My Respect for the People of Haiti

by Mary Lou Larkin

February 11, 2010

I couldn't sleep at all last night after seeing the destruction of downtown Port-au-Prince and thousands of tents everywhere I looked. Where do the people use the bathroom? Where will they wash up? The tents All touch each other. There is barely anywhere to walk. There is dust from concrete that people are breaking up with any thing they can find which fills the air. The only things not destroyed are the statues of Toussant, Dessalines, and the Maron, the heroes of Haiti. It is heartbreaking for me. The tents actually abut the pedestals of the statues. When you look up the mountain behind the sagging and tilted palace, the homes that were once there are all fallen on top of one another.

The university nursing school completely collapsed and many died there. This country depends on good nurses who do so much organizing of public health campaigns. Another incalculable loss.

As we walk through the dust and destruction I see three boys with kites made from discarded pieces of plastic and they are smiling, running and laughing. I see a woman scrubbing a child with a tiny bowl of water. Life will go on and my respect for the people of Haiti can never be expressed in mere words. I have had visits at the guest house of Haitian friends who come simply to say hello and to talk and to see how we are doing. They tell what happened to them, their homes and their families.

We laugh and smile and connect, but in Haiti there is little small talk. Life is too intense.

Mary Lou