Today, many many requests came in for “counseling” or “psychological” help. Organizations, individuals, friends of friends, colleagues co-workers. This is not a common request in Haiti–this is a measure of how deep the loss drives into hearts and minds here
One example–a woman who lost her husband and 2 of 3 children and is self-described as “grieving intensely” and “trying to comprehend”—and is looking for counseling for a young man who was mentored by her husband because he spent 15 hours buried in rubble and “heard the screams and last words of my husband and children.”
Comprehend? Its impossible.
I spend each moment riding a wave that alternates its crest at despair and hope. Each drive to and from a place shows me yet more concrete that has suffocated the life out of more people than will ever be known. My gut guess–1/2 million gone. And, we’ll never know, nor comprehend.
Each night, singing and chanting. Melodic prayers like comfort blankets in the cool night air
People who have not given up hope.