Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Port-au-Prince (Agenzia Fides) - “There are no words to describe the devastation of the earthquake on this city. All over the city there are signs -- 'We need help - water, food, medication, tents.' 'Please help us NOW!' Rich and poor have lost everything here - yet you still hear people singing, especially songs of praise to God for saving them.” These are the words of Colette Cunningham, a 49 year-old Irish volunteer who, having just returned to her native Ireland after working in Zambia with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), offered her services in Haiti. Her testimony was sent to Agenzia Fides by Sister Janet Fearns, FMDM, Communications Coordinator of the National Office of the Pontifical Mission Societies in England and Wales (Missio).
Cunningham writes from Haiti: “I am now working with CRS, on Public Health Communication for the camps...I am also working with children who are traumatized from the event and doing some trauma counseling with them. There is one little girl called Anne- Delianne, she is 4 years old. She was trapped under her home for 4 days with a stone on her head. It caused a pressure sore on her forehead and when she came to the clinic she had a hole there and one could see her skull bone. She began to tell me that she was trapped and that she could hear her granny crying and calling her name. That made her sad so she told granny not to cry because she was not going to die and that Jesus was taking care of her. She was successfully rescued [and] her physical injuries could be repaired by a skilled trauma and reconstructive surgeon from the UK.” Cunningham describes how although little Anne-Delianne had remained mute after the trauma of the earthquake, through her conversations with the child, she eventually helped her to gradually return to her old self of “smiling, singing, and skipping.”
Colette Cunningham continues: “Yesterday in one of the camps, a girl was lying down under a tarpaulin because she has a leg injury -- on the tarpaulin she and her family had written 'Jesus is my security.' At times I feel so helpless but knowing that I have many people praying for me helps me to continue doing the little I can to help this terrible situation.” (AR) (Agenzia Fides 06/02/2010)
