A Birthday Wish - Haiti Earthquake

posted on: Jan 13 2010 23:45 by The Reporter. Viewed 652 times.


Today, I met some friends at my door, who now I would like to call my heroes.  I unloaded my cupboards, I gave money and I canceled ads for my new business so I could give more.  I kept reminding myself, "There is no pocket on that last shirt."  Now, let me tell you about these heroes.

They deserve to have their stories told.  I want people to not only know their names, but the risks they are taking and the horrors they are enduring.  As I sit awake in the middle of the night writing this, they are kissing their loved ones goodnight, packing their bags full of food and supplies and embarking on a long and dangerous journey to Haiti.  These Haitian friends of mine are writing down their emergency numbers and stuffing money for travel in their clothes.  They are carefully calculating the cost of crossing the border of the country they worked so hard to enter.  Earlier this evening, we discussed what they should bring, knowing that if they brought too much it would make them targets for robbery.  The final decision � enough food for seven days for the three of them.  I know them, and I fear that they will not ration and leave enough food for themselves.  I can�t imagine how hard it would be to make the decision to hoard when so many around you are suffering.

Wilner is a preschool teacher at the DREAM Center in Cabarete.  My dear friend Sarah Ross chose to hire him as a preschool teacher even though he was working as a mototaxi driver.  He told Sarah, "Sarah I am so honored that you believe in me to be a teacher, but I am not qualified." Sarah thought quite differently and convinced him that he was wrong.  Over the next 10 months, I watched as Sarah mentored Wilner and with love and admiration, bringing out the teacher in him that was always there.  Wilner is an inspirational leader.  Tonight at 3 AM he left his wife and five small children to go find a missing boy named Watson in Haiti.  I was the lucky one that got to have him for dinner tonight.  It was a fast meal, as he was so busy preparing for his trip.  My son proudly served him his dinner, as he too recognized the heroism in Wilner.  When Wilner left my house last night my heart began to break and the reality of what was going on sunk in.  He was heading towards a war zone and even though he is legal immigrant in the D.R., he may not make it back.  The borders may be closed, he may run out of money, find himself in a mob of hungry people or fall into a riot.

Wilner had to go to accompany two other women who are also heroes.  It is not safe for these women to travel alone - not in these times, not when you are Haitian, not in the DR and not even in Haiti.

Yvette is a nurse and her skills will be needed more than ever over the next few months.  However, she did not leave tonight just to help injured people, she also left to find her loved ones.  Her entire family lives at the epicenter of the quake and she has not had any contact with them.  As hard as it was for her, she left her 4 and 8 year old and her new foster child in the care of my friends, Jessica and Lisa.  As she was leaving, I fought back tears, thinking of my own children at that age having to deal with a situation such as this.  Like Wilner, Yvette may not be back as soon as we want.  I am scared for her and I am worried about her children that she left behind. We need to take extra special care of them this week.  They are children of a brave and strong woman who will kiss them goodnight at 3 AM tonight as she leaves for a dangerous journey.  A journey with an unknown ending - will her loved ones be alive?  

Silvia is yet another hero because she is an incredible mother.  She has very little income but works hard to support her family.  She knows that education is the path out of poverty and has done everything in her power to make sure her four children get the best she can give them.  For her it meant sending her 17 year-old back to Haiti to study in a free bilingual school in Port-au-Prince.  She received a panicked call from him as he explained to her that he was trapped in his school that collapsed.  After a few moments of hearing the hysteria, the line went dead and she did not hear from him again.  She could not eat and she was shaking all day long. I tried to tell her it was not safe and that she should not go, but then I realized how ridiculous I sounded.  "Her son is missing," I thought, "Of course she should go!"  When she left my home I promised her that we would check in on her little ones who were in school and make sure they were well looked after while she was gone.

So Monday they are all to return.  Monday is my birthday.  Although I do not pray much - today I think I need to... "Dear God, If I can have just one present on my birthday, please bring them back... the four of them that is.

By Patricia Suriel

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