to whom my heart responds...

My minor in school was Latin American Studies.  I took several classes about Latin America, all of which covered different things and defined Latin America differently.  In those classes, many of the topics included the country of Haiti. Although Haiti is not a country that speaks Spanish,  it is on the island of Hispaniola, right next to the Dominican Republic and can be considered part of Latin America (depending on who you talk to).  When Columbus discovered this island, there were many indigenous people, but with the Spanish settling there, they were killed by diseases the Spanish brought, so they had to bring in slaves from Africa to do the work that they had made the indigenous people do.  This is why Dominicans and Haitians are so dark skinned and why spanish is mixed in (for the Dominicans).    
On my mission, I gained a great love for the people of the Caribbean.  Although I primarily worked with Dominicans, it pushed me to have an interest in the island there.  As we have all heard on the news recently, Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. It is even poorer than the DR, which is so close to them.  My heart sunk the moment I heard about the earthquake in Haiti because I immediately knew from what I have learned earlier that this was so tragic.  This country will take a long time to recover. It already needed help to build it before the earthquake and now what was there is destroyed. I wonder what the future will hold there. 


After all of my babbling above, what I feel most of all is clearly reflected in the quote below: 


“My life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.”  Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I am so glad that I know exactly where to donate money for the people of Haiti.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is always the first to respond with donations and first-aid supplies.  I know that donating my money to the humanitarian fund will ensure that it goes straight to the people in need and not anywhere else.  And although my life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds, I know that it can at least do this.

http://give.lds.org/emergencyresponse