Sight Lines: Acts of God
Happy New Year to all our readers. 2010 got off to a difficult start for many, with snow and ice making travel dangerous, and often impossible. However, it was a good time for us all to remember those around us who need our support, whether it be bringing food to those who were house-bound due to bad weather, or simply remembering to call on neighbours who live alone to offer some company. We have also gone from the extreme of flooding late last year to severe water shortages around the country, which are likely to continue for some months to come.
However, when we look at what people in the Caribbean country of Haiti are going through following a devastating earthquake, the true horror of which is still not known, we must remember to count our blessings when at all possible.
In a country as poor as Haiti, where three out of four people live on less than $2 per day and children regularly die from simple lack of food, people with disabilities are truly on the bottom rung of the ladder. According to the Christian Blind Mission, which worked with around 5,000 people with disabilities in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince before January’s earthquake, people with disabilities are often the first to die in disasters like this. Those who survive find it difficult to access relief aid and are very vulnerable to the disaster’s aftermath.
Thankfully a number of Irish and international aid organisations are in place to help Haitians in Port-au-Prince to recover from this dreadful tragedy. In the aftermath of a disaster survival is the key and the needs being met will be the most basic, with the emphasis on medical attention, food, shelter, water and sanitation but as development work continues over the coming years we hope that these agencies will be able to improve the lives of people with disabilities in one of the world’s poorest countries.