The earthquake of January 12, 2010 will always remain a pivotal point in Haitian history.
I was in Terre Blanche three weeks after the earthquake. I remember waking up on a Sunday morning and hearing many people outside. There was lots of crying and wailing.
People were migrating back to their villages in the countryside, back to their relatives for help and support. People came with nothing, with injuries, children without parents, parents without their children. People wept continually. There was so much despair. There were so many people and so little food.
Haitians love to joke and laugh and I wondered if we’d ever laugh again.
In March, just two months after the earthquake, women gathered in Terre Blanche to celebrate International Women’s Day. They sang, they danced, they performed skits, they laughed. Healing was beginning and joy was returning.
We will forever remember January 12, 2010.
Nou pap janm bliyew. We will never forget.
by Linda Markee, HFH board member
Remembering: Earthquake Memorial outside Port-au-Prince. (photo taken March 2013)
Healing together: Celebrating International Women’s Day in Terre Blanche. (photo taken March, 2010)
Instagram Feed
