The first person I spoke to, as I left the airport to enter the cacophony of Port-au-Prince, was a woman seeking to offer me taxi service. While we were driving I asked her the natural questions about "l'événement" (the event) as Haitians discretely refer to the earthquake, seeking to put it behind them by using a non-specific word.
She told me she had lost her husband and that her dream was to own a tent where she and her new-born could live. A simple enough dream, but a huge challenge amidst the desperation of two million homeless seeking shelter.
As the car negotiated the mountain of rubble that is today's Port-au-Prince I found myself wondering what her dreams had been before the earthquake when her husband, alive and hopeful, cradled their new daughter in his warm arms.
Joseph Mutti
AAI Administration
No comments:
Post a Comment