on vacation once and was away for two weeks and left my front door open by accident. Nothing was taken since our community is so tight.
I heard about the Haitian earthquake last night. It sounded terrible. A 7.0 earthquake is very bad in places that are not built to withstand it; but this earthquake was near the earth's surface, making it far more violent. I did not know how bad the earthquake was, and did not deal with the issue much in my mind until now.
Now we know it is one of the greatest disasters of all time. Here is how bad it is.
-Initial estimates are that 20,000 - over 100,000 people are dead. No one knows.
-the main city of Port-au-Prince is mostly destroyed, a city of over 2 million people. Most of the major buildings have collapsed like the Presidential Palace (their White House) above.
-Thousands of people are trapped in buildings right now, or walking the streets looking for loved ones.
If you wish to make a donation, please watch out for internet scams. They happened after Hurricane Katrina. You want to donate to organizations that have a track record of giving the vast majority of what they collect to the cause in questions.
Here are some reputable groups:
The American Red Cross www.redcross.org.
Catholic Relief Servies https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3181&3181.donation=form1
Operation USA www.opusa.org
Partners In Health https://donate.pih.org/page/contribute/haiti_earthquake?source=earthquake&subsource=homepage.
Direct Relief International http://www.directrelief.org/EmergencyResponse/2010/EarthquakeHaiti.asp
International Medical Corps https://www.imcworldwide.org.
Eddi Haskell, The Zindra Times
Original Post: EDDI HASKELL'S SECOND LIFE: Hatitians are Really Nice People. Let's Try to Help.
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