Hand-to-mouth

"Hand-to-mouth -- "barely enough food or money to satisfy immediate, basic needs"

This phrase occurred to me a couple of days ago as I was wrapping up filming and packing for a few days in Cap Haitien.  The entire time I've been in Haiti I have been being extremely cautious about putting my hands to my mouth, and have been especially careful not to get water into my mouth when bathing.   So far this trip has served as my first trip here without getting sick!!

But how do you love someone genuinely - in the way we love each other out in the streets, like a neighbor greeting you kindly as you walk by their mangoes neatly lined up on a fabric on the ground, and with an open heart, grateful to be in their country, graced by their culture, in awe of their kindness -- then walk away spritzing your hands with sanitizer.....?

Hand to mouth.......my hand embraces your hand......we stare into each others eyes for a moment with a great deal of joy and delight........and I walk away to a car and spray spritzer on my hands......

I find this part of traveling here to be extremely confronting.  Hopefully, my Haitian brothers and sisters are spritzing their hands too.  You never know what these foreigners are bringing into the country.....

But the phrase has taken on a whole new significance for much of Haiti, as this cholera outbreak threatens to move into epidemic status.   It was discovered yesterday that the ground water of Port au Prince is contaminated with cholera (I do not have a reference for this, nor do I know if it refers to all of Port au Prince or only certain regions.  But I did hear it from a reliable source.....)

How would you clean your hands before eating if the only water you had was contaminated water?  What if the only water you have access to drink is contaminated water?  Or how about this -- what if the tent where you live with your family is literally a few feet away from open raw sewage, contaminating the air you breathe let alone the ground beneath your feet?

One of my new friends in Haiti, Daniel, says Haiti is surrounded by angels, protecting and guarding it and its inhabitants.  I am using all my psychic/spiritual/shamanic powers to view these angels guarding every hand, every mouth, every one who lives, eats, drinks, sleeps, and loves in Port au Prince.

Certainly SOIL is taking every precaution, going to 20,000 tents door to door to educate and inform people about how to avoid, recognize, and treat cholera.  In addition they are implementing new safe practices for their staff,  and I view their efforts as part of that powerful tribe of angels, protecting a peaceful people from yet another devastation......

One would think that the billions of dollars of aid that was promised to this tiny country might finally be released to ward off an epidemic.   Would you consider contacting your representative to ask them why the aid promised by the U.S. government has not been released?

Houses for Haiti!  Clean water for all humans!  Adequate, sustainable sanitation in every home!  No more hand-to-mouth, no more basic human rights lost to political agendas, no more lives lost due to de-valuing of the poor and displaced......

Hope for Haiti is hope for all of humanity --