I wanted to end the week on a hopeful note, but I also had to say something about Haiti where hope is hard to find.
Some progress is being being made, but so much remains to be done.
About 185,000 tarpaulins or tents have been handed out, according to U.N. figures released last week, enough to provide shelter to only about 40% of the people in need. The relief effort is lagging even further in the increasingly frantic push to dig a sufficient number of latrines or install portable toilets in the hundreds of camps.
The unsanitary conditions, experts fear, could lead to an explosion of disease when the rains arrive.
And the old and the poor are suffering so much.
Residents are bathed outdoors with a bucket and try to cover their nakedness. They spend the long, hot afternoons in hospital beds lined up side by side, six to a tent, fanning themselves with pieces of cardboard. They beg for water to drink.
It's hard for me to grasp that kind of suffering. But the look in the eyes of Sébastien who just came back from Haiti, tells me all I need to know.
And of course this doesn't help.
So this is how I cheered him up today. By telling him about some Canadians who are trying to make sure that the world doesn't forget.
And by playing their song over and over again...
When I get older I will be stronger.
From Canada to Haiti with love and HOPE.
Have a great weekend everyone...
I found this kind of horrifying Simon; I’m not sure that this meets the expectations of Canadians when what was announced was “matching funds”. What this program actually does is for every dollar you give to an eligible NGO for emergency relief in Haiti immediately after the quake, it will give a dollar to a different NGO for a different purpose at a different time in the same country. Not a lot about this matches. It’s entirely appropriate for the CIDA behemoth to be more involved in slow, deliberate reconstruction than more fleet-footed organizations like DART, but don’t call it what it’s not.
ReplyDeleteRightly or wrongly, when someone donates $100 to MSF for emergency relief, their expectation is that MSF will get to spend $200 for emergency relief immediately, not that the $100 will eventually go to World Vision for a longer-term reconstruction project.
http://glenpearson.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/false-alarm/
They lied to us. Shame.
hi Toe...yeah I know what you mean. I didn't elaborate on that because I'm still fixated on short term relief. But I am concerned that the Cons will favour faith based groups over others, so they can stuff food and religion down the throats of the poor Haitians.
ReplyDeleteWhich BTW is what I think they are planning to propose at the G8 summit. I am also very disappointed that we are pulling our forces out of Haiti before the people in our designated area have proper housing.
When it comes to a tragedy like this one I wish I could be totally non partisan. But knowing the Harper Cons I just can't do that...