Today, We Are All Haitians
AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos
Imagine going to bed one night and waking up to find your city in ruins. Imagine not being able to walk through the rubble of your home, your family’s bodies scattered and buried by the concrete. Imagine wanting to call 911 and not getting through, not having anyone to turn to in your time of tragedy.
Imagine Haiti at this very moment.
We have all heard about the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit impoverished Haiti. Every news outlet is still covering last week’s catastrophe. It seems a million miles away, but give this a thought:
Haiti is closer to Atlanta than Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver or Seattle.
Under 3,000 people died in the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on our country.
The death toll in Haiti, a country light year’s behind our progress, is estimated at 200,000.
It is hard for us to imagine what life is like for those who survived. We will never have to live through what they’re going through. However, true sympathy and compassion do not come through surviving the same things, but rather trying to put yourself in other people’s shoes.
We have all experienced times when we’ve felt helpless or alone. Many of us have unexpectedly lost someone close to us. We all know what it feels like to hurt.
After 9/11, the world came together in an unprecedented way, and it is time for us to do this once again. Today, we are all Haitians.
Right now, monetary contributions are the most effective ways to help our Haitian neighbors.
You can make a donation simply by texting the relief group of your choice. The dollar amount will show up on your cell phone bill.
Text CARE to 25383 to make a $10 donation through Atlanta-based CARE.
Text HAITI to 90999 to make a $10 donation through the American Red Cross.
Text HAITI to 20222 to make a $10 donation through the Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief Fund.
What else are you doing to help Haitian earthquake victims? Share your ideas here and inspire others.
— By Ayanna Heaven | VOX Staff
At Norcross High School we set a goal for all the students to donate a $1 and send the donations to Haiti. My best friend lost half her family.. well she can not get in contact with them and she knows for sure her uncle died i can’t tell her i know how that feels but i let her know i’m there for her… I encourage everyone to help this is really a tragedy..
The tragedy that Haiti is experiencing is something that I can not understand. I can not understand how a place like Haiti, where the people have to worry about eating and having a safe place to lay there heads, now have to experience so much more pain and heart ache. My plan is to participate in any relief efforts I can at school and in my community. I’m even thinking of collecting supplies and clothes from community organizations. Though I can not understand the pain many Haitians are experiencing now, I want to be a person who helps them get back on their feet because we are all brothers and sisters despite where we are in the world.
This is so tragic. Im trying to start soem sort of fundraiser ni my school to help raise money to help the victims of Hati.
Perhaps Veronica said it best. This is really depressing. Not to mention the new 6.1 aftershock quake that hit today. I’m going to do what I can to donate money with my family. One of my favorite singers is selling merchandise at her online store, and on the 24th for any merchandise bought from that store, all the money will go straight to Haiti relief.
Everyone at my school is wearing red on Tuesday to honor Haiti. I am also apart of my school Broadcasting program, and each day we make a lot of time to report updates on Haiti, and we also tell them how to donate to Haiti. We give them toll-free numbers, we explain what the money goes too, etc.
My AP Economics class decided to start a clothing and food drive for Haiti victims called Hands 4 Haiti. There are so many things that can be done for people in Haiti so we hope to get other people in our school involved in our cause. We are in the process of contacting the Hosea Williams Foundation to see what other items are needed.
Two of my sister’s past college roommates are Haitian, and one of them says her family is fine. The other I’m not sure of, but I’m concerned with where natural disasters can strike next. The floods we had earlier in the school year gave some of us a day off, and others a day of hell. To think that nature’s cooking up a life-altering storm scares me. I’m no tree-hugger, but I think now is really the time to start worrying about the environment, if we haven’t already.
I’m also considering if this is a sign. It’s probably the Christian in me, but as soon as I heard of this tragedy, my first thought was that Haiti’s national religion is voodoo. Similarly, New Orleans was known for a wild, voodoo-influenced culture, then Hurricane Katrina struck. I don’t mean to sound insensitive, nor am I trying to push my religion on anyone, but all these happenings seem a bit supernatural. Either way, my prayers are with all affected by these disasters.