Right folks it’s a new year and with it new triumphs and new disasters. I try to refrain from hectoring on this site of ours but hector, a little, I must. 

With what has happened in Haiti it is now more important than ever to not give a damn about creed, colour or geographical position but realise instead it only matters that it’s happening on this earth right now. Not far, far away. Here, now. Terrifying how a nation can literally crumble to dust and bone and rock in the blink of an eye. The first person to try and fit this into ‘god’s great plan’ gets a punch in the nose. This is no plan. This is chaos. This is a very cruel reality that no one should have to suffer through alone. These people need to know the world is watching, it cares and is acting. 

There are many other things that need attending to in the world and we can’t all care about them all the time. That’s why we need charities like Save The Children, One and oneXone to do the hard stuff for us all. Charity is not a naughty word, apathy is. I was apathetic or at least bemused in earlier stages of my life. Bemused about how to help or what to donate to or even what to care about. Yes charity funds to third world countries are often misappropriated by greedy despots or corrupt officials and we should perhaps teach (give a man a fish…etc) rather than supplement but in the case of the complete destruction of Port-au-Prince in recent days money is necessary and fast. So giving something to charities like those above is vital.

I’ll not go on and on as I know you’ll all be as horrified as I am watching the footage from Haiti in the last few days with, I’m sure, the same feeling of paralysing powerlessness. Money may seem like an empty gesture but put into the right hands it can make a huge difference. I’ve seen it work (and also not work) in Uganda first hand and when it works (clean water, new schools, vaccinations and AIDS drugs) it is a special thing indeed. I’ll not bang my fist on the table like Sir Bob and yell at you but I could hardly just post up one of my usual rambling monologues in the light of what’s happened. Those of you expecting one of those well, all in good time. For anyone that would like to learn more about the situation there and how aid is being delivered then please check out oneXone at www.onexone.org as I know for a fact these guys are acting by getting doctors, aid and medicine into the right hands.

To everyone peace, love and understanding. Lots of love. Gary.x