Haiti

Not often do I touch on "current affairs", but the Haiti situation has been not far from my mind this past week. Not being at home, not too sure the extent of news coverage that is shown. However, have been following closely the CNN coverage of the tragedy, and, each time, even if I am watching repeated footage, my heart does hurt.

The first few days was all about the people stuck under the rubble, with not a sign of any help. Civilians trying to dig their love ones out of the rubble with their bare hands. An impossible task, considering that these loved ones are buried under huge slabs; the best they can do is to dig a little hole to pass in food and water. Rubble really gives a very different impression. This was followed by images of the hospitals, where patients and corpses alike were overflowing to the pavements outside the hospital. Clips after clips of bodies uncovered from the collapsed builidings only to be left lying on the pavements, with only a piece of tattered rag covering them, the only form of dignity being afforded to them.

A weekend has passed and with the amount of aid that we've heard that's supposedly pouring in, there is this belief that the situtation must have improved. But it hasn't. Not visibly. Yes, there are finally troops and relief workers pouring in. But the bulk of food, water and medication is still being stuck at the airport as they can't move it out due to the collapse of basic infrastructure. Slowly, the tractors are being shipped in, but this means that the few survivors still trapped under the buildings have almost no hope of survival any more. Though mass graves are being dug, there's still plenty of areas where bodies are still being left on the pavements, this time covered not only by the rags, but maggots and flies. I can't help but wonder how long it would take before disease sets in. Hard to believe that in our current day and age, with our technologyand infrastructure, we are still unable to bury our dead. The footages coming out of the hospitals now are even more heart wrecnhing if that can even be possible. Survivors with injuries are being sent to the hospitals for treatment. But... these are not hospitals as we have back home, these are facilities with no equipment, and inability to conduct surgery. As such, these "survivors" are just minutes / hours from death as a result of their injuries / rotting flesh. It's as though they were rescued from a quick death to languish into a longer death. A worrying development is the start of looting as the survivors are firstly getting over the shock of the quakes and getting impatient and desperate over the slow trickling of basic food and water to them.

Perhaps due to the proximity of Haiti to the US, their is some high profile help coming in. Hopefully, this would make the difference for the remaining survivors. Whilst watching the various aid programs, their was this clip on David Blaine, and he said: "We complain when our heater is the wrong model, for these people, it is an unknown concept". He has put what's in my mind very succinctly. Back home, if you open your ears, one hears neverending complains about our quality of life, about too much work, about just generally not being happy. But in comparison to the very real people of Haiti (just switch on the TV and you will see how real they are), in the face of the tragedy which seems like it came out of a 14th century novel, how can we feel anything but lucky? Moments like this, I am grateful that my travel to the poorer parts of the world these few years have made me more appreciative of what I have, and hopefully, I'll always remember this lesson learnt.