Bus ticket dilemma

by Mary Lou Larkin

Dilemma
When I first went to Jacquesyl everyone asked us for shoes. Then people began to ask for money for their children to go to school. Today everyone had shoes or at least flip flops. Today the majority of the kids go to school and we need to expand the school.

But this trip many, many people asked for bus tickets. Yes bus tickets.....to bring their loved ones from Port au Prince where there is absolutely nothing for them, to Jacquesyl. I wondered would our donors consider this as disaster relief? After what I saw in PaP I would certainly consider it disaster relief.

When the rainy season begins there will be malaria,typhoid, and dengue. Women and girls live in fear of being raped in the massive tent cities. There is little available clean water and no privacy. Away from PaP people will at least have a chance at rebuilding their lives, yet without seeing the devastation and repercussions will people understand this? It is something we need to talk about. Several of us just decided to give our personal money to families we knew to help them bring their families to Jacquesyl.