Dear World (Re: Earthquake in Haiti)

It's no mystery that the poorest country in the Western hemisphere is Haiti. From widespread corruption to rampant hunger and crime to a deteriorating landscape, the status of the other half of Hispaniola has been in shambles for years. Yesterday, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that 'leveled a hospital', buried thousands of people, and caused destruction right outside of the capital of Port-au-Prince cast Haiti into the spotlight, finally. That said, the world community needs to put their own needs aside if even for a few days to aid the country. It's one thing for the your country's leader to make a statement saying something to this effect:

'Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people and country of Haiti.'

It's a completely different situation for everyone to make a committed effort to send aid. Whether it's clothing, food, money, or building supplies, every bit helps. The world, over the past two years has been languishing in the fact that our financial markets have been less than stellar, ignoring the fact that most of Haiti lives below what we would call poverty. I'm not sitting here writing this as a do-gooding humanitarian, or someone who even has family in Haiti. I just know that death and disaster on such a wide scale should never go unnoticed. Let's do what we can, and make sure that Haiti can recover from this devastating happening. Check some websites that you can donate to to help Haiti:

Samaritan Purse

World Vision

Unicef

OxFam