The earth shook the St. Joseph's Home for Boys in central Port-au-Prince to rubble, sparing all lives but destroying the 25-year-old haven build by a non-profit group based in Raleigh.
If there is a good time for an earthquake to strike, it was then, just before 5 p.m. – the lazy span hours after school lets out and just before 5 p.m., when St. Joseph's staff calls their charges for dinner.
“It's really a minor miracle,” said Miles Wright, treasurer of Hearts with Haiti , a Raleigh-based non-profit that supports St. Joseph's. “Any other time of the day, this would have been a disaster.”
The Triangle has a strong connection an unusual number of connections to Haiti. Dozens of Triangle churches and aid groups support orphanages, schools and medical clinics there. A constant stream of missionaries and volunteers embark for Haiti from the Triangle every month.
That connection seemed feeble today, as Triangle residents tried to reach out to their comrades through patchy cell-phone connections and nonexistent Internet service.
A static-plagued cell-phone connection delivered the news about St. Joseph's to Wright and his group this afternoon. It was a brief call with the home's director, Michael Geilenfeld. They have've not been able to get in touch with him since.
Of the nearly 50 people seeking respite at St. Joseph's, only one guest is missing. Wright hopes he is not beneath the rubble and that he was outside exploring Port-au-Prince.
One of St. Joseph's workers, Billy Nathan, was enjoying some solitude Tuesday in the home's chapel, located near the top of the 7-story building. When the building began to shake, he jumped from an open window, landing on a nearby roof where he hopped to safety. Nathan is banged up, Wright said, but felt lucky to have fled before the building fell.
Geilenfeld told Wright's group that a five-minute walk from St. Joseph's offered a sobering picture of the devastation. The Caribbean Market, a nice supermarket in Port-au-Prince's center, crumbled in the quake. The staff at St. Joseph's dared not guess at a death toll but were certain many didn't escape.
In two weeks, Wright and more than 100 supporters of St. Joseph's were due to convene in Port-au-Prince to celebrate the home's St. Joseph's 25th anniversary. Now, Wright predicts, those people will turn their celebration into a mission.
“Every day is an emergency in Haiti, it seems. To make it worse, when there is a problem, you just cannot get information,” Wright said.
Bonnie Elam, director of Raleigh-based Haiti Connection, hovered near her computer and phone for hours Tuesday evening, hoping for word from any of her friends in Haiti.
“I've sent more than 100 e-mails, made as many calls,” said Elam, whose group sends medical supplies to Haiti.
Finally, just before 8 p.m., a phone call word finally came from Leon Dorleans , a pastor in Port-au-Prince, who works closely with Elam and others in the Triangle.
His message was short and barely heartening: “We're okay for now, but things continue to happen.”
Kathy Walmer, executive director of Family Health Ministries in Durham, has been frantically trying to reach dozens of staff and American volunteers working at her group's medical clinics, school and orphanage around Port-au-Prince. Her group runs a medical clinic in Port-au-Prince and another in Leogane, which she fears is close to the quake's epicenter. of the earthquake.
The cell phones won't even ring, Walmer said. E-mails have been a lost cause. At nearly 9 p.m. Tuesday, Walmer was sitting down to respond to dozens of e-mails sent from Americans whose loved ones left on a volunteer trip to Haiti this month. They are in the mountainous area outside Port-au-Prince, and Walmer hoped their silence was due to their remoteness, not any danger.
Meanwhile, Walmer tried to make sense of yet another disaster for the downtrodden nation.
“This country does not get a break,” Walmer said. “They survive coups and hurricanes and all sorts of instability. An earthquake? Who knew we even needed to worry about an earthquake."
How to help
Several programs with Triangle connections work to alleviate the effects of poverty on the people of Haiti. All accept donations through their Web sites.
Hearts With Haiti (www.heartswithhaiti.org), with offices at West Raleigh Presbyterian Church, supports three children's homes in the country, two for former street boys and one for disabled girls and boys. Children who grew up in the homes often work as adults to expand the programs within them.
Family Health Ministries (www.familyhm.org), run by a Durham OB/GYN and his wife, a nurse practitioner, works to improve health, nutrition and education in Haiti.
Hearts and Hands for Haiti (heartsandhandsforhaiti.org), run by Stan Wiebe out the basement of his Raleigh home with guidance from Raleigh-area supporters, works with children and families in Gonaives.and is trying to raise $120,000 for immediate crisis relief and home rebuilding.
Merci Center (www.merciumc.org), an outreach program of the North Carolina conference of the United Methodist Church and supported by congregations throughout the state, warehouses and distributes disaster relief supplies where they are needed. Preparing to ship items to Haiti.
Haiti Fund Inc. (www.haitifundinc.org) is a self-help agency that works with farmers in one rural watershed to improve growing practices and assist in reforestation.
The Haiti Connection (www.thehaiticonnection.org) is a Raleigh-based organization that builds coalitions for educational, medical and spiritual projects in Haiti.
