Help for Haiti

4 Comments

The world’s focus is on one nation suffering from a serious blow from Mother Nature – Haiti in the aftermath of the killer earthquake. As a recent witness to the great floods that Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng brought to the Philippines, and the killer quake that claimed the lives of many of my countrymen back in July 1990, I feel for the people of Haiti.

Rather than focus on what a tragedy this has all been, I prefer to recognize the resilience of the Haitians. It was reported by CNN’s Anderson Cooper how the people gathered together in the streets to chant and sing praises as a thanksgiving for those who have been saved. It is also heartwarming to see the outpouring of aid that they are receiving from all over the world. I have no doubt that Filipinos are among those sending in their donations. It’s time give back. After all, our International neighbors sent in their donations too when we were in need.

There are Pinoys in the ranks of the UN Peacekeeping Forces in Haiti. Four of them were trapped in the building where the UN offices were located. One has already been rescued, while there’s a lot of hope that the remaining three will be found alive too. There are almost 500 hundred others in the Filipino community in Haiti and the Philippine government is having a hard time getting in touch with everyone and getting them all accounted for. Communications have been disrupted since the earthquake.

The Philippines has also sent a 21-man medical corps to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts. This isn’t the first time the our government has done this. Small though as our aid seems, I think it’s a grand gesture coming from a people who have been a recipient of such aid so many times over.

So please do consider ways you can send help. I’ll be going to the websites of various reliable aid agencies. Maybe sometime later I can come back and post then here too…