Change is Possible..

....Defending the Oppressed 

One of the greatest social justice and poverty activists once said, “being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” Mother Teresa

    I always asked God to break my heart for what breaks his, and my request was answered with so many faces of forgotten children around the world. Children from different races, cultures and ethnic backgrounds, some of these children don’t have a home to sleep at night. Some of them don’t have anything to eat and are going to bed every night with empty stomach. Although, these children suffer from different struggles in their lives but most of them seem to have one thing in common which is that they all seem to be forgotten and abandoned by the rest of the world.

      

Lafiteau, Haiti, a small village that is known mostly for its port and beautiful ocean that is surrounded by the mountains. At the heart of this village, there are thousands of children who are struggling everyday to survive. These children have known nothing in their lives but pain, sorrow, despair, abandonment and suffering. The reality of poverty that these children are facing is heartbreaking. I know it and I can also feel it because I am also citizen of Lafiteau, I was born and raised there. Growing up in Lafiteau wasn’t easy, being in a home with eight children with no running water, no medical supplies, and no food was a very difficult life. My mother had to work every day to provide everything that we needed to live. Although, we were often lack some of the things we needed but we were somehow well-off compared to a lot of other families.

     It wasn’t until after the earthquake in 2010 I started to realize the many social injustices affecting my country. People are trapped into believing that it is okay for children to be living in such dire conditions, honestly though no child should have to go through such an awful situation in their life. I believe that every single child has the right to live a better life. Sadly, this is not the case for most of the children in Lafiteau, after billions of dollars that have disbursed to non-governmental organizations in Haiti to help the Haitians back on their feet yet there are thousands of children who are still starving every day and never have a chance to enter a classroom. This, to me, is not right, this situation is not about aid and charity, and I believe this is an issue of social justice. Months after the earthquake in Haiti, a cholera outbreak started in the country and killed over seven thousand people and affected tens of thousands of others. It only takes one bottle of clean water and some antibiotic to treat someone from getting majorly affected with cholera yet seven thousand people died, include children, from cholera despite billions of dollars that were given to help the poor Haitian children and their families. This is just devastating and heartbreaking to hear. Today, I want to be a voice; the voice of the forgotten children of my hometown Lafiteau. These children are innocent, unfortunately, they have been forgotten by the people that were supposed to represent them, but they are happy to know that there are people who can still make a difference in their lives. I am talking to you; we can and should do something. No matter how small our actions may be in the scope of all their needs, the fact that we are able to help these children with their needs will prove that change is possible. Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”