PORT -- AU--PRINCE -- Some people here are
marking this painful day in bed, the hurt too
much to bear.
By the early hours of the first anniversary of the
deadly earthquake that rocked Haiti, Haitians had
visited individual tombstones and passed by
mass graves, where hundreds of tiny wooden
crosses mark the spot where tens of thousands
of Haitians are buried.
Many united in prayer.
On the Champs de Mars survivor camp,
thousands of Protestants gathered as pastor after
pastor exhorted worshipers to ``celebrate life''
amid praises of ``hallelujah.''
A year ago Wednesday, a 7.0 earthquake killed a
city's worth of people; the government here
estimates as many as 300,000. Their names have
not been logged, and some are still under rubble.
About 810,000 people they left behind still are
homeless from that day's devastation. But on
Wednesday, Haiti's 10 million survivors declared
a national holiday to take the time to remember,
to say goodbye to the ones they lost and thank
you for the lives they still have.
A variety of activities were planned, including an
appearance by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
``God saved my life and that of most of my
family. I want to thank him for what he's done
for me,'' said Bernard Valcin, 40, who lives in a
tent with his wife and three children, ages 16, 12,
10.
On the day the ground shook a year ago, Valcin
said he was walking his children home from
school. Under a red light, he dropped to the
ground, and covered them with his belly.
When he arrived home, his wife was covered in
rubble. Only her face was visible.
Three months ago, Valcin got a job driving a
Ministry of Health ambulance picking up cholera
patients at night. But even with his monthly $375
salary, it's still not enough to rent a $1,250-a-year,
one-room shack.
``Everyone has a destination,'' Pastor Jonathan
Joseph of the Connection of Haitian Baptists
Churches said in Creole from an oversize stage at
the Champs de Mars survivor camp. ``You have
a time to be born. You have a time to die.''
He spoke to a gathering of people who raised
their hands to praise God and danced against the
backdrop of a broken national palace and
thousands of tattered tents.
``We have 10 million citizens. The quake killed
300,000. We still have 9.7 million. We have a
reason to celebrate life,'' Joseph told The Miami
Herald on his way to Leogane, which was all but
flattened by the quake. ``Our message is today,
`We need the engagement of Christians to revive
the church to transform the Haitian nation.' ''
He means rebuild not just their homes, but their
souls.
``We need to reconstruct the spiritual mentality.
We want to revive the mentality and remove this
mentality of dependence so Haitians believe for
themselves they can change their country,'' he
said. ``There is a spiritual problem that needs to
be resolved.
``Jan. 12 is an opportunity to save Haiti.''
But most of all, it's a day of remembrance and of
being thankful in this deeply religious country.
Hundreds of white-clad mourners -- many
weeping, some shrieking with grief -- gathered
for a special Mass at the base of the battered
Notre Dame Cathedral and under tarps in
downtown Port-au-Prince.
Robert Sarah, a representative of the pope,
implored Haitians and foreigners to write a new
story for their lives, post-quake.
``I hope the Haitian people will be the
protagonists,'' he said.
The loss of the thousands of loved ones
remained the topic of sermons. Remembering.
Moving ahead. Following the example of God.
``Everything can stand strong again,'' said Alceu
Petit, 69, who lost three children, a cousin and
uncle in the quake. ``We recognize this day so
that we can remember . . . Everybody here is
persevering.''
Source: Http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/12/2012493/haiti-celebrates-life-mourns-its.html
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