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I am touched that soooo many are helping the earthquake victims in Haiti. I was there around the early Nineties and the day-to-day deprivation was a culture shock to me back then.
People were living in thatch shacks with dirt floors. We visited a small village of four shacks near the ocean and a lady invited me in. Her only possession was a bed made of sugar cane greens weaved together. A Macy's plastic bag which had undoubtedly rolled up on the shore was a keepsake she had hanging from the barren thatch wall.
I had to hold back my tears. I gave her all that I had in my pockets. Another man in the village of four shacks had a wound on his leg. A short visit to a clinic in the states would have healed him. I was told he would most likely be dead in months.
When I got back to the states the contrast to our abundance was a shock. Just walking into a common grocery store was a feast for the eyes.
Did you know over 60 percent of the world's population will die NEVER having made a solitary phone call? I had to wait in a little town just outside of Port-au-Prince for an hour in a long line to use the one line that was available to the public.
I went to Haiti with a Catholic lady who was a mother of nine. After we returned she invited me to visit the other coast of Florida with her family to dine with her brother. We arrived at a small seaside village named Vero Beach.
My trip to Haiti would leave an indelible mark on my life. It was not my last trip as I would return a year latter to distribute bulgar wheat, flour and rice through a group out of Orlando called "New Missions."
They are still helping the people of Haiti today.
The compound is nine miles from the earthquake's epicenter. They told me everyone was knocked to the ground, they saw the earth violently open. One teacher was killed and three little children died.
The clinic was a total loss.
Thank you for your prayers and actions to help these people. God Bless you for giving.
Rhett Palmer
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