I’m Fabiola, a part of Mercy Corps Haiti’s staff of nationals, hired as the communication officer about three weeks ago. Needless to say, keeping up with Mercy Corps’ energy and momentum has been challenging but mostly fun and almost always rewarding.

Today, I’m attending a Comfort for Kids training that is taking place in the heart of Port-au-Prince, near Champs de Mars where a large number of my displaced countrymen have been living since the earthquake struck on January 12. On this rather cold Tuesday morning, 19 participants — mostly pediatricians, a few nurses and even an anesthesiologist — have gathered to hear what Griff Samples’ (our psycho-social super-hero) team has prepared for them.

For the first time, I’m learning about the four pillars of human existence: people, places, routines and traditions. Clearly these are all concepts we are familiar with, factors we deal with daily.

Today, our Comfort for Kids trainers are using these factors in an interesting metaphor: imagine these pillars as four legs holding up the table of life. If this is the case, on January 12, the table of Haitian life collapsed and the four pillars of our existence were[...]

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