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Photo Illustrationby Ron J. Rambo Jr./The Advocate
Emotional Aftershock
Haitian students at MHCC struggle to contact their families after Tuesday’s 7.0 earthquake
The Advocate
MHCC is feeling the aftershock of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti Tuesday as students from Haiti try to contact their families back home.
The CASS/IALS program has three enrolled students from Haiti who have been trying to reach their families, but were unsuccessful as of Thursday afternoon.
Nikki Gillis, program director for CASS and IALS, said it’s hard to imagine not being able to communicate with friends and family at a time of natural disaster. “It’s a pretty incredible thing to grasp,” she said.
Students have tried sending e-mails to everyone they know with an e-mail address, and called family members, but got either a busy tone or an operator voice saying that the number could not be reached.
“It may be days or weeks before we learn anything about them,” said Gillis.
Gillis said not knowing is an “awful feeling,” not only to the students but to all the people close to them, because there is nothing that can be done right now.
The CASS program has graduated 10 students who returned to Haiti and Gillis and host families have been trying to communicate with them as well. Gillis said Thursday that five of them have had contact with people connected to MHCC.
“Our local community and daily lives often have more connection to what’s going on in the world then we realize. The support for our students and Haitians in general is encouraging,” said Gillis.
The earthquake occurred Tuesday while the MHCC students were in a meeting and they did not find out about the event until later that day.
Two of the students from Haiti are involved in student government. ASG President Bradley Best said CASS and IALS bring a new perspective to the Associated Student Government as well as the college in general and that he is hoping for the best.
Gillis said, “Students are receiving amazing support here on campus and in the community. Students maintain hope and are taking advantage of support network in the community here.”
The Haitian students have been at MHCC for a year and a half and together with the other students in the CASS and IALS program have formed a family, Gillis said.
“Trying to stay focused and go to class is nearly impossible when you don’t know the fate of your family,” said Gillis. “They’re able to get through it, because of the support.”
The epicenter of the quake, measured to be the worst to hit Haiti in 200 years, was just outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
Several graduates from the program, as well as one student currently enrolled in the program, lived close to the epicenter of the earthquake.
The alumni that were able to communicate were from smaller communities away from the epicenter, according to Gillis.
The students enrolled in the program are from three towns in Haiti.
On the morning following the quake, Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive said in an interview with CNN that he estimated the death toll of the disaster to be “hundreds of thousands of people.”
Best said there has been talk about putting together a fundraiser but that they are still working out the details and waiting for more news.
David Sussman, manager of the College Center Service and Grant Sponsored Programs, said that when they do know what’s going on, it will be a “big event.”
Gillis said she hopes to work with students and supporters of the program to put together a fundraising event to help the families of students or alumni of MHCC.
(CASS is the Cooperative Association of States for Scholarship program. IALS is the Indigenous and Afro-Latino Scholarship program.)
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