Every little bit helps: Residents' generosity in South Berwick, Eliot, Kittery truly changes lives in Haiti

By AMY MILLER
Special to the Democrat

You already know about the devastation, the death and the rubble. You know, too, how poor Haiti is, and was long before catastrophe made everyone pay attention.

No doubt you have read about the thousands of volunteers from every corner of the globe who have come to help pick up the pieces of this tiny Caribbean country that remains so proud of the slaves who fought fiercely to gain independence from the French in 1804.

So, on my return from Leogane, which is just west of the epicenter and probably the most devastated town in Haiti right now, I will tell you instead what use has come of your contributions — your Band-Aids and socks, your expired medications and tents, your slings and your cash. 

After three days at the Asile de St. Vincent de Paul, a Mother Teresa-like compound, and two days working at the adjacent clinic, I can tell you a bit about what your generosity means to Haiti.

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Saskatchewan sisters provide medical help in Haiti

REGINA — While she is a supporter of the Winter Olympics in her adopted city of Vancouver, Amanda Johner admits it will be a little strange to be in the midst of the pageantry of the international spotlight during the next two weeks.

Johner and her sister, Nicole Williamson (both of whom hail from Indian Head), just returned from the polar opposite of Olympic-style Vancouver: Earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

"The stark contrast was shocking," Johner said Thursday, a day after returning from a week working in Haiti.

After the earthquake hit Jan. 12, Johner, a third-year resident surgeon studying at UBC, and Williamson, a nurse in Outlook, knew they could put their training to good use in the Caribbean nation.

They connected with the charity Life and Hope Haiti in late January. By Feb. 4, they were loaded down with loads of supplies donated by the people of Indian Head and Outlook and on a plane bound for the island.

They ended up stationed in Leogane, a city near the epicentre of the 7.0-magnitude quake that is estimated to be 80- to 90-per-cent destroyed.

"It's worse that what I even imagined it could be," said Williamson, 28. "People are just really at a standstill. They're trying to get one with their lives ... but the piles of rubble are still there."

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