Let's Care About What Happens to People in Haiti

The Jerusalem Post? Where is the American mainstream media?
http://tinyurl.com/55ykuy

"Floods caused by tropical storm Hanna claim 529 lives in Haiti
By Jerusalem POST STAFF AND Associated Press

Death tolls reached 529 in Haiti, as more bodies were discovered on Saturday when Hurricane Hanna flood waters continued to recede.

Hanna weakened to become a tropical storm after hitting Haiti.

UN peacekeeping troops began handing out food and water to famished Haitians on Friday after the first shipload of aid sailed into a crumbling port on the outskirts of this flooded city, where tens of thousands were stranded in the wake of Tropical Storm Hanna.

But the respite was expected to be brief. Hurricane Ike, a dangerous Category 3 storm, was forecast to pass just north of Haiti on Sunday. Even if Haiti avoided a direct hit, Ike was almost certain to bring rain to the fertile Artibonite Valley, whose rivers funnel into Gonaives, Haiti's fourth-largest city, and the surrounding flood plain.

On Friday, the European Union promised US$2.85 million to provide storm victims with food, water, shelter, basic medical care and household equipment."

Americans are so consumed with news about us, the "US", and are therefore media-oblivious to the enormous tragedy happening to people living poverty in our hemisphere.

Now Hurricane Ike is likewise going to affect these same desperate Haitian people.

Can Americans do as least as much as the European Union, by reaching out to these afflicted Haitian people with money, health care and emergency food?

Hopefully, America will quickly rise above our political angst right now, to care for the poor vulnerable people in a suffering Haitian population.

And, we must pray for them to have the strength to endure.

Memere's Catalpa Trees

Grandmother's (Memere's) catalpas give family roots: Portland Press Herald JULIANA L'HEUREUX September 3, 2008 People walking past our Topsham home frequently stop to ask about the four Catalpa trees in the front yard. One lady even called a local tree nursery to inquire about how to buy one. Our family's Catalpa trees are connected to a family heritage started in Sanford, where my Franco-American mother-in-law, Memere Rose Morin L'Heureux, started the tradition. As a result of her love for Catalpas, four generations of Memere's trees connect us all to the two she grew in the front yard of her Sanford homes. Each of her five children, her grandchildren and even a few great- grandchildren grow at least one Catalpa tree, all from Memere's own trees. "We don't grow just any Catalpa trees," said Ann Lapoint Frechette of Alfred, a granddaughter of Memere L'Heureux. "We want Memere's trees." Memere's two Catalpas grew to more than 30 feet high, sprawling over the gabled roof of her family's screened front porch. The Catalpas provided welcome summer shade to the family's Freemont Street house in Sanford's Ridgeway neighborhood. Memere transplanted her two trees from sprouts she dug up and took with her when the family moved in 1936 from Roberts to Freemont Street. Shade notwithstanding, Memere especially admired the tree's lovely blossoms. She beamed like a sunflower at high noon when the exquisitely fragrant blossoms adorned the trees in early summer. "Les belle fleurs," said Memere about her Catalpa's fragrant blooms. Our family tradition of growing Memere's Catalpas began when we noticed sprouts of Catalpa trees appearing in Memere's yard. Sprouts grow easily from the large bean pod seeds they throw off each summer. Rather than mow the sprouts down, we began transplanting them. We discovered how surprisingly easy they are to transplant. My daughter-in-law left one of the tree sprouts in a pot in her garage over the winter; but it was still healthy enough to grow when she planted it in her Scarborough yard the next spring. They don't require much maintenance or special soil. The trees grow amazingly fast. Actually, one particularly cold winter seriously damaged Memere's two Sanford trees, but the roots sprouted into two nearly full-grown replacements in about six years. In our 20 years' experience growing Memere's Catalpas, we can raise a small twig into a medium-sized blooming tree within about six years of planting. Memere's Catalpa trees help our family to stay connected by our genealogical roots. We compare their growing progress like they are children. Of course, we're on the lookout for those tree sprouts to show up in the lawn or flower beds so we can pass them along to other family members. There's always room for one more of Memere's Catalpas in our family's yard. In Sanford, two 40-foot high descendents of her trees are growing on the yard at Storer and Main streets. Other descendents continue to grow in Sanford, Brunswick, Topsham, Scarborough and Alfred, as well as in Massachusetts and Virginia. They are literally part of our family's Franco-American roots. Juliana L'Heureux can be contacted at: Juliana@mainewriter.com