Haiti
A year ago, something unexpected happened. My brother, who lived in Port-au-Prince with his family and still lives there, wrote about it here. I wrote about the same events from my perspective here.
For several months afterwards, I tried with all the energy I had to persuade people in Istanbul to take what steps human beings can take to prevent this city from suffering similar devastation. I don't know if I convinced a single person here even to take even the smallest measure. Eventually, I gave up.
I've been asked for my thoughts about Haiti on the anniversary of the quake. I'm not there. I read the same things in the news as everyone else.
Some weeks after it happened, my brother sent me an e-mail from Port-au-Prince. He mentioned these lines. In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
I'm grateful that my family is alive. It does not always seem to be true about wisdom.
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Jul '10
Re: Haiti
Wow, I am amazed they allocated funds for the purpose. Obviously, the usual suspects profited handsomely. Check into the DC public school system next. I haven't taken an interest in a while, but at one point the practice of allocating massive amounts of money year after year to repair the same conditions over and over was used to funnel dinosaur dollars to favored contractors.
You did have a friendly building inspector check out your new apartment building, right?
May '10
Re: Haiti
Claire,
My heart is broken again upon thinking about the tragedy and re-reading the accounts that you and your brother had written at the time. I have read other moving accounts that portray the tragedy from an "on the ground" personal perspective. Does your brother write or blog publically about the current situation in Haiti? Do you know of any other good sources of information about life in Haiti today?
While I don't usually have time to respond to very much on Ricochet, I appreciate your writing and your numerous attempts to bring attention to events that I should care about or be aware of outside of my all-too-often narrow view of the world. Thank you.