A frontpage article in the Washington Post caught my undivided attention and stirred my mind free of all indolent thoughts this rainy Sunday morning.

The title, in short, sums it up: Destruction of schools in Haiti quake crushes hopes of a better future for many (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012203476.html).

As my eyes carefully scanned the lines of fine print detailing the tremendous loss of infrastructure, namely school buildings, campuses, supplies, blackboards, notebooks, and desks, I was instantly reminded of Givology's mission that pivots around the meaning of education.

The numbers raised in the article are telling: 75% of campuses in the capital alone lie in devastation.

The economic, social, and political implications of this earthquake deserve headlines of their own. But this article gives particular emphasis on the educational implications, arguably the most significant in this god-forsaken country which has endured years of political turmoil, foreign interventions, and natural disasters.

The outlook appears grim to say the least. One hard fact stuck with me: the meaning of education is so important to Haitians young and old that at least one school building has emerged on every block in the city prior to the quake.

And now most of those lie in ruins. The impact of the earthquake while measurable in numbers is indescribable in words. Let's not turn these victims, especially the children of victims, into mere statistics, for the earthquake has not only left them homeless, hungry, some orphaned, some crippled, but more tragically, it has left them all the more disillusioned and disenchanted with what the future holds. Education used to be their only hope, attendance at schools and performace on exams their only ticket to a better life; but even that simple, seemingly realizable equation has been mercilessly erased overnight by something as unnatural and unpredictable as a 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

This is truly a travesty. All my heart and prayers go out to those fine Haitian students desperately holding on to the last glimpse of hope of a path to a better life.

Moreover, I entrust in the bureaucratic might and resources of the education ministry as well as the generous donations and knowledge-sharing power of international organizations to rebuild the schools in a timely manner, all in an effort to rekindle the light of hope that schools may bring to warm the hearts of those who have lost loved ones and, most urgently, to reinstill their strong faith in the powerful meaning of education.