Haiti has fallen apart, so I am told. One of the greatest people I know sent me a text telling me that much. A quake, 7.0, chaos, no food, no water, 100,000+ dead, more lost. It hardly seemed real (especially when it comes as a small, polite text message in the wee hours of the morning).
You hardly remember that you are disconnected from the world when you are in village. When the news really does not impact your day to day life, you often do not miss it. The bubble of your life shrinks until it encompasses a group of villagers numbering less than those that showed up at the last family reunion. News suddenly becomes something along the lines of how many times you said Bon Jour to Issouf today or who was not in uniform this morning during class. You even get excited when people bring up incidents about a group of wild dogs eating a goat, even though it was over two years ago. It is still big news.
So, when the world trembles and you realize that you never felt it, it becomes its own shock in your life. Suddenly, it is apparent that not only is the world not impacting you but you are not necessarily at the top of its list of Who's Who. Is that not what you set out to do? Help the world? Impact the world? Have it hit you back? See it? Feel it? Taste it? Get run over by it? Fall in love with it? Where is the world beyond this tiny corner? And what can I do?
So here are my thoughts:
What can be done? Go to PIH.org or Redcross.org and donate to the crisis relief.
---As PCVs we often do not have the means (physical or monetary) to do much, however many of us have asked our friends and family to hold off on sending us that next care-package and, instead, donating that money to an organize (such as above). While it means less Hershey Kisses and Trail Mix for us, it is one way in which we can help.
---Money is not the solution but it is the least we can do. If you want to do more, they can help you do more. I strongly recommend PIH.org (Partners in Health) as the group has been working in Haiti for a long time (run by American doctor, Paul Farmer) and will be there for as long as they are needed (before and long after quakes).
Kong Comp Lab
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a little about burkina faso
Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) achieved independence from France in 1960. Repeated military coups during the 1970s and 1980s were followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s. Current President Blaise COMPAORE came to power in a 1987 military coup and has won every election since then.
Burkina Faso's high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens. Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.
Location:
Western Africa, north of Ghana
Geographic coordinates:
13 00 N, 2 00 W
Area:
total: 274,200 sq km land: 273,800 sq km water: 400 sq km
Burkina Faso's high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens. Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.
Location:
Western Africa, north of Ghana
Geographic coordinates:
13 00 N, 2 00 W
Area:
total: 274,200 sq km land: 273,800 sq km water: 400 sq km
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