Life Is Cheap

A 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12th killing as many as 500,000 people.† At that time, the island nation was still struggling to recover from the aftermath of several hurricanes. The suffering continues.

Haiti is plagued by a toxic stew of social ills: pervasive poverty, unstable government, poor building standards and low literacy rates. In addition, deforestation has destroyed 98% of the island's forest cover. This causes erosion leaving them further vulnerable to mudslides and massive flooding.

In confluence with trees felled by continuing natural catastrophe, Haiti leads the hemisphere in tree-clearing. The trees are cut down mostly for cooking because of their extreme poverty. Combined with Haiti's location in a hurricane track and its unstable tectonics, they are caught in a vicious cycle of calamity. Their island's infrastructure cannot adequately prepare them for disaster, it cannot support their recovery, and it in fact makes them more vulnerable in the future.

All that can change, however. A grassroots movement called Yéle Haiti seeks to inspire change through programs in education, sports, the arts and the environment. By building Haiti back up from the ground up, there is hope that they can finally be delivered from continuing disaster. They cannot do it alone, though.

Help me support their recovery efforts, including the planting of new trees to prevent further flooding and devastation. Visibly demonstrate your support by clicking on my Yéle Haiti banner. All you need do is complete simple activities and corporate sponsors will provide the dollars. The price of saving a human life comes very cheaply indeed.

Isn’t human life and hope worth a minute of your time? Please take a few moments now to help end the suffering!

(Yéle Haiti is sponsored by Sony, Visa & other companies, and also accessible via SocialVibe on the Internet.)

† As relayed by Senator Youri Latortue to the Associated Press.