The Elmira community is going through the stages of grief these days, as more and more of the people whose lives were touched by Yvonne Martin continue to come to grips with her tragic death.
Here at the Independent, we have learned more and more of just how active a member of the community Martin was — the volunteering that just came naturally to a woman who lived to give.
Her heart, however, was often with the people of Haiti, a people she had grown to love in the three mission trips she had taken prior to this last one.
It is appropriate then, as we take stock of our own loss, for this community to commit to helping the country that Martin cared so much about.
Haiti, as we are well aware, was already an impoverished country before last week’s tragic earthquake. There is, after all, a reason why so many missionaries, including several from this area, have a connection to this nation.
Haiti has seen its share of war and poverty, of children dying for lack of clean water, of civil unrest that has made it a perennially unsafe country for many.
Yet, it is also a country with people who have a resilient, generous spirit, of people who can sing praises to God in the hours after a devastating earthquake.
This is a country that is going to need help for many years to come.
Even once all of the dead have been pulled from the rubble, and the injured have recovered from their injuries, even as roadways get restored, there will be great need.
While Port-au-Prince is the part of the country that many are talking about, considering the massive devastation that it received, the outlying areas are also going to be affected.
Rural residents will be unable to get the food they need, since trade routinely comes via Port-au-Prince.
There will be many who will simply die of starvation, while they wait for stores to restock their shelves.
We haven’t even touched on the pressing sanitary and hygiene needs, but readers can imagine how much help Haiti is going to need for the long term
We suggest that a good way to honour Yvonne Martin, and the woman she was is to continue to remember the Haitians today, and in the days to come.