The Suffering I See

I stop in at International Aid every so often, to see if they can help me with equipment or supplies or whatever.  Every time I go in there the first thing I see is this beautiful wall decor (I guess that’s what you call it) on the wall behind the reception desk.  It’s a simple yet beautiful depiction of sick and hurting people on their way to get help.  It reminds me so much of Haiti.  I can’t tell you how many times this simple wall silhouette has taken on the dimensions of color and movement and smell.  Not to mention the awful sounds of suffering.

I am frustrated when I try to describe the suffering I see. I try hard, but when I’m done with my description, I walk away feeling like I’ve left people with a silhouette, some wall-decor-ish, stick-figure rendition of what it’s really like. It’s hard to depict mourning and tears on a stick figure drawing.

Part of me wants to be discrete and unoffensive to those who read this stuff.  I don’t want to appear exploitive or voyeuristic even. I don’t want to be Geraldo, some first-on-the-scene, report-it-and-boogie-to-the-next-story journalist.

On the other hand, I must journal-it.  Haiti’s story needs to be told, and if, in hearing and seeing Haiti’s story of mourning and suffering, people are squeamish, oh well.

A little mourning sickness might just get our attention.

Blessings,
Steve

P.S.  I would love to find out where we could find this wall decor to put up in our guesthouse.  If anyone knows how to go about finding it, let me know.