Haiti's children, our children
It's almost impossible to think about much else than the people of Haiti and especially the smallest among them who are homeless, hungry, orphaned and at the risk not only of nature's elements, but human predators as well. The United Nations estimates that as many as 1 million children lost at least one parent in the devastating earthquake that ripped through this small country Jan. 12, according to an Associated Press report today.
Pictures on TV, and those I see on the wire here at the newspaper, are frightening. The AP notes that some children are being released from hospitals with no one to care for them; there simply are not enough beds. Some are begging in the streets. Others who are on their own have been "fortunate'' enough to find their way to "Child Spaces'' set up by Save the Children, according to the AP.
There is certainly relief and comfort in the images of little ones cradled by relief workers or others en route to new parents in America, France and the Netherlands. But there's no ignoring the thousands of children, infants and toddlers among them, who are feared to have lost both parents to this horror.
There are many avenues through which we can help. Make sure you deal directly with an organization that you know you can trust. Often, that is through your local church, synagogue or temple. To make a donation through the American Red Cross, call 1-800-RED-CROSS, or the Salvation Army, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY OR go to www.SalvationArmyLancaster.org.
This is just a start. If you know of local relief efforts that you'd like to share with other families eager to help, please do so here or add a forum posting on the LancMoms site.
I'm still thinking about a 10-year-old boy, Stanley, who is the same age as my daughter. When he arrived in Pennsylvania from Haiti days ago, the AP reported, he was one of a few children in that group still awaiting a home. "I don't have a family,'' he told an adult accompanying the children. "Do you want to be my family?''
Maybe there are myriad ways we can all be part of that family.
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In BeTWEEN -- My 10-year-old daughter is a TWEEN. I'm a single mom balancing home life and a job as managing editor of the Sunday News. It's not always easy, but it's never boring.
