Haiti – A personal perspective

Shortly after our son was born in 1993, and accepting that we would not have any more children, my wife and I decided to sponsor a child through Plan International. As fate would have it, and I think that these things do happen by chance, we were allocated a little boy a few months older than ours. His name is Jose Dessources and he lives in a small village in Haiti. Over the past nearly 17 years we have received regular reports on him as he has grown along with the occasional letter and photograph. We have had the opportunity to send him small presents at his birthday and Christmas. There is little chance that we will ever meet Jose as Haiti, even before the events of last week, is not a recommended holiday destination for a couple of middle aged, northern European townies. Yet we do feel a sense of belonging with him, having been aware of the existence of one individual in a country where we can only just begin to imagine the poverty and deprivation. William (our son) has always been told that he has someone somewhere else in the world who has not been as fortunate to be born in to a relatively wealthy family and of whom we ought to be aware.

I do know whether Jose has been involved in the terrible earthquake of a week ago, I am sure that if he has survived then he will have been affected by it in some way whether by the loss of family or just by the knowledge of the events.

So three things:

• If you are able, consider sponsoring a child it costs £13 per month. We chose Plan International but there are other equally good organisations. Their web site is www.plan-uk.org
• Please give something to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. There are no shortage of worthy organisations that you can donate through.
• Spare a prayer or just a thought for Jose and his family and friends and be grateful for what you have.

Thank you.