Haiti in ruins: a personal account
Nathan Andrews
Issue date: 2/2/10 Section: News
Almost three weeks after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, nobody can dispute the fact that this disaster has been a devastating tragedy with death tolls rising to over 150,000.
The poorest country in the Western hemisphere now has to face telling consequences of a natural misfortune it had little control over. Still, 1.5 million people remain homeless on the street, out of the three million people who are estimated to been affected by the quake. Among the homeless are children under two, who need nutritional support, and pregnant women, who are in danger of having still births as a result of the lack of access to prenatal care.
Yet, amidst the sad news, there has come some good. First, donations and assistance in terms of food aid have been shipped to the ravaged country. Second, community groups, churches and individuals worldwide have turned to look at the country, offering support in diverse ways.
Also, the international community, despite the struggle for dominance among some powerful countries, has put all differences aside and have been thinking of how Haiti is going to be rebuilt.
It is also refreshing to know that, although the death tolls are nothing to rejoice over, some people managed a safe escape from the quake. Two Canadian women, Donna Thiessen and Alyson Stephenson, experienced the quake, watching buildings crumble and fall in front of them - yet they did not get hurt.
"I believe that I am in God's hands always and I believe that it was His hand that kept Alyson and I safe," said Thiessen. "We were very shaken in the earthquake, not something that I would like to be a part of again, buildings fell in front of us".
Thiessen, a Vineland resident and her travel mate, Stephenson, of Smithville were visiting the Baptist Haiti Mission and were also going to teach some of the Haitian women how to crochet plastic mats. This was Thiessen's third visit to the mission.
The two would have been in Port-au-Prince, where the earthquake hit hardest, but they had to wait for a partner who had arrived on an earlier plane.
The poorest country in the Western hemisphere now has to face telling consequences of a natural misfortune it had little control over. Still, 1.5 million people remain homeless on the street, out of the three million people who are estimated to been affected by the quake. Among the homeless are children under two, who need nutritional support, and pregnant women, who are in danger of having still births as a result of the lack of access to prenatal care.
Yet, amidst the sad news, there has come some good. First, donations and assistance in terms of food aid have been shipped to the ravaged country. Second, community groups, churches and individuals worldwide have turned to look at the country, offering support in diverse ways.
Also, the international community, despite the struggle for dominance among some powerful countries, has put all differences aside and have been thinking of how Haiti is going to be rebuilt.
It is also refreshing to know that, although the death tolls are nothing to rejoice over, some people managed a safe escape from the quake. Two Canadian women, Donna Thiessen and Alyson Stephenson, experienced the quake, watching buildings crumble and fall in front of them - yet they did not get hurt.
"I believe that I am in God's hands always and I believe that it was His hand that kept Alyson and I safe," said Thiessen. "We were very shaken in the earthquake, not something that I would like to be a part of again, buildings fell in front of us".
Thiessen, a Vineland resident and her travel mate, Stephenson, of Smithville were visiting the Baptist Haiti Mission and were also going to teach some of the Haitian women how to crochet plastic mats. This was Thiessen's third visit to the mission.
The two would have been in Port-au-Prince, where the earthquake hit hardest, but they had to wait for a partner who had arrived on an earlier plane.
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