Haitian Resilience a Silver Lining Amid Devastation

Haitians are showing remarkable resilience even as they struggle through dire living conditions and unspeakable loss after the Jan. 12 quake, an official of Mercy Corps said.

In a recent visit to Port-au-Prince, Linda Mason, Mercy Corps’ chair of the board, saw a silver lining amid the surrounding devastation and noted that aid agencies may tap the Haitian people’s “enterprising spirit and give people the tools to help themselves.”

She remarked: “Everywhere I went, they were making the most of meager resources – washing a shirt in a plastic bottle of water, taking scraps of food and stretching them into a meal, scavenging through rubble to find material to rebuild a hut. Their enterprising spirit and drive for survival sprung quickly to life after the earthquake.”