It feels weird to blog about whatever’s going on in my life when Haiti is in shambles. I don’t watch the news…but every once in awhile stories manage to make themselves heard no matter how hard I try to dodge them.
It’s a helpless feeling. This sitting and watching and chatting about the devastation that we do. I want to help. I want to fly over there and dig babies out from under their collapsed orphanages and I want to take them home. I want to take the hands of those wandering children and help them find their parents. I want to open our house and usher everyone inside that I can possibly cram in. We have rooms. We have blankets. We have food and water and beds and love and everything.
But we’re not filthy rich. We can’t just hop on a plane and land somewhere in Haiti and start taking children home with us. I’m sitting on my couch, in my cozy home, with a computer on my, lap listening to my little ones chat and giggle in their beds. It feels wrong to be this safe right now when people are trying to stay alive.
I bounce between reading tweets about people pulling friends from rubble and tweets about late night ice cream treats.
I feel guilty. I shouldn’t. I know. But I do.
If you want to help by sending five bucks to Yele Haiti, Wyclef Jean is encouraging you to do so. All you have to do is text: YELE to 501501 and your phone will be billed. Turns out he’s from Haiti and is desperately trying to raise funds to help his country and 100% of that money will go to help the relief operation.
Pauline at Classy Chaos is donating a dollar for every comment she gets…so if you want to help, but you don’t have money to spend you can head over there and make Pauline spend hers. :)
You can also go to Hope For Haiti and purchase a raffle ticket for $1. The tickets qualify you to win some pretty great prizes that have been donated including ad space on prominent blogs, a ticket to bloggy boot camp in Arizona this May (I’ll be there too. :), jewelry, and much more.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
I know what you mean. I felt weird posting my Friday Fragments today knowing that over in Haiti people are suffering. My friend has two children in orphanages over there that they are adopting. Breaks my heart.
I know the American Red Cross also has a way in which you can donate $10 via a text. I forget what the text and number is, but it should be easy enough to find on the American Red Cross website.
As an aside, I feel terrible about the situation in Haiti and wish I could do more as well. The news I hear is awful, but these are the times when you can actually have faith in humanity – it’s where we tend to put our political and religious affiliations aside and try and all help together.
One of my friends lives and works in Haiti for Save the Children. Luckily, she was in the USA when this happened. She recommends donating to Save the Children or Doctors Without Borders. This is such a crisis, and there are so many ways to donate- every little bit helps!
Happy friday!
Liz
My sentiments exactly..you couldnt have said it better..thanks about the Wycleff Jean fund..I trust that one ..!
I just keep saying that it’s too sad. I feel the same way you do but I also feel like there’s nothing I can do but pray and I’m doing that. Guilt. Definitely.
I keep looking at the pictures and watching the video from Haiti, I am stunned. Even before the earthquake, Haiti has been a country of abject poverty. Unemployment before this disaster was 80%; many people live on just $1 or $2 a day.
Former President Clinton said that even a donation as small as $1 will help.
Just think if we skip a daily latte, or eliminate one day of online shopping, what a difference we can make.
Let’s do it!
We who live in this land of unmeasured prosperity definitely need to step up and help our neighbors.
I was crying so hard this morning watching all the reports about the children, heartbreaking! I know how you feel I want to sweep them ALL into my arms and tell them it will be OK…but will it really? It is hard for us to even grasp what is going on there. This is a country where more then 1/3 do not have clean drinking water to begin with and now..there is NONE! I have done what I can as we are not wealthy. My son is on student council and is going to suggest a penny drive at his school, I am so proud of him!
I sit here with CNN on and really have know idea what to blog about, everything I’m thinking about or even want to remotely complain about I can’t all my problems right now, all of them are trivial in comparison.
Thank you for this post:)
Thanks for the ideas. I know I shouldn’t complain about my morning sickness+stomach flu combination when I think about the people in Haiti. I haven’t wrapped my mind around it all yet to post about it. I think I might just link to this post. Thanks again.
As soon as I get around to it I will be making my own blog post on the situation in Haiti….death toll is 50,000…I can’t even begin to wrap my head around that.
Riley’s school was having a fundraiser today – blue and red day for Haiti (their flag colours) and he took in $5 that my grandfather had given him last weekend – it made my heart sing that even my little 8 year old is trying to make a difference!
I know what you mean. I desperately want to help. I even went to apply for disaster relief aid for 3 months yesterday, but apparently they are only taking people who have more than 10 years disaster experience.
Also, one of the biggest aid raising methods right now is texting “HAITI” to 90999. It donates $10 to the RedCross for Haiti. The $10 is tacked onto your phone bill, and your provider gets nothing. As of 5pm yesterday, this method had raised of $5Million.
Oh, I know…this story has really put a damper and has been heavy on my heart. It’s just so sad what they are going through and all the lost loved ones. My heart breaks for them. Prayers are going to them!!
You said what I was thinking to a tee. I am soo in my own little world these days, I didn’t even know what had happened until well after everyone else did…
It’s scary and so sad. So many residents there had so little to begin with…
oh, this is so heartbreaking. thanks so much for posting about haiti and helping us bloggers re-focus on far more important things in life than ourselves. :)
I feel the same way. I don’t watch the news, either, but yesterday, I sat through Good Morning America and watched the devastation. The hardest part was seeing all the little children wandering around, sleeping on mattresses in the middle of the street. Orphans standing barefoot in the dirt with no parents to comfort them. I cried harder than I have cried in a long time. We really have no extra money, but we donated some to the Red Cross, but I feel like it just isn’t enough. I want to go rescue babies, too.
It is so terribly sad, I feel just awful for what they are going thru.
There might be something sketchy about the Wyclef Jean’s charity (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011504024.html), so be careful where you direct your money. Well-established organizations like the Red Cross and UNICEF are also collecting funds to support relief in Haiti and might be more reliable.
There has been some criticism of Wycliff Jean’s organization… questions raised about how its money is spent and how much is actually going to Haiti. You may want to encourage readers to text “HAITI” to 90999 which donates $10 to the Red Cross instead. With the Red Cross, you have more assurance about where your money is going. Here are a couple articles about Yele Haiti.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011504024.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=9577218
You tapped my guilt right on the head. I wrote a Haiti post yesterday. I even found a charity for Haiti that I used to do travel arrangements for. It felt so good to reach out, and do something. Thanks for this post!
The pictures of Haiti in the paper this morning are beyond sad and have evolved into plain scary. These poor people are desperate for help and food. Heartbreaking.
Sadie at heymamas
Great post, Mama Kat. I’ve had one going around in my mind that won’t really take shape enough to post. I was in Haiti 25 years ago right now, helping orphans and building a hospital. It completely changed my perspective on life, and yet it doesn’t resolve the disconnect created the fact that they are there and we are here. The issues of our day are still the issues of our day, regardless of how shallow they may seem by comparison. Way to make helping practical. :-)