More Haiti

There has been so much chatter inside my head this week concerning the situation in Haiti. The news coverage has alternately made me inwardly scream with anger at the an anchors for completely getting it wrong or cheer for them for getting a story right. For days and days I wondered, WHERE ARE THE STORIES ON THE ORPHANAGES??? Where are the stories on the American kids stuck in crumbled orphanages that no longer even exist now sleeping in fields surviving on 1/3 of a cup of water a day (maybe) if they are lucky and no food, no formula for the babies, with loving families just waiting for them here at home? I knew the situation at the Bresma orphanage was growing increasingly dire, as it was at God's Littlest Angels. From their reports, I was only able to surmise what other orphanages must be going through. Fuel shortages to run their generators and therefor purify their water. Food and water shortages. No aid arriving. Sitting in the the sun, sleeping outside to avoid aftershocks. Babies in great need of hydration. My heart was beginning to sicken. I can not handle thinking of these things.
And then, the stories started happening. The push on the blogs maybe started paying off. You would do anything for your children, would you not? I would. If my child was sitting in a field literally dying of thirst, I would camp myself out and bang on every government official's door I could find. I would call every network. Get on every show. Tell EVERYONE. And you know what? It worked. A major TV push. Publicity. Crying mothers and fathers, video of beautiful helpless children. Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania flew a plane down to Haiti last night and escorted 54 orphans back to the states, where they will receive medical care and nourishment until their families can come pick them up.
Today I am hearing still more focus from the news on the orphan situation in Haiti. I am relieved to see this focus happening. Haiti's adoption process is long, involved, and hard. Many of these parents have been waiting to bring these children home for years. This earthquake was horrific. No parent wants their child to go through something like this, especially away from them. But if any good can come of it, then let it come. Let these adoptions, that are already legal and in the final stages, be expedited and finalized so that these kids can join the families that they belong to.
And to those who are splittering and splathering on tv about the running of the airstrip and how its not fair that an airplane got to land to pick up orphans, while critical supply planes had to wait, well I have a lot to say to you. None of it is nice. None of it is helpful to the situation. All of it would make me feel better. I will exercise something I am not accustomed to exercising, and that is some self-control. But I did throw a styrofoam dart at your face.