Dear Editor,
It was CNN’s ‘Breaking News’ that alerted me last Tuesday to the Haiti catastrophe of an earthquake with a magnitude of some 7.0 on the Richter scale. Thereafter it was the media – electronic, print and audio through which the world was kept informed. A web site was opened to locate missing persons and was effective. The power of the media was demonstrated as they all competed for news to be relayed.
Guyana has committed US$1M and there are fund-raising efforts by various organizations which I trust will be transparent.
To understand Haiti, one has to be acquainted with its history; it has a people with resilience who have struggled and fought for independence but who have never been truly liberated. Haiti is still under the rubble tapping, but who really is listening? I trust that this catastrophe will release Haiti from the shackles that have bound it all these years preventing its re-birth.
Yours faithfully,
VO Patrick
