I spent five days in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew slammed into the small island nation. I’ve been reporting from disasters for years now, and I walked away from Haiti affected by what I saw. I watched funeral processions for small children who drowned when a community flooded. I met families who had lost everything, the little they had. I listened to the stories of brave men and women who survived and helped others survive.

But even in times of disaster, in somber and serious moments, you can still find laughter and joking. It’s one of those quintessential human qualities: the ability to laugh in the face of tragedy. When people ask what it’s like to tell stories in humanitarian and disaster zones, I often think about these moments. Giggling children running over debris, teenagers laughing at jokes in the shade of destroyed churches. It’s the funny, life giving humanity we all share in dark times. It’s a hard thing to describe in an elevator or in passing, but the reality is that we are resilient. Haitians are resilient. We survive. We laugh. We go on.

To get involved or donate, please consider Compassion International. You can learn more by visiting here.
http://www.compassion.com/haiti-hurricane-donation.htm

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