Haiti: Shaken But Not Forgotten
Sarah Cohen
January 28, 2010
Filed under News, Uncategorized
On January 13, 2010, an earthquake like none other shook the small island of Haiti. The earthquake was the biggest that had ever been recorded for that area of the world. As the forty-second earthquake rocked, the lives of the Haitians were forever changed.
Local Augusta missionaries, Donny and Cindy Rogers and Lisa Adams were in Haiti during the quake. On January 21st, 2010 at 7:30, the missionaries recounted the horrors of the earthquake. The event, titled Haiti: Shaken But Not Forgotten was put together by their church, Life Ministries of Augusta. It was held at Savannah Rapids Pavilion.
The room was filled with over 200 people, talking to one another, anticipating what was in store for the night. The night started with Brandon Rogers, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Donny Rogers. Brandon told his story from the perspective of a son in America wondering if his parents were safe. The fear that kids feel as they wonder if their loved ones are ok, and the jubilant thankfulness they feel after they figure out that they are, was apparent in Brandon’s voice.
When Brandon got the call from his parents saying that they were alright, he asked them what they were going to do. He found out that they were flying to New Jersey and that they would be renting a car to drive back to Augusta. The tickets to fly from New Jersey back to Atlanta cost $400 per person and they did not have those kind of funds with them. The Rogers and Mrs. Adams had been three days without sleep since the earthquake, and Brandon knew that they could not drive. He told them to buy the tickets and he would handle the funds. Brandon called 88.3 WAFJ, the local Christian radio station, and told them the situation. They put him on air telling his story and within minutes a multitude of donors called in along with one woman who eventually chartered a private plane that transported the three missionaries home.
Next Donny Rogers spoke. His story started a few days before the earthquake and led up until the time the earthquake started. He and his team were in the mountains of Haiti the day before the earthquake and were supposed to stay one more day, however, they felt like they should go back to the town. Had they not done so, it is almost certain they would have died. Once they were back in town, they went to the market. As they got into their car to head to the World Vision building, the earthquake started. Donny recounted that they were so scared they didn’t know what to do. He said it felt like everything was bouncing or shaking. They were in shock. They questioned whether they should get out of the car or stay in. They watched helplessly and saw bodies fling like they had been released from a catapult. They saw buildings collapse on top of innocent, unaware victims. Through all of this, they were saved.
An emotional Cindy Rogers came to the microphone next. She told the story of the next moments and hours after the initial quake. The group continued to go to World Vision. As they were trying to reach their destination, a man with his big toe hanging off came up to them. All three people in the group had medical experience and determined that his toe could be saved with the right medical supplies. They learned that a medical clinic was about a block away so they headed that way.
Cindy described the medical clinic as an extremely small building with a driveway. Through tears she told how people started coming up and lying and waiting on the driveway. There were so many people, that the medical staff helping could hardly walk in-between them. Babies, children, women, men, sick, or well, the earthquake had made no distinction. The medical clinic was not a hospital. They only had a few supplies like bandages, a little pain reducer, and two sets of stitches, which they were told to save. Pictures were shown of gruesome injuries. Feet cut so deep and wide that all the tissue and muscle had been ripped away and all that was left was the bone, were among some of the more mild injuries.
Among some of the worst was a little boy, not older than eight, whose insides had literally been ripped out of his stomach. His intestines, soiled with dirt, sat on top of his little stomach. The medical staff, without gloves, pushed his insides back in and used their precious stitches on him. Despite these efforts, the boy still had gangrene spots on him that they had to amputate. Word has still not come back on whether or not the little boy, with so much to live for, made it.
Another story was one of a mother and her daughter. The mother had what the medical staff assumed to be a broken trachea. Without emergency room help, there was no possibility of her being saved. Cindy went and told the daughter that she should go and tell her mother that she loved her and that she had been a good mother. The daughter wouldn’t. She begged, and pleaded; she couldn’t let her mother die. She said that her mother was all she had left in the world, that her father, sister, and brother had died before the earthquake, and that their house collapsed in the earthquake. She pulled her mother from that rubble that was their house and her mother pleaded with her to do everything to make sure she didn’t die. The daughter had to make Cindy understand that her mother just could not die. But there was nothing that could be done. The mother died hearing her daughter tell her that she loved her and she had been a good mother.
Mrs. Lisa Adams got up and continued to tell the story. The dead bodies were everywhere, the stench was pungent. The cities lay in shambles as the Haitians tried to carry on with their unassuming lives.
Many may wonder why. Why Haiti? A third world country with so many problems already that a 7.3 earthquake was literally the breaking point. Why could it not be stopped? Why are there so many dead? No one can answer these questions.
In a few weeks, most people will forget about Haiti and will be moved on to the next topic our news tells us to worry about. Haiti seems so distant to us. But America must remember that it wasn’t long ago that we were suffering from Katrina or 9-11. Americans must look into their hearts and help a country that can not help itself. Those who want to help are encouraged by the Rogers to go to www.lifeaugusta.com or call 706-550-1084 for more information.
