heartbreak for haiti

Home. I have successfully had my fill of pizza and bagels, and most especially, love from family and friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to bring in the new year and mark my halfway point of service than spending it all with my biggest support system. I also have been overwhelmed with the coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. It reminds me of how fragile life is. It reminds me of how small our human family is, and in a time like this it makes me feel proud to see the incredible outpouring of support, whether that be prayers, donations or the journalists and emergency relief workers from all over the world that are there right now. I see how frustrated America is concerning the food and other materials reaching the people of Haiti. As a volunteer that has lived in a developing country for over a year now, I can imagine the chaos that relief workers must be struggling with day in and day out and the immense pressure on them to meet needs that seem impossible. A word to all of you: I am so proud of who you are and what you are doing. Keep fighting the good fight, we support you. To those in Haiti who are dancing and praying in the streets in light of your loss: You inspire me. Your resilience is why I am who am and why I do what I do.

To those of you at home who want to help in some way, I encourage you to donate to the International Medical Corps. This global, humanitarian nonprofit has sent an emergency response team comprised of doctors and nurses to Haiti, and they greatly need your help. They are treating crush injuries, trauma, substantial wound care, shock and other critical cases with the few available supplies, and about 80% of patients are desperately in need of surgery. According to IMC- they are in it for the long haul.

Donating $10 to help the people of Haiti is as simple as sending a text message of the word "haiti" to 85944.

For more info, go to their site.

Oh, and Ghana, I’m back and ready to roll! (and pssst. I missed you. a lot a bit.)