CLOTH and Haiti

If you are a compassionate person, which many of us are. The photos, reports and video of loss of human in life is overwhelming and far too heavy for even the strongest hearts to handle. I’ll admit I feel quite hopeless. Sure I can donate money, I can pray, support and continue to plan a fundraiser to raise funds for Yele but at the end of the day all that’s left are tears. Tragedy brings out the worst in people. I’ve heard and seen things that not even the devil should be capable of thinking but remember this; it also brings out the very best in people. People risking their lives to help survivors, people donating their last $5 and endless amounts of people showing their support in prayer and thought. It often takes tragedy to remind people of the commonality we all share, we are human.

The truth is, Haiti will soon be forgotten from the front page and nightly news. No longer will it be a trending topic or raise millions of dollars overnight from the touch of a button. Soon enough it will become just another event that goes down in the history books under horrific. Millions and I mean millions of Haitians will be displaced. Many will have no where to go, they will have lost family and friends, they will have lost their entire lives. They will become refugees. Those that stay will be forced to rebuild and that is never a speedy process, just look at New Orleans.

Earlier I was on the phone with Oona. She told me of her inability go on about her day when she knew so many people were suffering and for the skeptics out there, I think there is a part of her that feels that way each and every day. We spoke about donating, how it didn’t feel like enough. We spoke about jumping on a plane right now and going to Haiti but its not possible nor realistic.

Part of what we want to do with CLOTH Gives and as indivduals is raise awareness about refugees and displaced people everywhere. Many of the woman we work with are from Somalia so there’s the possibility of visiting refugee camps in Kenya or documenting the situation from Somaliland. There’s a possibility that we’ll be in South Africa for the World Cup, which is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness about Zimbabwean refugees there. I travel to Ghana regularly, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Liberian refugees, and now Haiti. Hopefully once the dust settles, the media storm dies down and the country stabilizes we will be able to go to Haiti to rebuild and aid the displaced.

The thing I’ve always loved about Haiti is that its magical. Haiti was the birthplace of the revolution and they truly believed, as a people, that they couldn’t give up until everyone was free. They sparked revolution throughout the world and were very much responsible for slave revolts in the United States, which eventually led to the freedom I have today. Haiti never forgot, even if we forgot about them. The national motto of Haiti is “L’Union Fait La Force”, which mean “Union makes Strength”. It’s going to take a hell of a lot of strength to rebuild Haiti physically and the emotional scares may never heal but if strength is what they need then unity we shall give them.

~Candance