Leaving tomorrow for my Canadian Winterland after close to 6 months in Sri Lanka. I sit on my terrace sipping coffee watching the crows gorge on a jackfruit in the neighbor’s tree. The temperature has not yet reached 30 degrees, it’s balmy, the sky is blue, the dappled sunlight is making its way toward my chair. We woke up before dawn this morning, restless and not knowing why. On his way down the stairs, Fred lost his balance, missed a few steps to land on his knees on the landing where a collection of West African masks are hanging on the wall. He called me from the office later to tell me to watch the world news. Haïti has been devastated by a major earthquake at 3:00 AM our time. Somehow, we felt the connection, sensed that something was terribly wrong, thousands of miles away. He spent all day phoning the Embassies, his relatives in the US and Canada, trying to find out if members of his extended family were safe. I sent e-mails to show support to some of my friends. I am not able to make sense of this catastrophe.