Category | Arts & Living

Students collaborate in efforts to help Haiti

Published on February 9, 2010 by Anastasia Bartolucci

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12 has opened multitudinous opportunities for volunteer assistance.

KSU students were able to deliver medication to impoverished Haitian orphans.

Many groups ask for monetary contributions, but you can find other ways to support the earthquake’s victims, that don’t involve opening your wallet.

For senior nursing major Leah Redwine, helping out meant giving her time and expertise. Redwine received frontline experience in the recent Haiti disaster, training that she never could have gained in a clinical setting. Redwine and her teammates, affiliated with the Redeem Haiti Organization, were the second group deployed to Haiti. The first group had been stationed there for over a week, starting three days after the earthquake.

Redwine’s Redeem Haiti group, comprised of both Dominican and American doctors and nurses, translators and pastors, volunteered from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3, It didn’t take long for relief group to comprehend that despite all their efforts, it would not be enough to rectify Haiti’s overall devastation.

“Haiti is a country that was in extreme poverty before this earthquake,” Redwine said. “But to see the massive amounts of destruction add a greater magnitude of poverty and need was heartbreaking.”

The earthquake and its 33 aftershocks affected millions of lives and took equally as many. Many organizations and relief alliances deployed on short notice to provide relief for the desolation. Although the American Red Cross, President Obama, the U.S. government and celebrity telethons have contributed much to Haiti’s financial aid, everyday volunteers have been just as influential.

Redwine and the Redeem Haiti group were stationed to a specific hospital where they developied a rapport among patients. The team also distributed supplies in disaster zones. The volunteers visited several Haitian orphanages to access their supply needs and likely relocation.

Despite the disaster aftermath afflicting these child facilities, Redwine recalled, “The children are shaken but have a sparkle of hope in their eyes. They are going to be part of a generation that can overcome tragedy and make an impact on Haiti’s future.”

Doctors, mission groups, neighbors and, most recently, students from around the globe flocked to aid the Haitian people. Relief supplies are trickling in from other countries including France, Belgium, Spain and China.  In addition to the $100 million that President Obama pledged, the U.S. is sending up to 3,500 soldiers and 300 medical personnel.

“I can’t fully describe the cooperation between so many cultures, languages and professions,” Redwine said. ”It is beautiful to be a part of a team with so many working selflessly toward the goal of helping the Haitian people.”

With an estimated 2 million of Haiti’s 9 million injured or homeless, Haitian relief volunteers are in high demand, regardless of whether they are profiecient certain medical practicioners. Time and preparation have become a luxury. Entry-level medical students work alongside veteran surgeons for a common purpose-delivering medical attention to people who are in such grave need of it.

Many concerned citizens are looking for opportunities to volunteer in Haiti, but most opportunities are reserved for professionals with technical skills in health care or engineering, or with prior disaster experience.  Even for those who can’t of volunteer hands-on understand that anyone can still extend support indirectly through numerous domestic organizations and programs.

KSU students, especially those from the nursing school, have been prodigious in aid efforts. “It was so encouraging to know that so many classmates were interested in what we were doing and wanted to give,” Redwine said.

Jason Farkel, a KSU sophomore, provided assistance his own way. “I couldn’t drop school and work at last notice and fly myself to Haiti, if they’d even let me go,” Farkel said. “I made several trips to Wal-Mart for supplies that I was happy to send.”

Whether students aided in similar ways or made nominal contributions by rounding up their Kroger bills, every small donation helped. Farkel, like many others, feels guilty that his effort could only extend so far, but as he explained, “It was the most and the best. I could do at that point in time.”

Often times, those witnessing the catastrophe on television cannot begin to fathom the extent of Haiti’s devastation. “Even the poorest people in the U.S. would never imagine living the way the majority of Haitian people live,” Redwine said.

Although the Haitian people have been devastated, Redwine was amazed to witness the hope they have for the future, which she explained most Americans don’t seem to appreciate.

“This experience has changed my life in countless ways,” said Redwine. “I will never again complain about what I may not have or what I want.  Until one has experienced the desolation and poverty of Haiti, they will never know how prosperous and blessed they are.”