The purpose of the C2C blog is to expose, educate, engage and bring humanity to what is happening back home. Haiti is at a crucial period its history. We firmly believe that we are the missing link to the country’s survival. And when we say we, we mean the Diaspora. We were sent away to comeback with the good news. Somehow along the way many of us have either forgotten our mission or were never informed. For those who have forgotten, this is your reminder. For those who never knew, let us enlighten you. This is only the beginning. Haiti cannot afford to lose another generation. “We are, who we have been waiting for.”
July Cholera Outbreak in Port de Paix
When I woke up on the morning of Saturday, July 23, 2011 I did what millions of Americans do each morning. Before washing my face or even brushing my teeth, I looked over at my Blackberry to see if I had missed any messages, emails or phone calls. I noticed that the customary red light was flashing. I had missed a phone call from my older brother, Ray. This was odd because he never called this early. Immediately I dialed him back, without a greeting or a good morning, he said “Ashley, the cholera is back, six people have died already!” It didn’t sink in right away, so I let him continue talking. What was I supposed to say or do? He continued to explain the grim events that had taken place over the past few days. Earlier that week, Wednesday evening, three people had reportedly been on their way to Immaculee, the largest medical center in Port de Paix. All three had died, two at the hospital and one in the ambulance. That was just the beginning. Over the next couple of days, it was said that nearly a dozen people had died from the cholera exposure.
I began to brainstorm about what I could do to help. Sitting around and feeling hopeless wasn’t going to solve anything, so I told Ray that I would call him back. First I went online and searched the internet for any new stories or releases talking about the most recent cholera outbreak in Northwest Haiti; The Miami Herald, New York Times, CNN, Google, nothing . No one was reporting anything.
