I was standing this evening in the kitchen at Casa Mafia watching the news as I do most nights whilst cooking or some might say experimenting .

Pictures can be so powerful; as they capture just a moment. I still have vivid images of the famine in Sudan, I was less then ten years old, but those images have continued to haunt me. The skeletal children, covered in flies as if corpses, all suffering from kwashiorkor, an illness which seems ironic when you think about its physical effects. Famine is a man-made disaster and that’s what makes it so infuriating. Once again this evening I felt perturbed by the images I saw, but what good is it to be moved in that moment, if you do nothing but stare blindly at the TV.

It became apparent that an earthquake which registered 7.o on the ricter scale has hit impoverished Haiti, devastating Port-au-Prince. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people may have died, the first pictures seen since the earthquake show incredibly moving scenes. An earthquake is devastating wherever it is but most counties have the means or indeed the infrastructure to recover.

Haiti has for decades experienced extreme poverty, violence environmental degradation, instability and dictatorship leaving it the poorest nation in the western hemisphere with the highest infant mortality rates. Half of the population survive on less then $1, which seems inconceivable to you or I.

I have to really praise Wyclef Jean for his humanitarian efforts, it’s easy to forget your roots, he has without doubt been instrumental in creating awareness about Haiti and its plight in recent years. Once again this evening he called upon our support. Haiti without it will not survive so please give generously to those who have little left, through his foundation Yele Haiti. Wyclef Jean is urging donors to text ‘Yele’ to 501501 and make a $5 contribution to the relief effort using your mobile phone.   Alternatively here’s some other charities you may consider donating to Oxfam, Save the Children.  UNICEF,  Doctors without boarders, World Vision and Red Cross.

Though Haiti has experienced devestation it is a nation who in the early 19th century overthrew French colonial control and slavery. It became the world’s first black-led republic and first independent Caribbean state, so no doubt the spirit of Haitains will rise up again but without basic resources they have little hope.