Life Matters ©

Words and camera lenses cannot effectively capture and describe the horror, agony, pain, shock and despair that countless individuals, who survived the quake and the many aftershocks that rocked Port-au-Prince, are experiencing. The capital city’s basic infrastructure of roads, hospitals, schools, businesses, government buildings, including the national palace, and the port was left in ruins, making the current rescue effort an enormous challenge.

My help and your help are therefore critically needed at this time to aid the people of Haiti, including its citizens, Americans and the thousands of others from various countries who called Port-au-Prince home or were in the city at the time of the quake.

Wherever you are in the world today, you can do something.  

You Can Give Financially
The following are just of a few of the many organizations already well known for their work in Haiti that are in need of funds. You can visit their website to donate.
American Red Cross               
www.americanredcross.org or text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10
Catholic Relief Services          
www.crs.org
Food For The Poor
www.foodforthepoor.org
Doctors Without Borders
www.doctorswithoutborders.org
Save The Children                  
www.savethechildren.org
The Salvation Army                 
www.salvationarmyusa.org
World Vision                           
www.worldvision.org
Yele Haiti                                
www.yele.org or text “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5

You Can Encourage
Thousands of individuals and families in the U.S. and abroad are desperately trying to obtain information on the whereabouts and condition of their family members and friends still unaccounted for Haiti. This is an agonizing time. You can help by supporting them through your encouragement and presence, allowing them to share their fears, concerns and thoughts. Remember to check in on them. A call, a visit, or brief note expressing that you are thinking of them can be a great source of encouragement.

You Can Pray
Prayer allows us to unload the weight of our burdens, obtain strength, maintain hope, and remain sensitive to the issues we pray about.

Please pray for:
· The people of Port-au-Prince clinging to hope as they desperately wait for much needed aid to arrive
· The children who survived and are currently experiencing this ongoing trauma – many have lost loved ones and are exposed to countless bodies throughout the city
· Emergency responders, including those who immediately began the rescue effort with the little they had and the many teams currently heading to Haiti from all over the world
· The great number of relief workers and their families who were already in Haiti at the time of the quake
· The many Haitian-American families and families of relief workers from the United States and other countries waiting to hear from their loved ones in Haiti
· The Haitian government as it seeks to respond and strategized with other governments and the numerous organizations participating in the relief effort
· The United Nations as it attempts to respond while dealing with the possible loss of many of its workers in  Port-au-Prince
· The long road to recovery – that we continue to be sensitive to the enormous need and participate in Haiti’s restoration in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.

As we continue to be exposed to the many troubling images from Haiti, you and I are being called to do all we can to help our brothers and sisters. Because life matters, what we do today will move Haiti one step closer toward a brighter tomorrow.

Dr. Keny Felix is a licensed professional counselor and on the faculty of Richmont Graduate University in Atlanta. Information provided in this blog is presented to a general audience and is not a substitute for a direct clinical evaluation or treatment by Dr. Keny Felix or other mental health practitioner when warranted. For more information, please visit http://kenyfelix.com/home.