This is a Personal Account from a 15 year old young lady who was on mission in Haiti at the time of the earthquake.
I just heard there was a 6.1 earthquake in Haiti this morning.
My body is in a panic - shaking, turning, - I feel sick to my stomach. My mind is a mess. I am so full of worry for my Haitian family. I wish there was some way i could call them, talk to them, see them - but I’m stuck in my comfortable home in Canada. I can’t help but think that if we had left on schedule rather than being evacuated we would still be there...able to comfort and help.
I guess you could say I’ve been through a lot in the past week.
When the actual earthquake hit, I was upstairs. For one quick, nonsensical moment I thought that the washing machine downstairs had clogged.
We had no washing machines.
Then, the floor started to move. The motion was so great we couldn’t stand. People screamed, glass shattered, things fell, the walls cracked. I literally dragged myself over to the the stairs where I hung on to the banister for dear life. I was quite calm - I knew I was going to die- but I wasn’t scared. I thought it was slightly ironic that I would die in the place I loved the most. I can’t remember getting down the stairs, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t get out of the building until after the quake was over. People we shouting “Get out, get out!” We gathered outside of the compound. Most of the team was sobbing, but I felt nothing. I could see the dust rising from all of the towns. Port au Prince was absolutely covered in a cloud of debris. We could hear the screams and cries from the nearby towns.
Within minutes, we could see people walking to our gates. After praying, all of the medical staff headed down to the clinic. After about 10 minutes, Lawrence came up and informed us that the clinic was swamped with injured and they were in need of help. I was one of the five helpers that went down. As soon I got to the clinic, I could hear the screams. People were lying on the cement. There was blood everywhere. I walked around with disinfectant and gauze, bandaging open wounds the best I could. I saw shattered bones sticking out of limbs; severely broken and fractured bodies; gaping wounds which exposed muscle and bone; dying children; dead children. I held the hands of mourning parents, embraced sobbing relatives, comforted those in unbelievable pain. During this time, I had pushed all emotion to the back of my mind. I was suppressing deep worries about the family and friends in nearby towns. However, sometime early into the night my mom pulled me aside and told me that they hadn’t found our group coordinator Ruben and my very close friend Sadrac. They were both at school in Port Au Prince during the quake. I almost broke at that point- but I knew I couldn’t. I threw myself into my work with all I had, attempting to push my pain to the back of my mind. I was literally sick to my stomach with worry. When Ruben finally came back, Sadrac was not with him. While I was happy to see him back, once I heard his story I was convinced Sadrac wasn’t coming back. Ruben (whose school is right across the road from Sadrac’s) was the only one in his class who survived. Then, another friend of ours who had also been in the same school as Ruben came in extremely distraught, telling us there was no way he could possibly be alive. I walked around like a ghost. Finally, Melonie motioned me over. When I finally sat down in the arms of someone who knew exactly how I was feeling, I broke down. We sobbed, and Melonie began to pray feverishly for our dear friend. Within minuets of our mourning and prayer, I heard two words I will never forget.
“He’s back.”
I jumped up screaming and clung to him with everything I had. I was absolutely euphoric with happiness. I don’t know how long Mel, Sadrac and I clung to each other. We went up to the guest house to let everyone one know he was okay. To see the joy in the midst of the pain, the terror, the panic - is really one of the only things that kept me going. We went down to the clinic shortly after. For the next couple of days, I spent all of my time there. During this time, my respect for all of the medical personnel grew hugely. The amount that Dr. Cheryl, (chiropractor) Grant, (Paramedic) and all of the nurses and assistants did was absolutely unbelievable.
I tell people I had mixed emotions about leaving… but really, I didn’t. I had no desire to leave my Haitian family. I knew my family at home was okay, and I knew my family there was not. It really hurts me to be here when I have hurting family in Haiti. All I want right now is to go back. I know that my sound strange if you weren’t there, but my relationships with the people there progress far beyond the bonds of normal friendship. It is extremely difficult for me to adjust. The one thing I am holding on to is that God had a plan. While it may seem unbelievable that something good can come out of this tragedy, I know it can. In the paraphrased words of my dear friend Wicky, this will force Haiti to start over.
And really, thats what it needs.
