Dear kids: 'Why I left last week for Haiti'

Charlotte doctor Marc Lewin says his children Max, 8, Kate, 7, and Charlie, 5, don’t quite get why their dad came to Haiti. The family physician wrote them this letter to try and explain.

Dear Max, Kate, and Charlie.

I am writing this letter to you because I want you to understand why I left last week for Haiti and because I want you to know how lucky you are.

There was a big earthquake last month in a small country called Haiti and many, many people died. Even more people where hurt and lost everything they had, including their family and their homes.

Haiti is a very poor country and there aren’t enough hospitals and doctors to help all the injured people. On top of that, some of the hospitals were destroyed in the earthquake. This is why I came here, because we have to much and they have so little.

You also know that I speak French and that is the language that many Haitian people speak. So you see, it is important to learn other languages.

The hospital I am working at is made up of a bunch of a very large tents in a field. I am the doctor for Tent #2, which has thirty-five women, some of the them are pregnant. All of them have serious injuries.

Let me tell you about one. Her name is Virginie. She is twenty-seven years old. Her whole family was killed in the earthquake. She was trapped without food or water for fifteen days until she was rescued. She lost her right arm and has a badly broken right leg, which was fixed with surgery. She is learning to walk again now.

I can see in her face that she hurts with every step, but she never complains. Instead, she tells me “thank you” many times every day for helping her.

This has been my experience with all the Haitian people. They are warm and grateful and never complain.

I feel so terrible for these people who have suffered so much and yet I think they have a lot to teach us about being grateful for what we have. I hope that, somehow in your lives, you will learn this.

I love you and I look forward to seeing you at home soon.

Love,

Daddy