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“… it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us …”
Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities
It was Tuesday afternoon in May, and I was looking out the airplane window over Port au Prince, reflecting on my stay. Dickens’s words, which follow the more well-known “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” seemed to fit almost literally – just as the sprawl of the city slums gives way to the beauty of the Caribbean ocean, the winter of despair following the January earthquake was giving way to a season of hope. The Haitian people, my hosts for the past five days, have been beaten down by months of tragedy, by decades of misgovernment, by centuries of poverty. But they continue to be warm and welcoming, optimistic and resilient. Through their pain and struggle radiate hope for their future, for their children, for their country.