Like millions of people around the world, I have been following the tragedy in Haiti since the earthquake jolted the country just over a month ago. Although the media portrays a great deal of the devastation that has been visited on this poorest of Western nations, it wasn’t until I traveled to Haiti on a humanitarian relief mission that I truly understood just how severe the crisis really was.
Op-Ed: Lessons I Uncovered Beneath the Haitian Rubble
Like millions of people around the world, I have been following the tragedy in Haiti since the earthquake jolted the country just over a month ago. Although the media portrays a great deal of the devastation that has been visited on this poorest of Western nations, it wasn’t until I traveled to Haiti on a humanitarian relief mission that I truly understood just how severe the crisis really was.
Last Thursday night my father asked me if I wanted to join him on a visit to Haiti to donate relief supplies to an orphanage in Port-Au-Prince and to generally help in writing and broadcasting about Haiti’s devastation. We would leave Sunday night and return Wednesday morning. The idea sounded preposterous. How could we possibly go to a country that is in a state of emergency? A country where all hell has broken loose. The offer sounded somewhat irrational, but I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. If I thought about it I would probably decide against it. So I quickly agreed.
About 48 hours later I found myself sitting in the Santo Domingo airport sleep deprived and cranky, trying to figure out if this whole thing was still a good idea. We met up with our friend Glenn Megill, founder of Rock of Africa, an organization that feeds families in Zambia and Zimbabwe, along with his daughter and a photographer named Peter. After much haggling and miscommunication with a Dominican representative at Avis, we were finally able to rent our minivan and start our journey to Haiti. After driving nine hours on a windy gravel road, we finally reached the border. It was there that we got our first taste of the deprivation left by the earthquake. Thousands of people were waiting in the baking sun to try and get into the country with supplies. We waited our turn until we were finally permitted to enter. Two hours later we reached the Haitian capital.
Words cannot describe what we witnessed. Picture Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic detonation, or Hamburg and Dresden after the devastating carpet-bomb raids delivered by the allied forces. Picture the monstrous mounds of rubble, and the jagged edges of half-torn buildings marking every street with a sullen sign of death and destruction. Only this time the ineffable picture was not drawn any conflict or war, but came about through the sudden crush of nature alone.
Hundreds of thousands of people wandered the litter-strewn roads like zombies, their homes destroyed, many of their family members dead. Perhaps the most devastating factor was that these people were so helpless. Haiti, already a poverty-stricken country, was now also in shambles. These people didn’t even have the means to get back on their feet if they wanted to. As we drove through downtown Port-Au-Prince, my heart grew heavier. I could not understand how G-d could have allowed such a calamity to take place. Why were so many innocent citizens lying in their graves beneath the rubble on the street, as people stumbled over them to find their way? Is the value of a life really that worthless? Did these humans really live in vain? The smell of death permeated the entire city, making us gag. Relief workers informed us that dogs had been coming during the night and consuming the decaying bodies, leaving behind piles of bones in the rubble. In all honesty I felt as if this G-d-forsaken country had been doomed for all eternity, without any hope of salvation.
But in the midst of darkness there is always a beacon of light that shines through. My hope was restored the next day when we paid a visit to an orphanage called Child Hope, an organization run by a Christian family who left their home in California six years ago to devote their lives to rescuing suffering and abandoned children in Haiti. They have many volunteers who travel from US for months at a time to help in any way they can. Their love and devotion towards these children was incredible. They treated the orphans as if they were their own children and gave them opportunities that they could never receive growing up on the streets as most orphans in Haiti do. I sat with some of the Haitian girls who live there, laughing and talking about school and our favorite nail polish colors. They were a pleasure and their company inspired me. They were bright young women who didn’t wallow in any form of self-pity. Rather, they exhibited a zest for life and knowledge. They told me how they wanted to be doctors when they grow up.
We also went to the UN Base where we saw hundreds of doctors from all over the world united together in Haiti, all with the common goal of healing victims of the earthquake. You could hear every language spoken as doctors ran back and forth from tent to tent tending to the sick. I was especially proud of all the American volunteers both from the military and as well as random individuals who felt it was their duty to assist their Haitian brothers and sisters in this disaster. One American volunteer introduced us to a three year old Haitian boy whose mother and sister had perished in the earthquake. The father was forced to amputate his own son’s hand in order to save him from the same terrible fate that his mother and sister had met. His father then walked ten miles, carrying him to the only hospital in the city hospital to get help. This American volunteer felt a connection with the boy and treated him almost like a younger brother, bringing him gifts and paying him visits daily.
Catastrophes such as the earthquake in Haiti are some of the darkest forces in nature. However, these same calamities also bring out the brightest qualities in humans who feel it is their duty to help others when they are needed.
You can’t go to Haiti and return the same person. You come back a little sadder, but a lot more inspired. You discover that even in the darkest of times when one cannot understand the meaning of terrible calamities, one can still make a difference with their own actions. We can’t understand why bad things happen to so many good people. However our personal decisions can make all the difference in improving their lot. Witnessing the effects of the earthquake in Haiti first hand has made me so much more sensitive toward those in need.
Mushki Boteach is an undergraduate at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women where she is majoring in public relations. She resides in Englewood, New Jersey.
anon
Beautiful article!
chanie
Mushkie,
what an experience :(
what an experience :)
what confusion of inspiration and devastation,
of human sacrifice
of human degradation (referring to the dogs…)
did this create a shift for you in your understanding of yourself in the world and to Hashem?
wondering….such a unique experience for someone reasonably young and idealistic.
your biggest fan
Mushkaleh you’re mamash such a fantastic writer, Bli Ayin Hara.
All these terrible calamities that happen in this world merely display the fact that we need Moshiach and the Rebbe to come and save us from the awful gashmiusdike and klipadike world that we are unfortunately trapped in. We must keep davening and saying our chitas and rambam and pray that the Rebbe will come with Moshiach teykef umiyad mamesh!!!!! MoshiachNoW!!!!
Dovid
wow! what an experience!! Kol Hakavod!
your aunt
mushki- beautifully written
and so true..
i can’t imagine what it must be like there..but the way you desribe both the despair and the hope is truly amazing
Anon
Mushki, this is really the Rebbe’s work and true Shlichus! You are a shining light to lubavitch.
Crown heights mother
What an article!!!! Brilliant!
go mushki! u rock! =)
great work! ur a real shlucha!
Haitian Horror
Beautifully written, but i don’t sense a clear message or purpose to this article.
tzedaka starts at home
bs”d
What happened in Haiti is truly a tragedy beyond what most of us can understand. It seems though that the Boteach family writes often about some far flung place that they have gone to to help out the locals, and some christian organization that they have teemed up with. Now without putting your helping another human being, it would also be nice if we began hearing about how you guys start helping your own community. There are unfortunately many Yidden in dire need of help in different areas.
When helping others, let’s not focus mainly on charities that may make one feel like some hero, or make one feel like they have embarked on some exciting ‘once in a lifetime’ journey.
I don’t even see any mention of the amazing work the Yidden from Eretz Yisroel did in Haiti.
Give shevach to the Yidden & remember that charity starts st home.
Tzedaka starts at home…
Rivkie
Very inspiring – gr8 piece Mushky,
TO - tzedaka starts at home wrote:
You gut me thinking for a few seconds about the home.
Our Home . Crown Heights.
Let’s start looking. do we have a home ? where is the community ?
Is that first vaad or the second vaad ? OH the courts have to decide.
Wait isn’t it the zabloh ? The din torah ? ? ?
Ok will look for a bais din or rov . ok is it 390 Kingston Avenue
Or in 788 Eastern Parkway or maybe 368 Kingston Avenue.
Did you get it? I did not
Inspired
Grate writtng, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You seem very helpful. May you be a good Ozer to the right one be”h.
shkoach
Great article; I thank you for sharing your profound experience. I don’t want to put words in the author’s mouth so I will restate what I believe to be the take home message for all those above who seem confused: “even in the darkest of times when one cannot understand the meaning of terrible calamities, one can still make a difference with their own actions. We can’t understand why bad things happen to so many good people. However our personal decisions can make all the difference in improving their lot.”
As Jews, it is our obligation to bring light to the world. Reaching out to others/saving a life of a person (Jewish or not) is the ultimate service we as Yidden can do and needs no justification.
new friend of mushky to mr criticism
you know its interesting that for starters i dont visit these websites daily, and when i do i dont read the comments, and if i read the comments i leave the posting for people who constantly enjoy surfing the web and judging others
but today as i searched for this article intentionally since i know the author personally my curiosity got the better of me and i decided to look at the comments as well
and sure enough there is one person who has a perfect world out there and the only thing bothering him is this softly written emotional article that a young girl wrote who off course went to do do chesed for kids she never met who carry many diseases im sure wasn’t so rosy and she didnt stay in a ritz carlton either
and even if it was 100 percent shelo lishmah you should still either throw a complement focus on the good or at least put a muzzle on it through some self control
BUDDY ITS JUST AN ARTICLE IMAGINE YOUR SISTER OR DAGHTER OR COUSIN OR FRIEND DID SOMETHING NICE LIKE THIS NO MATTER WHAT REASON THEY DID IT FOR YOU WOULD LOOK OVER IT AND BE PROUD !!!!
do you care for this girl? if you did even a bit this is not the way to come to any results at least positive ones in my view
do you really think she doesn’t care about Israel ?? or maybe that’s who she represents jews ….and for us its obvious that we help…
do you believe in giving people a chance or do you judge everyone according to the way you judge their parents??? This needs no answer
now maybe you dont like how her father expresses his yidishkeit maybe I don’t either but now do you really care ? if you do i think hes famous enough for you to find his number contact him personally to help him tete a tete that’s a shlichus
and for a bit of sarcasms i have to say i agree with you there are many yidden in ny in our community who are in dire need of help including you but like the rebbe said if you know just alef you can and should teach it that means even you should stop with your comments (checking CH.INFO is not more productive than going to haiti either) and move to engelwood to help all those jews since 1 person cant do it alone and from the way you write you wouldn’t want them to teach Judaism and don’t worry Englewood is probably not so exiting and your probably no hero so you wont get too much publicity if any so by you it may really be lishmah
IN SHOR GET MOVING BYE
Btw on a side note I am not any better you by the mere fact that I have decended to your level in several ways in what I wrote so im sorry but I just felt you should be nicer to a young girl !!