Colin Crowley, Save the Children multimedia emergency response team
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 21, 2010
Andrise is a 9-year-old girl whose home was destroyed by the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
She and her mother are currently living in a makeshift camp in the neighborhood of Carrefour Feuilles.
On January 21, Save the Children carried out a distribution that provided people in this camp with much-needed household items, hygiene supplies and clean drinking water. I interviewed Andrise just after her family received the aid and translated her comments for this blog.
She said, "The day of the earthquake I was washing myself outside when the house started shaking, shaking, shaking. My little cousin was next to me and we got scared and ran back inside the house."
"When we got inside, one of the walls collapsed down to the floor. Another house right next to ours collapsed and two small babies who were inside died. I thought that we were all going to die. I thought it was the end of the world."
When all this happened, Andrise's mother was in class at the university and she had to run outside when the school building started shaking. She was shocked and scared because she thought that Andrise had died. But then Andrise's stepfather found her and took her back to her mother.
"I feel so bad because I have several cousins who died in the earthquake," cried Andrise. "I also have an uncle who died. I know so many people who died when their houses collapsed."
"Our family lost everything. There is a big crack running through our house and it is nearly destroyed. It will only take another shock to knock it down completely so we don’t feel safe living there."
"Now we are living here in this camp. But we’re not comfortable here in this situation because this is the first time we’ve ever had to sleep outside in a place like this."
"This morning Save the Children came and gave us some things that we needed. We had lost hope that any help was going to come, but this morning they came and they gave us water, soap, plates and things. Everybody lined up outside the camp to receive their things."
"I would like to leave this place and I would like for us to get a better place to live and have food to eat and all the other things we need. We don’t want to live this kind of life."
Watch a video of AndriseHelp Us Respond to the Haiti Earthquake Emergency. Please Donate Now.
YOU CAN DONATE $10 TO THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND BY TEXTING “SAVE” to 20222 (US Only).
Please watch this video which inspires Hope and Giving for Haiti. Use it where you like. Song written by my brother, Stefan Youngblood. I produced the video using online images.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OO4wgf_8EE
Posted by: Lisa | 01/27/2010 at 01:29 PM