I haven't been to Haiti in more than two years. That's a long time and despite work on behalf of Haitian Hearts and living with a Haitian, it is too easy for me to forget. I'm a middle class American with the concerns, and obligations and tunnel vision that term implies. I get wrapped up in my own world. I'm writing this post on a very full stomach.
My main salvation in this regard is that I also live with someone--John--who spends a few months a year in Haiti. So the poverty, the hunger, the sickness, the suffering remains very fresh to him. Going from this world to that world, back and forth, so frequently is unbalancing, in a good way. It keeps him on his toes and taking nothing for granted. I listen to John and read his posts and so get this urgency in a second hand fashion. But it is better than nothing.
The other thing that helps is that I know some of the individuals who are suffering. I can't emphasize enough what a difference this makes. To actually know a person in Haiti and care about them. It is one of the big strengths of Haitian Hearts for those who host a patient, for those who help care for them in the hospital, for those who meet our Haitian friends when they come to the United States. It makes tangible all of the awful statistics we hear about places like Haiti.
I don't want to forget.
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