Two hours off our border, to the southeast of Miami, lies an earthquake ravaged country forgotten by the world in the rush of new news, new disasters and new financial meltdowns, that continues to suffer in the aftermath of a devastating natural disaster.
After sustaining the loss of one thirtieth of its citizens, Haiti continues to slowly die. Subsequent hurricanes have claimed thousands in smothering landslides, cholera continues to drain the population of life with possibly 20,000 lives claimed by this preventable disease. Now a bean crop failure has produced protein deficient starvation that further threatens the marginal people of the Artibonite Valley.
As we provided medical care to the people who streamed to our mobile clinics, we saw the devastating effects of a marginalized people without food. The cries of, 'Mwen grangou!' filled our ears as the desperate mothers filled the mouths of their starving children with mud pies to keep them quiet and lessen their grief.
Repeatedly, our nutritional assessment team returned with the cold hard data:
age 2, weight 9 lbs;
age 5, weight 19 lbs;
age 21, pregnant, weight 60 lbs;
age 65, weight 67 lbs.
We distributed tons of food to the hungry but needed much more.
As we drove away, our food stores depleted, I wondered how many of the hungry we had missed and how many of these faces would be absent from our clinic next month.
Only $300 will feed a family of 8 for a month.
Isn't it time to open up our wallets, our influence, our lives and remember our neighbors in the Caribbean?
Mobile Medical Disaster Relief, http://www.mmdr.org, is a Brentwood, TN based 501 c(3) non profit organization that provides medical assistance, clean water, nutritional support and micro finance solutions to those affected by man made and natural disasters.
