Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Haiti Earthquake: 1 year later

Credits: Xanthos/News


Yes, this is Haiti one year later. This photograph is 1 of 50 from a great photo essay filed by reporter Christina Boyle and photographer Julia Xanthos for the New York Daily News to mark the anniversary of this tragedy. As if dealing with still crumbling infrastructure wasn't enough (only 5% of the rubble has been cleared in the past year), Haitians have also had to deal with a cholera outbreak which, per the report, has claimed 3,700 lives since October.

Yet life goes on, children somehow find joy even in hardship, and hope persists.
Credits: Xanthos/News


As new tragedies replace old ones in the news, it's so easy to let oneself move on and forget those that still need our help. Yet I take heart that there are many that haven't forgotten, such as Kimmaire Hammond, a nurse practitioner working at Mount Sinai Medical Center in NY, who takes vacation time at work and pays for the flight herself to offer her assistance at an outpatient clinic in Haiti.

If we all resolve to do something...no matter how small...going forward, then Haiti will be that much closer to one day being whole again.