Haitian tragedy hits Muncie, too

 

It's been a long week for Pam Forgille.

With limited means of communication in and out of Haiti, the wait for any good news has left her feeling numb. After the shock of viewing the horrific images of Tuesday's earthquake on television, she cried herself to sleep.

"It's just been devastating," she said. "I couldn't believe the news I was hearing."

Forgille has an emotional interest vested in Haiti: She's been there for missionary trips in the past with the St. Francis of Assisi Church Newman Center and had been planning another trip with five Ball State University students for Spring Break before disaster struck.

Since she received word about the devastation, Forgille, a St. Francis parishioner, has been trying to keep up hope that her other contacts in Haiti were safe.

Late Thursday, some good news was delivered amid the debris: word came that Rev. Andre Sylvestre had landed safely in the Dominican Republic, just outside of Haiti. The visiting Catholic priest from Haiti had created a home for himself in Muncie over the last two-and-a-half years.

Forgille said Sylvestre didn't make any comments on the specific damages but assured her that Plaisance is relatively safe. No major structural damages were reported in Plaisance, Haiti, where St. Francis has a twin parish at St. Michael's Catholic Church.

"The northern part of the island has survived very well from the earthquake, but my heart bleeds for other parts of the island," Forgille said.

She's still waiting for updates on her six sponsored children near Plaisance, but she has faith they're surviving.

"You just have to try and keep hope," she said.

The Cap-Haïtien airport on the north coast of Haiti, where the church's medical team is set to land Monday, had been closed for military use earlier this week, but no complications have been reported as of Friday. The team will arrive at the church's twin parish, located about 100 miles from Port-au-Prince, Monday and will be taking medication, IVs, vitamins and other supplies with them.

As of now, Forgille said she is also continuing with the plan for her group's trip in March despite the U.S. Department of State extending its travel alert urging U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Haiti until March 13. Once the church's medical team returns from its trip, she'll have a better idea of what the conditions are like, she said.

The goal of the service group's trip in March will remain the same. They'll visit schools, help in building a rock path to the village's rectory and carry about 50 pounds of supplies each, but the earthquake is something Forgille will have to address with her service team.

"I'll spend a lot of time in the coming weeks trying to prepare them and let them know they'll be safe," she said.

Fundraising efforts have also continued for the trip. A spaghetti dinner and auction are scheduled for Jan. 22 at Knights of Columbus of Muncie, and parishioners are sending out letters asking for support from family and friends, she said.

Junior architecture major Anne Schnitzenbaumer, one of the five students going on the trip, said she's not as concerned for her own safety after the earthquake as she is for the Haitians she would not be helping if she weren't going.

"If anything it's completely amplified my passion and drive," she said. "It's gives faces to a reality and has driven me more to know that's where I'm supposed to be going. We might not be rebuilding homes, but at least we're giving them hope."

Although Haiti has dealt with disasters in the past, Schnitzenbaumer said it was still really hard for her to imagine what it would be like to live there when times were "good."

"It's really easy for people to get compassionate when they've been hit by earthquake," she said. "There are many people there that don't eat on a normal basis; they needed our help even before this happened, and that's stuck with me this whole time."

Even before the earthquake hit, Amy Cleeter, a graduate speech pathology student and one of the students going on the Spring Break service trip, knew there was a need for her to go to Plaisance.

"The Haitian culture is very surprising for the joy that they have; we don't understand how they can find that joy because they don't have the material things that we all have," she said.

"So to have something this devastating like this earthquake happen to them, it just truly broke my heart."

To join in solidarity for the Haitian earthquake victims, around 30 students gathered at St. Francis for an impromptu prayer service Wednesday night.

Cleeter said the mood was somber yet inspiring.

"None of the students knew anyone over there, but it just showed there are individuals who care enough to pray for their well being and to feel love despite all the tragedy," she said.