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| "I don't feel like a hero but lucky to have the faith and ability to help." ~Dr. Jolie (Photo: Scott Mortensen) |
Haiti - part 3
"I just felt like I needed to get up early and walk around the orphanage and pray," Patty tells me about the day of the earthquake, "I don't know why."
Patty works at New Life Children's Home where we've set up our base camp. One of few American-made structures in Haiti, the compound appears almost untouched by the massive quake that killed more than 200,000 people.
I'm staying at camp to write an article for a London magazine while the medical team sets up a clinic in a remote area of town. Patty's offered to let me shower in her apartment. There's no hot water but I'm grateful for the shower after days of only having sponge baths from a bucket.
A survivor's story
After I've showered, I ask Patty to tell me more about the earthquake.
I'm staying at camp to write an article for a London magazine while the medical team sets up a clinic in a remote area of town. Patty's offered to let me shower in her apartment. There's no hot water but I'm grateful for the shower after days of only having sponge baths from a bucket.
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| our tent camp with New Life's main building in the background. |
After I've showered, I ask Patty to tell me more about the earthquake.
"It didn't start out like a normal day," she says. "The guard came running in saying someone left a baby in the road."
The staff had been able to track down the baby's mother from a note attached to the child's clothes. The 17-year-old said she couldn't afford to feed the child. She agreed to bring Natalia's birth certificate to the orphanage later that day.
"Then the earthquake happened," Patty recalls.
"I was getting thrown everywhere. The sound was deafening. I tried to run outside. The ground was heaving." At first, Patty didn't know that beyond the gates Port-au-Prince was in ruins. "Then I looked to the hills and there was nothing but a cloud of dust rising up. I knew it was bad. Oh my God," I said, "Oh my God."
Natalia's mother never returned that day. No one knows if she's alive or dead.
Meeting Natalia
Patty asks if I want to meet Natalia. As we walk past orphans, many with physical handicaps, tears fill my eyes. Natalia's playing on a slide. She's plump and healthy, unlike the emaciated babies I've seen so far.
The staff had been able to track down the baby's mother from a note attached to the child's clothes. The 17-year-old said she couldn't afford to feed the child. She agreed to bring Natalia's birth certificate to the orphanage later that day.
"Then the earthquake happened," Patty recalls.
"I was getting thrown everywhere. The sound was deafening. I tried to run outside. The ground was heaving." At first, Patty didn't know that beyond the gates Port-au-Prince was in ruins. "Then I looked to the hills and there was nothing but a cloud of dust rising up. I knew it was bad. Oh my God," I said, "Oh my God."
Natalia's mother never returned that day. No one knows if she's alive or dead.
Meeting Natalia
Patty asks if I want to meet Natalia. As we walk past orphans, many with physical handicaps, tears fill my eyes. Natalia's playing on a slide. She's plump and healthy, unlike the emaciated babies I've seen so far.
I try to get Natalia to smile but she doesn't like the playtime interruption. I hold her, thinking, "Natalia, I'm sorry you were left in the road. I'm sorry you'll probably never know what happened to your mommy."
...Later it occurs to me that being abandoned on a dirt road may have saved Natalia's life.
As the sun sets and the team returns, I go sit with them under the mango tree. I feel their strength and love, and hope rises for Haiti's future - for Natalia.
To read part 4, click here.
www.facebook.com/shayholland
...Later it occurs to me that being abandoned on a dirt road may have saved Natalia's life.
As the sun sets and the team returns, I go sit with them under the mango tree. I feel their strength and love, and hope rises for Haiti's future - for Natalia.
To read part 4, click here.
www.facebook.com/shayholland
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