In an email update from Port-au-Prince to our Florida headquarters, Cross International Catholic Outreach Projects Officer Michael Wilson describes a nation picking itself up by its bootstraps. His observation—a testament to the incredible resilience of the Haitian people—is excerpted here:

Michael Wilson, Cross International Projects Officer

There are signs of normalcy, whatever that means in a Haiti that is forever changed.  We saw a few banks open.  Gas stations.  A grocery store.  Haiti-grown staples seem to be abundant on the streets and in the markets.  Claudio bought a mamit of beans at the same price paid prior to the quake. Tap taps are running.  People are in the streets.  We have seen no looting, rioting, or anarchy that some have portrayed.  We have seen IDP camps in all sorts of places.  Water trucks giving out water.  Restaurants serving as soup kitchens.  And a spirit, while certainly battered and bruised, equally most certainly not broken.

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