Saturday 12th January, 2013

Third Anniversary of the earthquake that hit Haiti, as we drove across town to the orphanage we saw men dressed in black suits and women in white, all seemed on their way to their private site of remembrance. We spent the afternoon with the kids not mentioning the date to them, we thought it best not to. The drive back was quieter on the roads with no traffic-jams; we made it back home in the quickest time ever. As the time drew nearer we spent time on the balcony in reflection, looking out over the city, just trying to comprehend what happened on that day. 30 seconds of shaking and up to 350,000 people lost their lives. Those who survived struggled to come to terms with what had happened. Our pastor told us that it took him one day to get home and find out about his family, all were safe. Children were left wandering the streets after losing both parents. Living here we see the destruction all around us, but cannot even come to terms with what they went through. 

(Below pictures and text taken from the internet: MercuryNews.com)

  

Haiti's President Michel Martelly, left, UN special envoy to Haiti and former President Bill Clinton, center ,and Haiti's first lady Sophia Martelly, right center, attend a memorial service for victims of the 2010 earthquake, at Titanyen, a mass burial site north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Haitians recalled the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary Saturday with a simple ceremony. Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Relatives of those who died in the 2010 earthquake walk in single file to place a cross on a hilltop to remember those who died in the devastating earthquake.  

Crosses erected to remember the lives lost in the January 2010 earthquake are seen at a mass burial site at Morne St. Christophe January 12, 2013. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton flew to Haiti on Saturday to join the country's president, Michel Martelly, at an official commemoration of the third anniversary of the earthquake.

 Relatives of those who died in the 2010 earthquake descend a hilltop.

 A man pays his respects at a makeshift memorial for victims.

 Women lay prostrate in prayer.

A man sweeps an exposed tiled area of the earthquake-damaged Santa Ana Catholic church, where he now lives.