Haunted by beautiful, lost smiles
The appalling poverty and hardship, which cuts short so many lives in Haiti, is difficult to accept
UPDATE
Gena Heraty
I MET Mama Viala over two years ago when she came to our clinic. She came with two children – one was Viala and she was the one with special needs. Viala was small but from her clear skin I could see that she was well taken care of. The other was Christell and Christell was a bright and chirpy ten-year-old with a big, beautiful, bright smile. I had to bring the two of them, Mama Viala said, ‘because I have no one to leave Christell with and I don’t even have a house to stay in because the rent was due and I couldn’t pay so we are on the street – staying where we can’.
That was over two years ago and you know what – now both of those children are dead. It is hard to believe and hard to accept and it is so unfair. Mama Viala was on our programme, we rented a house for her, lent her money to do her little selling and we treated Viala in our clinic. Mama Viala always paid back her loans and she seemed to be doing fine. She would come from time to time with Viala and Viala was doing fine too. What happened? Viala died one month ago having been sick with diarrohea and a fever for a short time. Her mother had taken her to the doctor and then she had recovered only to get sick again and the second time she died before she could go to the doctor. Christell died in a similar way about eight months ago. Mama Viala had two other kids living with family in the country and they also died since we first met Mama Viala. They died from poverty.
In a way I am haunted by Christell and her beautiful smile. I only met her about three times but I was struck by her brightness and her smile. So many times she comes to my thoughts, this beautiful girl that should have had a better chance in life. “Take me with you,” she said to me one time. “Take me to your home.” “Oh no,” said I, “cos I will only make you scrub walls and work very hard.”
Mama Viala came to visit us yesterday and my heart went out to her. She was there thanking me for the money I sent for Viala’s funeral and this is the type of woman she is – always thankful for everything she gets. Now she is alone in her little house and in her own words ‘you are all I have now, Miss Gena’. She has family out in the country but she says they are poorer than she and not one of them came for Viala’s funeral. Mama Viala is about 45 years of age.
This is Haiti and I am sorry to be always writing the sad stories. Indeed I did not know that this is what I would be writing today. Meeting Mama Viala yesterday shook me. My friends, we have so many similar stories of poverty and misery and it never ends. Last week a mother came with a child for therapy and the mother looked like she could hardly stand up. The child was well taken care of but the mother was a mess. “Now, I am ugly,” she said. “I used not look like this but I am weak and I am anaemic.” I ended up giving her some protein drink that we have for the kids – she needs it more than her child.
Friends, I am writing this in my bedroom and the cat has just come in to say hello. I am not one to have animals in the house but this little cat is special because she was a stray and I befriended her and now she is a house pet. Well not really a pet because she still is wild enough and only allows me to pet her, but each morning she comes to stay hello and she likes a little attention. Then she goes off again and stays near the house but not inside. She knows that she can only come in, in the morning. She is funny and I appreciate her little visits!
Overall Haiti is quieter but the cost of living has risen again and everyone has the same story – they cannot afford to eat. So we see more and more problems related to lack of food and we try to do what we can. We have some successes and we have many children doing very well in our rehab programme. Our little special needs school is doing very well and more and more kids find a place there. You should see them and their proud faces when you tell them they can come to our school. Truly it is fantastic and it is life-giving.
I have a new Irish volunteer working with me – Maeve Bracken, originally from Offaly but living and working in Dublin for many years. She came in January and is working very well since she got here. I feel very happy to have Maeve with us and as she has signed on for two years she will be a great help.
I could write forever but now I have to get going with my day. I will be home in April and I will be happy to see friends and neighbours and have a good feed of home baking! I do thank all of you most sincerely for all your support for my work in Haiti. Truly you are saving lives as so frequently it is your money that is sending kids to doctors, sending adults to hospitals, renting houses for poor families, buying medication and so on and so on. Your money is helping build small houses – three families moved into their houses that your money helped build. Over 50 mothers have little businesses thanks to your money. You have helped bury many, helped educate many and you should be very happy that every penny you have given me has gone directly to someone in need.
From the bottom of my heart, on behalf of all the poor people we try to help, thank you.
We started with Mama Viala and let us finish with her. As I try to make meaning of her loss, I can only conclude that at least we were with her in her sadness. We could not change the outcome and her children did die, but somehow, in some small way, we were a support and she knew we cared. Sometimes in life I think this is all we can do – walk with someone on their journey through life and support them in whatever way we can. It does seem like such a small small part of a big picture but I am glad that we are there, no matter how small our part. Mama Viala knows we are there for her and this does count for something because so many people have no one and they despair. In Haiti so many people struggle alone and their struggles are far from easy.
I know there have been a lot of tragedies in the Westport area lately and just as I feel sadness for Mama Viala I feel sadness for those who have lost so much and in such sad circumstances. May God comfort and strengthen all those in need of his comfort. My body is many miles away but my thoughts and prayers are with those in mourning.
Gena Heraty is a native of Carrakennedy, Liscarney, Westport. She will be 15 years in Haiti in June. There is a fund-raising dance, in aid of Gena’s work in Haiti, being held in the Castlecourt Hotel on April 10. More details later.
