The biggest earthquake to hit Port-au-Prince, the capital of the poorest country in the western hemisphere. A country, filled with depression, devastation, hunger, sadness, hopelessness, was struck by a natural disaster. A country with little to hold on to was shaken, shaken to the point that homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses collapsed and crumbled before the eyes of the Haitians. Many lost the only place they knew to call home. The small, one-room huts where they sleep, eat, escape from the evils of the oustide are flattened. There is nowhere to go, nowhere to stay. It is heartbreaking. Wails and cries fill the air. The effects are worse than a hurricane. Riots, hurricanes, and earthquakes have struck the helpless country of Haiti, but this could be the worse the it has seen.
Four children, under the age of eight, have lost all they have. They have never had much. I have never even seen a mother that looks after them. The small girl, a feeble grin painted across her face when I wave to her, hugs an infant in her arms. No more than a few feet tall, the little girl struggles to keep the baby lifted for her arms are bony twigs with little, if any, strength. The infant has no clothes on, like most babies in Haiti, and the boys sit atop the wall, waving to me as I sit on the porch. Their bleached white teeth beam in the sunlight because they know that someone cares about them, someone loves them. They don't get gifts from their parents at Christmas. No birthday presents either. But today, they lost their home. The wall that guarded and surrounded the shack they lived in fell to the ground. The wall that offered protection is gone. I thank God they are safe. Those precious children have nothing to call their own but each other. They will get through this. They are going to make it. The damage will most likely not be able to be fixed considering the condition the country is in. But I will continue to hope and to pray for a better tomorrow and a better future for the country of Haiti.
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