Thanksgiving Guilt...

You can't spend much time in Haiti without feeling guilty for the things you are privileged enough to have in your own culture that aren't readily available here in Haiti. Most of all in this situation clean water and access to safe food sources that don't cause disease or illness. Being here in Haiti on Thanksgiving is all the more poignant  when everywhere you look there is need, there is suffering, there is poverty. On an American holiday where the emphasis is gratitude I cannot tell you how exponentially more grateful I am for everything I have in my life at home. Remind me never to complain about the strange taste of the water in DC, or the smallness of the living space Frederick and I share, or the "challenges" I face in my life. I don't know nor have I ever known the challenges the average Haitian suffers through on a daily basis. These pictures represent some of those challenges. On the top left is a Catholic brother we met on the cholera ward in Milot. He helps run a home for disabled orphans 10 of whom were admitted with cholera that day and one of whom died. He does his work in this austere environment happy, lacking resources and without complaint. There is truly a lesson there!

As political tension rises before the elections here Sunday and the cholera epidemic keeps a steady pace it is an interesting time to be here in Haiti. Thank you to all of my family and friends for supporting us being here. We love you all!