Maine Writer

Its about people and issues I care about.

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Location: Topsham, MAINE, United States

My blogs are dedicated to the issues I care about. Thank you to all who take the time to read something I've written.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Blog of September 26 - 2008 - and Nothing Has Changed

With the tragic circumstances we're witnessing in real media time, events occurring in the aftermath of the 7 magnitude earthquake to devastate Port au Prince, Haiti, last week, the only glimmer of hope in this tragedy is how the USA quickly responded. Unlike past political administrations, our American aide is first on the scene and growing exponentially. Nonetheless, this blog I wrote on September 26, 2008 reminds me how we forgot to remember...

Saturday, September 06, 2008
Haiti - Americans Must Act and Care About What Happens to Haitians

See one comment below:

The Jerusalem Post is headlining the tragedy of floods caused by Hurricane Hanna in Haiti. Where is the American mainstream media on this story? They're no doubt watching election polls.

http://tinyurl.com/55ykuy

Dateline Jerusalem Post and Associated Press September 6, 2008

"Floods caused by tropical storm Hanna claim 529 lives in Haiti
By Jerusalem POST STAFF AND Associated Press

Death tolls reached 529 in Haiti, as more bodies were discovered on Saturday when Hurricane Hanna flood waters continued to recede.

Hanna weakened to become a tropical storm after hitting Haiti.

UN peacekeeping troops began handing out food and water to famished Haitians on Friday after the first shipload of aid sailed into a crumbling port on the outskirts of this flooded city, where tens of thousands were stranded in the wake of Tropical Storm Hanna.

But the respite was expected to be brief. Hurricane Ike, a dangerous Category 3 storm, was forecast to pass just north of Haiti on Sunday. Even if Haiti avoided a direct hit, Ike was almost certain to bring rain to the fertile Artibonite Valley, whose rivers funnel into Gonaives, Haiti's fourth-largest city, and the surrounding flood plain.

On Friday, the European Union promised US$2.85 million to provide storm victims with food, water, shelter, basic medical care and household equipment."

Americans are so consumed with news about us, the "US", and are therefore media-oblivious to the enormous tragedy happening to people living poverty in our hemisphere.

Now Hurricane Ike is likewise going to affect these same desperate Haitian people.

Can Americans do as least as much as the European Union, by reaching out to these afflicted Haitian people with money, health care and emergency food?

Hopefully, America will quickly rise above our political angst right now, to care for the poor vulnerable people in a suffering Haitian population.

And, we must pray for them to have the strength to endure.

Response from John in Salem New Hampshire:
Dear Julie,
You might want to check the Catholic Relief Services web-site for what CRS and its partners are doing in Haiti and elsewhere.
Peace in the Lord Jesus,
John, SJ

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