Video from Haiti
May 17, 2008
While trawling the Compassion Day website yesterday I stumbled upon a heap of YouTube clips that I hadn’t previously seen.
The clips are taken from our recent trip to Haiti and the one in this post shows the situation outside the Port-au-Prince Compassion office just before a rock came through the window we were standing near.
You may have heard the story of the riots and how close we came to getting caught up in everything there. This video, while still fairly rough, shows a little of the scene before the rock attack.
You can see the beginnings of the crowd heading down the street, some armed with crude weapons.
The next thing you see is the shattered glass in the room where it all happened and then a bit of a debrief between members of the team. Several of us, including me, had a chance to talk over the situation.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on what you see.
Posted in Life
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May 18th, 2008 at 12:59 am
I think this is really a brave thing to do, other than “just” spending money. You not only take the risk of being there but take all the necessary, time- and money-consuming steps to help others who weren´t as lucky as we are.
Which just reminds me of how really very lucky we are and which makes me feel ashamed of the many times I say, hey, what just happened to me is unfair!
“Funnily” I misinterpreted “Compassion”. I thought of it in the sense of coming from having a passion for something, to be engaged in something. Now I learn it´s another word for pitifulness.
Whatever the word itself means, it stands for doing something by heart for somebody else and that certainly is rather rare these days.
I won´t hop in a plane and do the big thing today, but it sure encourages me to do a bit more for others (sad thing some play with it. Just some weeks ago there were some “Clowns” collecting money for children who suffer from cancer. I had a bad feeling and gave no money. Just to read later they were fake and ran away with their haul).
Keep up the good work and keep up telling it, too, best wishes!
May 18th, 2008 at 5:41 am
May 18th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Your story of the clowns is a good reminder that if we’re trying to help people we still need to be wise. That was something that was very important with Compassion. I can now tell my listeners with confidence that they really do good work.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:21 am
The riots were very dangerous. Such a shame that people get so desperate for basic food that they have to riot to get their government’s attention.