The Union Makes Us Strong

When I was in Haiti I was impressed by the peoples' ability to look out for each other.
Jean Rony is one of the men I helped care for. He was in his office on the 3rd floor of a building when the January 2010 earthquake struck. He fell with the collapsing building and broke his leg. When I met him he along with about 40 other men were sleeping on cots and receiving medical care in a tent on the grounds of Sacre Coeur Hospital in Milot, Haiti. He was changing the soiled diaper of a gentleman in the cot next to him whose injuries from the earthquake left him paralyzed from the waist down. I asked Jean if he were part of that man's family. "No," he said with a smile. Confused I asked him how he was related. Jean Rony explained to me that he had just met him when he got assigned his cot in the tent in Milot. He hadn't known him before but he was his bed neighbor now. He cared for him because he was the one next to him.

Like most Haitians, it was easy for him to work for and with his fellow Haitians. They know that united they can stand, but that divided they will not survive.

Haiti's motto is "L'union fait la force." There's strength in unity or as the song 'Solidarity Forever' sings: The Union makes us strong.