Homeland

The 2010 Haiti earthquake occurred at 4:53 PM on January 12th. At that time, everyone could feel the shock and observe the atmosphere. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise and saw the sky turning into a cloud of dust and I felt the earth tremble.  Then I saw houses collapse. I said that it was an earthquake. At that moment, I was trying to get away from the houses by running to a public square located a few steps from the street where I was driving in our car. I noticed the damage, and I heard people screaming mixed with this strange noise goudou…goudou…goudou.

The 2010 earthquake was a catastrophic earthquake of magnitude 7.0. The epicentre of the earthquake was located in Leogane which is my birth town; I experienced everything. After 12 days, around 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 magnitudes had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected in many ways by the earthquake including 300,000 deaths according to the local media of the time. Many buildings were destroyed or damaged. The meaning of life had changed. In my own family, five of my relatives were killed, as well as two of our children.

The day after the earthquake, I started organizing a space to welcome children while their parents were busy running after humanitarian aid. My family and I understood that they needed a safe place to be for talking, playing, sharing their worries and sorrows, expressing their lack and understanding. They needed to understand what had happened and what kind of security guidance should be known and done to protect themselves. After one week, all my family’s food store was distributed to children. Two weeks later, an organization I had founded two years before, “Fondation Feuilles d’hier”, made a partnership with the International organization “Save the Children” who gave us funds to manage 1,300 children who had taken refuge in our camp. Also, for 8 months, we managed a “child friendly space” for 1, 300 children to help the families overcome that difficult situation, reunited separated children with their families and made the transition to school after 8 months of crisis.

That psycho-social project for helping children and families through these difficult times was healing for all my family members because we had done it voluntarily to help children regain their smiles and families the strength to go forward. I was pleased to be able to help these children and families overcome those difficult times.