by Aly
Am I overly affected by the tragedy in Haiti? I feel affected, and more so than during other natural disasters. I think perhaps because the people of Haiti were suffering even before the earthquake. I try to imagine how difficult it would be to create some sort of order out of the chaos that began with chaos. Those people were not prepared in the least to deal with this. No food storage, no modern amenities, no infrastructure, no government emergency plans, no National Guard to fly them to safety. My parents have a friend who in 1989 founded Helping Hands for Haiti, Dr. Jeff Randal. He is returning from Haiti right now. My dad sent me the link to his personal blog wherein he chronicles his experiences in providing medical care to the Haitian people.
He says this of Haiti, "Why did I come to Haiti? I knew it was going to be heart wrenching. In the best of times Haiti can be completely exasperating. You plan things, review the plan, make contingencies and when you step off the plane the “reality of Haiti” throws an ape sized wrench right into the middle of your well laid plans. You can only imagine how much worse a natural catastrophe has made it."
He says this of Haiti, "Why did I come to Haiti? I knew it was going to be heart wrenching. In the best of times Haiti can be completely exasperating. You plan things, review the plan, make contingencies and when you step off the plane the “reality of Haiti” throws an ape sized wrench right into the middle of your well laid plans. You can only imagine how much worse a natural catastrophe has made it."
There are so many amazing stories on his blog. The most recent is about his companion, a medical student, who received a message from his wife to go to a certain orphanage and get their daughter. “'Go and find our daughter' were his instructions and she gave him a description of what she’d look like."
Dr. Randal likens helping the people of Haiti to the story of the boy and the starfish. A boy throws starfish back into the ocean one by one. The beach is full of starfish and even as he throws more wash up on the shore. "A man comes by, looks at the thousands of starfish strewn up and down the beach, and tells the boy, 'Look at all these starfish! You could stand here all day throwing starfish into the water and it wouldn’t make a difference'. The boy picks up a starfish and throws it into the water. 'I made a difference for that one,' he replies."
Dr. Randal likens helping the people of Haiti to the story of the boy and the starfish. A boy throws starfish back into the ocean one by one. The beach is full of starfish and even as he throws more wash up on the shore. "A man comes by, looks at the thousands of starfish strewn up and down the beach, and tells the boy, 'Look at all these starfish! You could stand here all day throwing starfish into the water and it wouldn’t make a difference'. The boy picks up a starfish and throws it into the water. 'I made a difference for that one,' he replies."
