Haiti

I don't know what to say. I have no real connections in Haiti, no close friends, only acquaintances. I have the same horror and grief that I know every single person feels when they watch the news or click on the images. That and this terrified reevaluation of the future as I imagined it. The loss of important people that I haven't met and most likely would never have known.

The careful scene that replays in my mind at some vague date in my daughter's early teens is forever changed. Can we go there? Yes, we can. Could we find her? It's possible. We have her name, her picture, some information, I know there are people that help adoptees find information about their birth families. What is the answer now? I don't know. So many people lost. So many relocated. Records lost. Families and neighbors scattered.

Tragedies on this scale always create gripping human stories. Heros. Heartbreak. Hope and hopelessness. If you want to follow and support people on the ground, helping all they can, may I introduce Troy Livesay and his family and Dixie and John Bickel who run God's Littlest Angels orphanage in Petionville, Haiti. Both have been able to keep their blogs fairly current and Troy is twittering regular updates as of today.

If you have a child "in process" for adoption in Haiti and for some reason you haven't seen this information elsewhere, READ THIS.

If you want to donate, you probably already have and the Red Cross is an amazing first responder. If you want a long-standing, incredibly well-run organization that has been on the ground with Haiti's children for decades, give to God's Littlest Angels. Truth be told, I should have asked you to give to GLA two years ago. They do astonishing work. They cared for my daughter and for the little boy that was briefly ours for over a year. I lived there for three weeks in January 2005 as a volunteer and witnessed the hard work they do.

I didn't ask because I imagined that we all have our own causes, but now as the world focuses on Haiti, I am shamelessly making my suggestion. GLA was caring for 150 children in a difficult, unstable environment on Monday and their job is infinitely harder today. They have the experience, they have the resources, they are accepting cash donations and they are also accepting supplies at their Colorado Springs office. They have brought containers into Haiti many times in the past and whenever that becomes a viable option, they will do it again. Until they can bring in supplies, I know funds will be vital as available supplies in Haiti become even more expensive, processing adoptions are halted and children orphaned or displaced in the earthquake arrive at their gates.

The world has a huge heart, I know. The response to this kind of humanitarian disaster always humbles me. We do care. That doesn't change the fact that children were starving to death in Haiti on Monday. I am guilty of being willing to forget that knowledge, submerge it in the details of my every day life. All I can think is that if, after the rubble has been cleared and the injured aided and the dead buried and the water delivered, after the world's attention has shifted and the organizations that settle in for the long haul have hunkered down to rebuild, if this brief spotlight can have one tiny, positive outcome, let it be that an organization like GLA has the resources to continue caring for fragile children for two more decades and beyond.

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I've been looking through the album of my weeks as a volunteer. These are some of my favorites. I don't know why, just thought you might like to look with me.

Comfort. Stacey and Rosie 2005.


Anticipation under the orphanage gate 2005.


Crooked Presidential Palace 2005 (I have horizon issues).


Delivering rice with "the brothers" 2005.


Rice lines 2005.


Rice lines 2005.


Tugging heartstrings under the orphanage gate 2005.



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