Haiti has had the world’s attention since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck on Jan. 12.
?? ?Millions have turned to the television to watch the devastation caused by the quake and its subsequent aftershocks. Donations for relief have poured in from all over the world to aid the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. From musicians like Wyclef Jean to the USM community, everyone wants to help. Although almost 2,000 miles away, Haiti’s disaster has still been felt by some USM students.
??? The disaster hit home for USM freshman Jonathan D’Haiti. His father is Haitian and many family members still live there. Although he said that some of his extended family died in the earthquake, he declined to elaborate.
?? ?D’Haiti said some of his cousins were “saved by the grace of God.”
?? ?The earthquake struck during his cousins’ walk home from school. “They weren’t at school and they weren’t at home. They were actually in the streets when the earthquake happened. And that’s how they survived, because they weren’t in any buildings,” said D’Haiti.
??? D’Haiti visited Haiti with his father last April and plans on visiting again this spring, but he’s not sure what they will be able to do to help later this year. “When it first happened my dad and I were talking about trying to rush down there and join in the effort for help, but almost immediately they canceled all commercial flights,” said D’Haiti. They also looked into joining an organization traveling to Haiti, but were unable to.
?? ?Haiti has struggled long before the earthquake leveled its capital. About 80 percent of the country lives below the poverty line and two-thirds of the labor force don’t have formal jobs, according to the CIA’s World Factbook website. Amid the growing death toll and toppled buildings, D’Haiti still sees hope for his family’s country. “There’s a lot of Haitians that think this is gonna be a good gateway for a turn around. You look at all this money that is being poured in for relief. Haiti could have used that before this earthquake,” he said. “Now that everyone who didn’t have anything, absolutely has nothing now, the only way is up now.”
? Twice a year groups from USM’s nursing and sports medicine programs travel to the Dominican Republic to provide health care and distribute medicine for the Partners in Rural Health project. The roughly thirty USM students who went this year experienced the earthquake first hand. The earthquake frightened some of the students and made others light headed. It only registered as a 3.2 where the USM group was located, but most of the students had never felt an earthquake before.
?? ?”I wasn’t really shaken up by it. To me if just felt like someone was shaking the building,” said senior Athletic Training major Gretchen Appleby. “Then I realized it was a cement building,”
?? ?The group didn’t learn of the destruction in Haiti until later that night. “When the earthquake happened we had no idea what was going on on the other part of the island,” said Appleby. “Some students wanted to go over to Haiti and help.”
?? ?They stayed in the Dominican Republic to continue providing help and returned to Maine Jan. 16.