Bacho



I'd like to share an experience I had back in March with you. It was one of the few moments in my life where I felt totally helpless to "help", and yet served as one of the most inspirational moments in my life.
In January, two days after the devastating earthquake in Haiti which left Port-au-Prince in ruins, I was deployed as a member of one of the first military units which went in to help. About 45 days in, I was in the mountains outside of the capital city when I ran into a small village called Bacho. You won't find it on a map, its too small. In this village lives a young 16 year old girl named Arielle, a child herself, who is the mother of two children. They live in absolute poverty. I brought them food and water and asked what we could do to make things better. The young girl replied "take my children with you to America so they can go to school". She didn't ask anything for herself. All she wanted was for her children to come to this great country of ours to go to get an education.
My friends I have been lucky enough over my years of military service to travel to the far ends of this earth. This I can tell you with certainty; we may not be perfect in this country and we may have our faults, but we are still the beacon of hope for those who dream of the freedom to be free and to become more than they could ever be where they are.
I couldn't take those children with me that day and it broke my heart as I saw them disappear in my rear-view mirror. The best I could do was report my findings to civilian aid groups who would be there to help the Haitian people long after we military folks had left. Yet that day I counted myself as one of the luckiest people in the world if for nothing else for the gift of having been born in this great country.
We can and do and have every right to speak up to make things better here, but sometimes I think we're so busy complaining because we "can", that we miss the opportunity to be thankful for the things we do have in the U.S.
I'm sharing this story and picture not because I was much help that day; Lord knows the best I could do was nourish this young family and quench their thirst for just a day or two with the resources I had. I'm sharing it as a reminder to all of us that many people in this world would give anything and everything to live in our shoes. Today's as good a day as any to be thankful for the shoes we wear and the lives we live.

Comments

  1. ShirleyAugust 25, 2010 at 7:57 AM

    Jose - another great post. Please provide links to organizations that really do help victims of the Haiti Earthquake, and not some scam charity. God bless you & the work you do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CarmenAugust 25, 2010 at 8:06 AM

    Unfortunately, too many people have forgotten about Haiti & even Katrina right here in the US. Thanks for sharing, very touching. God bless. Carmen Lourdes Carrion

    ReplyDelete
  3. gilbertsgirlAugust 28, 2010 at 11:54 AM

    Very touching story, I agree with Carmen, we do tend to forget what happened in other countries and in our own
    God Bless you,

    Anita
    I worked with your wife at the thrift store on Belvoir.

    ReplyDelete

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