MAYO WOMAN Gena Heraty (39), who has spent 16 years working with orphans in Haiti, has been reflecting on the devastation there since the earthquake struck almost a month ago.
The orphanage where she is a volunteer is run by Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs (Our Little Brothers and Sisters) at Kenscoff, about 10km from Port-au-Prince.
There she runs a special needs home for 32 abandoned children with physical and mental disabilities. The orphanage itself holds about 500 children altogether.
Heraty was at a hospital in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake struck. She recalled that it was “utter chaos . . . and then the awful job of digging with bare hands looking for colleagues. We pulled one free after 12 hours, alive, and two died.”
Now she is “tired – physically tired and my spirit is tired. I am in our rehab centre – just beside the hospital. Today I am trying to stay away from the hospital – trying to put some distance from me and the sad realities living over there . . . yet my mind is there with the children.
“I see Johanne lying on her bed, seven years of age and she is in a coma. The wall that fell on her head pushed a bone in her skull into her brain and to most people she is dead.
“The doctor asked me to tell the grandmother Meritanne that they cannot do anything for her and that there is no hope.
“I told him that I would tell the grandmother that it was unlikely Johanne would recover but I would not say that there is no hope . . . how could I take that little hope from this loving mother?” Johanne is one of seven kids. “The others are okay – the house was destroyed and they are all living in a nearby park. They lost all they owned. The grandmother wonders what will happen if Johanne is discharged. I wonder the same but for now she will not be going anywhere.”
Meleanda is “five years of age and immobile in her bed. She was trapped in her house – stuck under a door and debris.
Her family pulled her out and she was rushed to hospital and put on oxygen.
“She was 10 days on oxygen and now she lies on her bed – unable to move, unable to talk, unable to eat – very like Johanne but Meleanda is not in a coma.”
Meleanda’s father is a school teacher. He used to work in two different schools, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both schools were destroyed.
Then there is Stevenson, “a bright and sparky three-year-old.” He had one leg amputated below the knee; his grandmother has “a sad and tired face”. Heraty is worried about what will happen when the grandmother has to leave the hospital. She has seven children and two grandchildren and she is the one supporting all.
“What will I do when I take him [Stevenson] home?” she asks
“I have no home. We are sleeping on the street and it will not be good for him because at night it gets cold and he is already fragile. What will I do? I have no idea.”
Heraty says there are more than 20 children in hospital with amputations and probably as many adults.
“The statistics say that so far there are at least 2,000 amputees since the earthquake. We have a lot of work to do. We do what we can and we are grateful for the thousands of people helping us do what we can.”
A special Gena Heraty Haiti Fund has been opened at AIB in Westport. Its account number is 11108008, sort code 93-71-69.
All money donated goes directly to her orphanage.