A 'test of the world's compassion' in devasted Haiti
Born at l’Hopital du Canapé-Vert in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, Silvia Boulos was raised in the Caribbean country until she was sixteen. However, as a result of the unstable political scene after the controversial reelection of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2000, Boulos’ family immigrated to Washington, DC, where she attended Washington International School until she graduated. After having spent five years without returning to her homeland, eventually she “was able to go back, starting off with once a year, and then increasing to numerous times a year.”
When asked about Haiti before the earthquake that took the lives of more than 200,000 and left countless homeless, she described it as a place “on an economic upturn.” However, there was still a major problem, as “the mass population of the people is living in object poverty, with no education or healthcare. They were in a very desperate situation to begin with, and now the people that were living with a dollar a day don’t even have that meager dollar a day, making the situation even worse.”
Luckily, after the earthquake, Ms. Boulos has been able to keep in touch with some of her relatives in Haiti, such as her cousin, Nastasia. Among the stories that her cousin has told her, she talked about the fact that she “hadn’t seen a Red Cross car or a United Nations car. She’d been traveling around Port-au-Prince, but because there is a bottleneck happening at the airport, they were not able to leave the airport and provide aid.” Aid relief is also hampered by egalitarian concerns: “they can’t hand out aid until they have enough for everybody, because once you give to some, you have to give to everybody.”
Nastasia also keeps up a blog, found at “http://prophetn.blogspot.com/" which updates her followers about the situation in Haiti. In a January 17th post, only five days after disaster struck, Nastasia noted that she was “not scared of seeing the dead, [but rather] scared of seeing what has become of those that are still living.”
Daily, there have been numerous inexplicable survival stories coming from Haiti, and the Boulos family has been a part of two of them. One of these incredible stories of perseverance involves Ms. Boulos’ aunt. After being stuck under rubble for five days following the deadly earthquake, she was rescued in very good physical shape considering the circumstances. She was then transported to a hospital in Florida. Her uncle also miraculously survived being buried under debris for about six hours.
One may wonder how exactly someone can survive such a catastrophe over an agonizingly long period of time. According to Sylvia, who was not sure if her aunt had any means of nourishment, the key was that “she was praying the whole time... praying for help...and she got it! It’s really inspiring that she held on for such a long time, and I hope that other people’s prayers are answered.”
Nastasia also pointed out on her blog that “after speaking to people on the street, the horror lies in their individual stories. The terror they felt, the consequences they are dealing with... the lives that they’ve lost, and the fact that it will take months, years, for them to recover from this.”
Another inspirational story that Nastasia shared with her followers occurred less than a week after the disaster, when she was in the U.S. The post reads: “My cab driver heard me speaking French to my mom and we got to talking about Haiti and the devastation. For a ride that usually costs me 16 dollars, he charged me 10 dollars, then decided to take five and let me keep five to donate to a child in need.” This positive mindset is typical of the helpful attitude toward those suffering in Haiti.
After being asked what message she’d like to pass on to others, Sylvia paused and used British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as inspiration. He stated a simple yet powerful message: “this is a test of the world’s compassion, of its ability to follow through with the pledges that it has made.” She went on to say that she hopes that “the world looks to other countries in desperate need in order to help them develop and get better infrastructures.” She pointed out that “...earthquakes like this happen all the time in California, but because of its strong infrastructure, the deaths are limited to 50 people, rather than hundreds of thousands of people.
To finish, Ms. Boulos emotionally stated, that Haiti “...is still home, and I still love the country as my own country!”
When asked about Haiti before the earthquake that took the lives of more than 200,000 and left countless homeless, she described it as a place “on an economic upturn.” However, there was still a major problem, as “the mass population of the people is living in object poverty, with no education or healthcare. They were in a very desperate situation to begin with, and now the people that were living with a dollar a day don’t even have that meager dollar a day, making the situation even worse.”
Luckily, after the earthquake, Ms. Boulos has been able to keep in touch with some of her relatives in Haiti, such as her cousin, Nastasia. Among the stories that her cousin has told her, she talked about the fact that she “hadn’t seen a Red Cross car or a United Nations car. She’d been traveling around Port-au-Prince, but because there is a bottleneck happening at the airport, they were not able to leave the airport and provide aid.” Aid relief is also hampered by egalitarian concerns: “they can’t hand out aid until they have enough for everybody, because once you give to some, you have to give to everybody.”
Nastasia also keeps up a blog, found at “http://prophetn.blogspot.com/" which updates her followers about the situation in Haiti. In a January 17th post, only five days after disaster struck, Nastasia noted that she was “not scared of seeing the dead, [but rather] scared of seeing what has become of those that are still living.”
Daily, there have been numerous inexplicable survival stories coming from Haiti, and the Boulos family has been a part of two of them. One of these incredible stories of perseverance involves Ms. Boulos’ aunt. After being stuck under rubble for five days following the deadly earthquake, she was rescued in very good physical shape considering the circumstances. She was then transported to a hospital in Florida. Her uncle also miraculously survived being buried under debris for about six hours.
One may wonder how exactly someone can survive such a catastrophe over an agonizingly long period of time. According to Sylvia, who was not sure if her aunt had any means of nourishment, the key was that “she was praying the whole time... praying for help...and she got it! It’s really inspiring that she held on for such a long time, and I hope that other people’s prayers are answered.”
Nastasia also pointed out on her blog that “after speaking to people on the street, the horror lies in their individual stories. The terror they felt, the consequences they are dealing with... the lives that they’ve lost, and the fact that it will take months, years, for them to recover from this.”
Another inspirational story that Nastasia shared with her followers occurred less than a week after the disaster, when she was in the U.S. The post reads: “My cab driver heard me speaking French to my mom and we got to talking about Haiti and the devastation. For a ride that usually costs me 16 dollars, he charged me 10 dollars, then decided to take five and let me keep five to donate to a child in need.” This positive mindset is typical of the helpful attitude toward those suffering in Haiti.
After being asked what message she’d like to pass on to others, Sylvia paused and used British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as inspiration. He stated a simple yet powerful message: “this is a test of the world’s compassion, of its ability to follow through with the pledges that it has made.” She went on to say that she hopes that “the world looks to other countries in desperate need in order to help them develop and get better infrastructures.” She pointed out that “...earthquakes like this happen all the time in California, but because of its strong infrastructure, the deaths are limited to 50 people, rather than hundreds of thousands of people.
To finish, Ms. Boulos emotionally stated, that Haiti “...is still home, and I still love the country as my own country!”
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