When the earthquake shook, Imen Khozouee found it "kind of amusing." He had lived in Haiti since he was seven months old and was used to minor earthquakes. But after 10 seconds, the ground was still shaking.
"I saw houses dropping one after another after another … I saw the extent of the damage and I was like, ‘wow,’" he said. Meanwhile, Khozouee's cousin, junior Shervin Rezaei, was "just watching TV on the couch."
"I stumbled upon CNN and at first I didn’t react, but then I remembered I had a family there," Shervin said.
Shervin and his brother, freshman Shawheen Rezaei, have a set of grandparents and five other relatives living in Haiti, including Khozouee.
Senior Moira Clervil and the South bus driver known as “Jones” also have family who were in the midst of the chaos that ensued during the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 13.
Jones’ brother injured his leg during the quake, but the rest of his and Clervil’s family members were relatively unharmed. It is the aftermath of the earthquake and Haiti’s current state, however, that is causing the most struggles for their families.
Clervil’s grandparents, uncles, cousins, “basically everybody except me and my mom” were “all fine” but have been sleeping on the streets since the earthquake.
“[The people in Haiti] are in need of some psychological help,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of fear.”
Shawheen and his family were ecstatic to hear that their relatives were safe, but sensed that things were still not going well.
“[My cousins] asked me, ‘Didn’t you know I was alright?” and I asked him if he was really alright, and he said, ‘Not really.’ It’s just small stuff like that. I can feel that they are alright, but it’s still not satisfactory,” Shawheen said.
Clervil’s mother sent a letter to Washington, D.C., requesting permission to bring her family to America despite their expired passports.
“We’re trying to come get them here, even temporarily,” Clervil said. “I’m just … trying to do my part, just being there for my mom, I guess because she’s been sad all day, everyday.”
Khozouee arrived in Newton last Saturday night and is now enrolled at South, as his school collapsed during the quake. He hopes to receive the high school diploma he needs to attend the college in the fall.
“Most schools stopped, and we hadn’t had much electricity. We had back-up ways to get food or electricity, but it’s only for school. Roads were mostly blocked,” he said. “I didn’t get to see most of my friends before I left.”
Khouzuee felt “very bad” for leaving his home, especially because the country faces such a difficult road ahead.
“I felt really bad being one of those people, leaving the country when it needs us most.”
Khouzuee said Haiti has always needed help and is disappointed that more people are not staying to help the country.
“Now’s the time to rehabilitate it from scratch. It was over-condensed, and now that we could do something to change stuff, people are leaving,” he said.
The corrupt and impoverished state of Haiti is nothing new to those who know it well.
Shervin’s cousins often tell stories about the constant crime in Haiti. “[My cousins] pretty much live in a lawless society … they just said they feel that the situation of Haiti was dire before, and it's just impossible to fix anything," Shervin said.
Clervil wonders why the world waited for a tragedy before reaching out to a country that has always struggled.
“A lot of things have happened to Haiti before … and nothing has been done about it. There had to be a catastrophe for us to be like, ‘Okay, this is a real crisis, we need to intervene.’ So basically, it’s like every time we need a catastrophe to intervene? No, it shouldn’t be like that,” he said.
Because of the immense crime in Haiti, Clervil feels that sending money as aid is ineffective.
“If you give them money, they fight for it, you make things worse … it’s going to be like a cage fight because people are so poor over there, and people are just striving for anything,” he explained.
Shervin is similarly concerned about the corruption in Haiti’s government. “I think in general [monetary donations] are a good thing and donations are great … but I think that a lot of the political infrastructure … is completely corrupt, so I’m never sure how much is really reaching the people in need and is being used for a good cause,” he said.
He admitted that he has “no clue” what to do in Haiti.
Khouzuee commented on South’s efforts to raise money for the Red Cross to send to Haiti. “I prefer helping firsthand like I did before coming,” he said.
Before he left, Khouzuee volunteered at a hospital, helping doctors by translating English to Creole and helping patients who needed assistance.
Khouzuee thinks skilled workers who “can rebuild and who have the knowledge and skills to do so” as the most effective means of help.
His time at the hospital illustrates the work needed to help the people of Haiti. He explained that one of the saddest moments during his time in the hospital was witnessing a “lady who was crying and crying when they told her they had to cut her leg off.”
Even if people offer services, Clervil believes the future of U.S. involvement will not be as compassionate as it has been in the last two weeks.
“I feel like when the media coverage does die down there won’t be as much help, like little bits here and there but not to the point where it’s at right now … I just … it will go back to somewhat the same way [as it was before],” he said.
Shervin said that due to short-term media coverage, many people, including himself, forget about countries that suffer from tragedies like these. “I feel like the same kind of lawless society is going to return after the major aide efforts come through,” he said.
But the closeness of this tragedy to Shervin is changing the way he views all countries’ struggles. “I’m starting to feel like I should be more aware [of the long term effects].”
Though all are skeptical that the relief efforts will rebuild the country, they remain hopeful. Jones, who has the support of fellow Haitian bus drivers and a Creole radio station, cites God as an important source of hope for the Haitian people.
“God created the good and the bad moments,” Jones said. “That’s why after the earthquake, people gather at the church … He’s the only one who can help you in this moment.”
Clervil, Khouzuee and Jones all agree that their love for their country will keep them devoted in the struggle to rebuild it.
For now, Clervil agreed that students are doing everything they can to help.
“Keep on giving, keep on helping out Haiti. It's not going to change anything in two weeks. If you keep on helping, it will change,” he said. “Honestly, I think that if we keep on helping Haiti and such like that, we'll all feel good in the end when it's paid off … and made people's lives better.”
