1 Week Later

It's hard to believe that it's already been 7 days since the earthquake hit. Miraculously, people were still being pulled out alive as of this morning. The death toll is somewhere between 100,000-150,000 in Port-au-Prince alone. 24 Americans dead and 25 more are presumed dead.

I must confess that I haven't watched a single thing about the earthquake or it's aftermath on the news. I tell myself that I already know how terrible things are and that I need not be reminded by the media. The reality is, I'm too scared to watch the news. It's hard enough for me to find the strength to continue each day knowing that so many people I care about are suffering incomprehensibly. I'm doing what I can to raise money, to mobilize the Brown community and educate people about the situation in Haiti both before and after the earthquake. I find myself hopeful one moment and in agony the next. So much good is being done. So many people have opened up their hearts to the people of Haiti. Politicians have put aside their differences and come together and nations all over the world have stepped forward to join forces. Haiti and its devastation has once again become household knowledge. The question is, for how long? Will we pull out before the real problems are fixed? Will we stop helping once we know the total body count and once the palace is rebuilt? Will we forget about Haiti and the remaining nine million victims of absolute poverty that still live? Or, will we change the fate of these people and give Haiti the support, strength and guidance needed to rebuild what was once a powerful nation that inspired freedom among the world? I pray for the latter.

After President Simmons called for the formation of the Haiti Crisis Response Committee at Brown, I was appointed to lead the medical working group portion with Director of Infectious Disease, Dr. Tim Flanigan. In trying to balance my studies, I've had to give up sleep to make sure that I reach the goals I've created in mobilizing the community and developing a plan for long-term partnerships between Brown and Haiti. Sleep hasn't come easy these last few weeks. I can't close my eyes without picturing my friends buried under rubble and children screaming. At least awake, I can distract myself with work.

"I know that there is a frustration amongst Haitian people, but when I met them, from their faces, I have seen that they have great hope and they are a great, resilient people," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told CNN's Christian Amanpour on Monday.