We all read and hear of disasters though there hasn't been anything as devastating as the earthquake in Haiti in our time. I think it is easy to become numb to devastation and statements like "300,000 to 500,000 people died in the earthquake in Haiti". The fact that I could skim over statements like that and read the rest of the paper broke my heart. When you break it down into amounts you can visualize it's not so easy to pass over. There are about 68,000 people living in my town, if you go with the smallest number of deaths, that's about 4 1/2 times the people living here. For every person I see, there would be almost 4 other people who would be dead too. Kind of heard to swallow.
What my friend Stacy is writing about are the people who survived and are now living in what's left. This is what is changing my heart. There are very few jobs, their translators earn $10 dollars a day when they have work. One of them supports his parents and 8 siblings with his $10 a day when he can get work. Work that he has to walk up to 2 hours a day to have, 2 hours each way, in 100+ degree weather. Now whenever I spend money, I break it down into how many days it would take them to earn that. He would have to work 3 days to buy these diapers, 1 day to pay for my library fine, 1 and 1/2 days to pay for this book. Makes it all look different.
Please read Stacy's blog, really read it. Join me in thinking and praying about what you can do. Let the reality of what is happening to these people sink in.
3 comments:
Audra, you know, I started writing for 2 reasons - therapy to process it, and to tell my boys in Haiti how God had used them to change my life. They always laugh and say "no!" when I tell them that they have changed me, not the other way around. And then when I tell them God is using them to change the lives of people in Arkansas, they are in total disbelief. They read their stories and as one of them told me on day through tears, "Stace, you reminded me who I am today, and I really needed that."
Audra, so, so true. And humbling. Thanks, Stacy, for putting into words the Haiti you've come to love.
As you have said, it is far too easy to ignore the reality of what conditions many people have to live in. Not only are we truly blessed, but we have been blessed so that we can turn around and bless others who need it - we are to be funnels, if you will. Too many people become jars instead of funnels. It is so touching to read about those, like Stacy, who are funnelling God's love to those in desperate need!
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