Printable View
The quake in Haiti just hit home. Enock Remy lives in Calgary, pastor of a Haitian church, and a computer tech who rebuilds computers and give them to people who cannot afford them.I just phoned him.He has brothers and sisters in Haiti and no news. A friend's wife died in Haiti, leaving two little girls.Please keep him ...and all the people there in your heart and prayers. They are having a special service tonight.
http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald...5043490fbb&p=2
Haitians in city frantically seek news on family
Jamie Komarnicki, Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010
As another agonizing day passed without word from their loved ones, members of Calgary's Haitian community say they are seeking solace among each other -- and keeping their cellphones close by.
The devastating toll of the monstrous earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince a day earlier was only beginning to sink in Wednesday.
Danack Fremond's wife and 18-year-old son were in one of the worst-hit parts of the Haitian capital.
His frantic calls and e-mails have gone unanswered.
"It's something that's really hard," said Fremond, who arrived in Calgary as a refugee about two years ago. He's been trying to reunite his family ever since, but the process has been slow. Now, he fears for the lives of his loved ones.
"We're just waiting to see what's going on. Everyone is under pressure," he said.
Reports out of Port-au-Prince described horrifying loss, with buildings collapsed and bodies piled in the street as the nation struggled with the aftermath of the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in more than 200 years.
In Calgary, Enock Remy said he feels helpless as he takes in news reports.
"It's heartbreaking. We don't know what's going on," said Remy, pastor of the Haitian Church of Calgary.
A community gathering has been set for Friday evening "for prayer and spiritual support," said Remy. "That's the only thing we can do now."
Just hours before the quake hit, a group of 24 people from Slocan, Nelson and Cranbrook, B.C., touched down in Port-au-Prince for a two-week volunteer stint with Haiti ARISE.
The group, which includes 17 high-school students, is safe in nearby Grande Goave, in the association's compound which includes a generator and wells, said vice-president James Roberts.
The youths will be flown out once it's safe to do so, he said, and are eager to do what they can to help in the meantime.
Children living in a Calgarian-owned orphanage just east of Port-au-Prince were quickly evacuated following the quake. Calgary developer Ted Hughes said he's relieved the children and workers at Tytoo Gardens Orphanage are safe, even as harrowing tales of survival and destruction start emerging from Haiti.
"Our work team is safe. There's no loss of life at our orphanage. We've evacuated and we have everyone up the road at the Mission of Hope right now where they've set up a command post," said Hughes, who owns Calgary Building System and is also in charge of the orphanage, founded by his father who passed away in 2009.
"They've worked all night long administering care and medical help to injured people."
About 25 children stay year-round at the orphanage. Workers also care for another 100 kids in the local village. A team of 53 Canadians, mostly from Ontario, were visiting the orphanage this month to do some work on the building, said Hughes.
"We sustained some structural damage and stuff like that. Not sure of the extent of it at this time. But no loss of life," said Hughes, who is in Calgary, glued to updates from his contacts in Haiti.
Pastor Dave Oppertshauser, who runs the orphanage, said he could see "clouds of dust" rising above Port-au-Prince.
"The quake started with a rumbling and a roar. It seemed that it lasted for a full minute with concrete walls shaking and rattling," he wrote in an e-mail to Hughes.
"From our vantage point clouds of dust could immediately be seen from the nearby villages and Port au Prince. Within a few minutes we were being organized to work at the clinic here assisting the medical team to treat patients coming from as far away as Port-au-Prince approximately 45 minutes away."
Medical workers on the team worked through the night to help others.
In Calgary, Sauveta Melay said she's made countless phone calls to try to get word of her family in Haiti.
As the grim aftermath becomes clear, she said she hopes the international community will step up and help the impoverished nation.
A number of Calgarians who volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross have been put on standby for possible deployment to Haiti, said spokeswoman Fatima Hasan Ali.
jkomarnicki@theherald. canwest.com
They will join all those in our prayers. Boston has a large Haitian community, and a friend is a social worker at one of the big hospitals in town, and said many on their staff are having a hard time keeping it together, so everyone else is offering counseling and support for anyone who feels they need it.
It is so heartbreaking what happened over there and how those people are suffering. I watched Katie Couric tonight and just started crying. It just rips your heart right out of you to see the suffering and pain over there, children that have not eaten in days, people still buried in the rubble and loved ones frantic to get them out with nothing but their bare hands..... Just heartbreaking...
This is for Haitians in Calgary
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/...m?l=eng&gi=HIC
For Haiti in general: http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/...l=eng&gi=Haiti 517 candles from 36 countries.
WOW.
I emailed Enock last night to ask if he had heard anything. A difficult question to ask...
He emailed me today that he had spoken to his brother, and ALL his family are alive! They are out on the street, though, and Enock is trying to get funds to them.
Enock's wife lost her uncle. That is so sad. Yet - with the mass graves and 200,000 lost, the loss of "only" one relative is amazing.
RIP, dear sir...I hope your passing was quick. :(
Thank you all for your prayers.