Nearly two agonizing months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, my dad is finally coming home for some Rest & Relaxation. I cannot begin to tell you the joy and relief I am feeling!
I will never forget that Tuesday...I was at work and snuck onto my Blackberry completely unaware of what I would find. Unfortunately, it was NO GOOD NEWS. I saw a post from one of my friends of a major earthquake. I totally thought it was a joke at first but when I refreshed the status updates, my heart sank.
I tried to remain as calm as possible but I have never felt such fear (or panic?) in my life! I tried calling my dad but was unable to get through. I called my brother to inform him and he started trying to contact Dad too. We kept trying all day and night into Wednesday.
Facebook and Twitter kept me abreast of what was going on. It looked like all of Haiti was in rubble. It was an online frenzy of communication all over the globe trying to give/get word. I had spent all day Wednesday trying to get through to Gov.org to get assistance to locate him. Family members and friends I hadn't seen in almost 20 years, came out of the woodwork in an attempt to help! (Angels DO exist!!!)
Then I heard, my cousin who lives in Miami, managed to charter a private plane into Santo Domingo and cross the border... he had a satellite phone with him and went straight to my dad (and his, who lives on the same family compound). Sat phones seemed to be the ONLY form of communication besides Blackberry Messenger. It was a full 24 hours before I heard from my dad.
The phone rang and I KNEW it was him. As soon as I answered I broke down crying. Hearing his voice and calling me his lifelong pet name for me, Tresor, was almost all I could handle. His voice was trembling and sounded like nothing I've ever heard. I thought he was hurt. I demanded to know he was OK. He said he was fine but Haiti is not. He said it was horrible and nothing like anyone can imagine.
Everyone in our camp was fine. The houses and apartments were fine, but the rest of our entire neighborhood is not...it's GONE.
For three weeks, I did not sleep...or barely did. My mom, my brother and myself would wake up at the same time every single day...3:00am. Were we on Haiti time? Communication was close to non-existent, so with all the major aftershocks that were occurring we were constantly on pins and needles not receiving ANY further communication. I was on Facebook and Twitter all hours of the day and night. It was virtually unbearable.
But as the weeks passed and the lines of communication opened up once more, relief (as relieved as one can possibly be in this time) started to set in.
Back in Haiti, all the 350+ displaced victims that my dad and uncles were housing have received their tents and have left to begin the task of rebuilding. The tennis court is no longer being used as a triage center, but is not being used at all as all the tenants have left. The days of a single communal meal are over. Life, for what it is now, is slowly attempting to regain some normalcy. And now my dad is coming home to his family...to rest, to regroup, to receive some much needed moral support, before going back and continuing to rebuild Haiti 2.0.
I'm so excited to have him back.
