We are at a loss for words tonight as news comes out of Haiti with the increasing number of deaths. In the photo above, Canada's Governor General Michaelle Jean is overcome with emotion while speaking about the crisis in Haiti following Tuesday's earthquake. (Ottawa January 13, 2010.) Jean is Haitian-born. The death toll in Haiti's catastrophic earthquake could run to tens of thousands, Haiti's President Jean Preval said.
The first Canadian confirmed dead is Yvonne Martin, a nurse from Elmira, ON. which is 20 minutes away from here. So close to home, we feel the impact and our hearts and prayers go out to her family. She was killed 90 minutes after arriving. Yvonne was to begin work with a mission group using her nursing skills to help the poor.
On a personal note, our family has been desperately trying to contact our cousin and nephew. Father Joseph Durante has been in Haiti for 25+ years as a director of a medical clinic, an educator and as a spiritual director to mission groups. We've not heard anything from him and all attempts have been futile. It's a dreadful feeling not knowing, not hearing. We wait.
"While on a medical mission in 2000, priests from the St. Charles Seminary in Haiti, which is located approximately 3 miles from the L’Ouverture Cleary School, donated land to Haiti Medical Missions of Memphis and constructed a permanent medical clinic on the seminary grounds. The clinic became operational in late fall of 2001. Father Joseph Durante who lives at the St. Charles Seminary complex provides spiritual leadership for our teams while they are in Haiti, and helps direct the day-to-day activities of the clinic." Read more HERE.
Photograph by: REUTERS/Blair Gable
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