Remembering Haiti’s Devastating Earthquake, 10 Years Later

As the calendar marked the decade since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake, we remember the day by giving voice to the memories of the children at Have Faith Haiti who have never forgotten. You can watch the short video below.

Mitch Albom also brought attention to the attention that must still be paid with an editorial in the Los Angeles Times:

Opinion: Helping one child at a time in Haiti 10 years after the devastation

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — It’s been 10 years since Haiti suffered the magnitude 7.0 quake that killed over 300,000 of its people and left more than a million displaced. The scale of the destruction left the Haitian economy, its government and daily life indelibly changed.

January marks two important days for our family at the mission. On the 9th, just a few days before the earthquake, is Chika’s birthday. She would have been 10 this year. Mitch wrote about the bittersweet remembrance as well, in the Detroit Free Press.

Chika’s birthday bittersweet, 10 years after Haiti earthquake

How do you celebrate a missing loved one’s birthday? How do you mark a date that used to be so happy and now is fraught with sadness and nostalgia? I know so many people who have lost family members, a byproduct of getting older myself, and when their birthdays come around they are filled with ennui. Some host commemorative parties. Some post old photos. Some visit cemeteries. Some just want to be left alone, to think about the years that might have been.