In their own words: Testimony of an eathquake survivor

Me: What is your name?

JSR: I am Junior Saint Rose

Me: Tell me a little bit about what happened?

J.S.R: It was January the twelve and I left my house to go to tutor some kids and since I finished with my duty I was getting ready to head back home then I heard a noise. First I thought the house was not well structured cause a part of it fail. I was on the second floor and I did not have time to make it to the stairs when the main support beam of the house fell on me with everything else. I thought I was dead since everything fell on me! The only reason I am alive today is because people from the house where I was tutoring the kids knew I did not make it and they came with some other people with hammer and stuff to extract me out.

Me: How did they know you where alive?
J.S.R: I didn't know cause I was under the rubble.

Me: Could you hear any sound?
J.S.R: No, I could not a thing and since the beam hit my arm very hard, I could not move either I stayed in one spot. I thought I was dead!

Me: Were there any people on the first floor?
J.S.R: Yes, they all had time to make it out ok. They could not come upstairs to where I was because it was all destroyed!

Me: How many people were there with you?
J.S.R: One the kids I was tutoring had a broken leg, he was running and fell and they could not do anything for me since the house collapsed on me.

Me: How long do you think you stayed under the rubble?
J.S.R: I spent the whole night! I could not hear a thing and even when they came to my rescue, I still could not hear a thing.

Me: What were you thinking while you were under the rumble?
J.S.R: Well, I was thinking about my life since I knew for sure there was no hope. I was praying God and at the same time, crying for help but no one came immediately!

Me: What kind of psychological impact does this have on you?
J.S.R: I still feel the earth trembling even when others around me do not and I am still afraid that it will happen again. I am afraid of getting under a concrete house.

Me: Thanks so very much for your time!
J.S.R: Thank you!

This exclusive interview was done on February 17, 2010. 

I had a second on camera interview with Junior and here it is:

In their own words: Guerty Neptune

As promised, in these few days, you will be able to get the face of the earthquake through direct and exclusive testimonies of victims and survivors. Today we are starting with my cousin: Guerty Lumène NEPTUNE and here is her story in her own words.

12 janvier 2010, se yon jou moin pap jan’m bliye. D’ordinaire moin kite travail moin nan Ministere de l’Education Nationale a 3:30 nan après midi pou moin ale nan Universite de Port-au-prince (up / IGC), moin se yon etudiant en gestion des affaires  a l’IGC.

     d’oridinaire les moin rive IGC moin antre nan classe pou moin fait devoir, jou sa tout lidem pa dim antre nan classe moin ale nan dernier etage universite ya sou internet, et moin te gin cours nan 3 eme etage jou sa. Les lite 4 :56 heures  Les moin we ordianateur yo ap tombe moin kouri nan porte la pou nou ka sortie et avant 5 secondes environs kay la komanse ap efondre ak nou . les kay la fini krase te gin nou 4 etudiants moin we bo kote moin , 1er ya kouche a tea binyin an sans, 2eme nan li paka bouge ko li et 3eme nan pied li kase et moin mim , main’m kole amba yon porte moin paka rale li , les 10 minutes environs fini passé nou kriye personne pas tande , moin di map rale bra’m meme si  li rache map rale et map pale ak Bon Dieu nan la priere moin di Seigneur ou ban la vie poukisa ou pa ban moin main droite la toute , et nan rale ak ampil justesse se kom si Bon Dieu pousse main an pou moin , main an soti san li pa kase.

    Moin kouche sou vante moin we yon ti espace , moin di se ciel la moin , ginles se anle moin ye , moin rale roche ak moin goche la et se konsa tete moin sotie et moin di si tete moin soti corps ap soti tou et se konsa moin soti après moin vole , vole ampil après male tombe sou yon tete kay et moin we moun aba epi 5 gacon fem vole epi yo atrap moin et moin di yo gin 3 etudiants ki pa mouri pou yo ale cherche yo, mim moin pakon nin après eske yo ale cherche yo et se konsa moin soti vivant nan lanmo.
Pou moin mim se kay pa nan seulement ki krase se apre moin lot moun ki victim kife moin konin se tremblement de terre kite ginyin

    Et mari moin tout te gin probleme paceque nan bureau kote liteye ya tou lite krase mim li pat gin anyin , ni pitit moin tou pa gin anyin grase a l’Eternel.

Sa se temoignage moin toute moune ki poko fe lape ak Jesus map di ou , nan yon seconde soufe ou ka koupe, tout sa ou posede ka ale nan yon seconde.

Map rite nou ak psaume 34: v 7 et 19

“” l’ange de l’eternel campe autour de ceux qui le craignent et il les arrache au danger “”

‘’ le Malheur attaint souvent le juste , mais l’Eternel l’en deliver toujours””
                                                                                              
que Dieu protege Haiti (mon pays)

                                                                                               Guerty Lumène NEPTUNE

Haiti reads (an interview with the founder)

As you've probably realized by now the purpose of this blog is simply to promote Haiti. If I see a Haitian rising internationally specially in the US I will promote him and this goes as well for organizations thriving for the welfare of the people of our country. I know there are many doing good deeds then I could never know but unfortunately I have to select some and I am looking forward for some suggestions as well as always.

Today, my guest is Jeanette Alfred, she is the founder of Haiti Reads and I had the opportunity to interview her via email and here is the transcript:

Q- Tell me a little bit about you!
A- I came to the USA from Germany in 1991. I grew up with a passion of wanting to help people and used to take most of my pocket money when I was a child to buy bread for homeless people on my way to school. I grew up poor in a single parent household but always thought that whatever I have, I could share with others.
Because of the lack of money we had when I was little, there was never money for books in my home. I remember begging my mother for a book when I was a child but she never gave in to buy me one. Once I moved to the US and started earning my own money, I went a little crazy buying book after book, so many in fact, that I ended up having to donate a majority to several Chicago Public Libraries and some to private schools. When I learned that only a short distance from the United States, in Haiti, children were longing for books and education; I set out to bring books to the children of Haiti. This is how Haiti Reads was born.

Q- Why Haiti Reads? Why Haiti? How long have you been around?
A- In August 1994 I got into a cab at the airport. The driver was a Haitian man who ended up becoming a good family friend. Besides driving a cab, he also hosted a Haitian Radio show in Chicago. He invited me to come to his show a few times and after some time, I ended up working at the station answering phones. During that time, I really didn’t know much about Haiti at all but I started to learn all about Haitian music. Unfortunately, I was never encouraged by anyone to travel to Haiti so about three years ago I took that challenge up on my own. I booked a two week vacation to Haiti. This was a life changing event for me. I meet some of the nicest people while there and one of them encouraged me to “do something for Haiti”. Combined with my passion for books, seeing that most children in Haiti don’t have good quality books if any at all, the idea for the library was born.

Q- There are many other troubles in Haiti why did you choose to tackle illiteracy?
A- I could write a book on this but I think this quote by U.K Prime Minister Gordon Brown sums it up the best:
"Reading is a ladder out of poverty. It is probably one of the best anti poverty, anti-deprivation, anti-crime, anti-vandalism policies you can think of."

Q- Where is your organization located?
A- In Haiti, we are located in Delmas 24, Port-Au-Prince and we currently work in partnership with two schools; one in Merger, Haiti and one in Fort Mercredi, Haiti. We have Haiti Reads Volunteer Clusters in San Diego, California, New York, New York, Chicago, Illinois, and Port-Au-Prince Haiti.

Q- Is this for kids only or do you help adults as well?
A- Our focus IS actually adults. We would like to see as many parents as possible to come to us to learn how to read or become better readers. If we can target parents, they can go home and teach their children and help them become literate. If they are unable to send their children to school, the parent can become their teacher. If the child is in school, the parent can help them with their assignments. It is a vision we hope to fulfill. Parents as teachers first!
Our work with children entails that we bring books to schools on a weekly basis. Of course, most of the patrons of the library will be children as well.

Q- Where do you get funding from?
A- We rely on private funding from people like you. In addition we are going to start selling T-Shirts and crafts various students in Haiti and the US will make for us. However, it is a catch 22. We need money to order the t-shirts we want to sell and currently Haiti Reads does not have a budget for that.

Q- How can people reading this help?
A- One way of helping is that they spread awareness of our work in their community. The next thing they can do is help us raise money by hosting dinner parties, holding yard sales and asking friends and family for support. In relation to other organizations, our budget is small. We are currently looking to raise about $5000.00. This money will enable us to buy solar panels, inverter batteries, get tables, chairs and shelves build, ship the remaining books to Haiti and pay for a teacher to teach the literacy classes. Since we are an all volunteer staff, all travels to and from Haiti and accommodations in Haiti are paid out of each members pocket and do not come out of the library budget.

Q-What's the most amazing moment you've had with your organization and what was the most discouraging one?
A- The most amazing moment was when I opened the doors to the library for the very first time and saw the place painted and cleaned. Jean Baptiste, one of the members of Haiti Reads, painted the place a wonderful light and bright color and really surprised me with this wonderful gift.

Our most discouraging moments are when we have to put our very important work on hold because of the lack of funding. This is currently the case.

Q- Do you have a success story that you wanna share with us?
A- We have several success stories. Last year The Special Library Association awarded us with a check for $500.00 for the work we do in Haiti. This was a momentous moment for us. We, out of thousands of entries, were chosen by a panel of librarians for the work we do in Haiti.
Another great moment was when we were contacted by Looking Glass Theater to partner with them on the production of Fedra. Because this imaginary theater play deals with Haiti, we will be serving as a cultural bridge between our organization and the theater company to get the Haitian community of Chicago interested in this event.


Q- Thanks so very much for your time, what would be your last words?
A- My last words would be a warm heartfelt thank you to you and this wonderful blog you keep. Haiti is a wonderful country with so many possibilities. Our work in the field of literacy is very important to the community it serves, Haiti and its future.



Jeanette Alfred
HAITI READS

6415 N. Ravenswood Ave #100
Chicago, IL 60626

USA: 1-773-616-0043


Haiti: 011-509-3-879-6642
Haiti: 011-509-3-866-2601
www.haitireads.org
www.iGive.com/HaitiReads
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