Locally Organized Haitian Relief!

Action Santa Cruz is putting together a relief sponsorship for some very special people.   Let me introduce you to Andre and Chelsea.   

"Thanks God. My family is alive."

This is the only Facebook post by Andre Cherer after a 7.0 earthquake devastated his country, horrified the world, and forced his family to fend for themselves on the streets of Port-au-Prince. A private person, Andre prefers to keep his feelings to himself. But with the world's eyes focused on Haiti, and as the only Haitian in Santa Cruz, California where he moved a year and a half ago to live with his American wife Chelsea George, it's hard not to get noticed.

The couple was still on vacation in Mexico when Haiti's worst earthquake in 200 years hit. For three long, agonizing days, and three sleepless nights, Andre knew nothing about his family. With fatality estimates of 200,000, he could only pray that no one in his family had died. Normally, Andre uses Skype to call family member's cell phones. Even on a good day, Port-au-Prince has limited electricity, so the internet is not an option for staying in touch with his family back home. But with cell phone towers destroyed or damaged, Andre and millions of other Haitians who live abroad, mainly in the U.S. and Canada, were left in the dark.

Andre called all his Haitian friends in other countries, including the Dominican Republic where he'd lived for five years, to see if anyone knew anything. Finally, in the evening of January 15, more than 72 hours after the earthquake hit, a friend in Canada told Andre that he'd been able to reach his brother Billy's cell phone in Port-au-Prince. Andre called Billy and was assured that his family was all okay even though their house was badly damaged. Billy asked Andre to call back in a half hour while he went to look for them. At long last, Andre heard the voices of the ones he loves most: his mother and stepfather, two brothers and two sisters, his brother-in-law, and especially his 82-year-old grandma who raised him in their mountain village of Duval.

Now the hard part begins -- rebuilding this family's life. Before the quake, they had a relatively comfortable life. His stepfather is a retired builder who constructed the family home with two apartments below that gave them income. His married sister Marjorie and her husband recently hired him to add a third story on the house for them. Andre's brother Johnny works as a police officer, while sister Beatrice teaches pre-school, and youngest brother Reginald is a student. They only got electricity a few hours a day, usually late at night after the family is asleep, and water was delivered to a cistern and pulled up by bucketfuls, but for Haiti they had a comfortable life.

Now they're faced with no home, no income in the family other than Johnny's job, and only Andre abroad to help. Their hope is to move back up to their mountain village, buy some land from an uncle, and build a house. The roads to Duval could barely be called roads, but with a four-wheel drive truck, they could transport building material, commute back and forth to Port-au-Prince, and possibly make some money taking others to and from the village. Eventually, they'd like to rebuild the house in Port-au-Prince so that the ones who work and study in the city could stay there, and the family could earn rental income again.

Although it's not Andre's style to ask for help, his wife and many of their friends have encouraged them to accept donations to help his family. Even in this bad economy, the American people have been so generous in helping the Haitians. The Red Cross and other organizations have received millions of dollars in donations. But sometimes it's hard to know exactly where that donation money goes. Does it really reach the people who need it? For this reason, giving directly to a Haitian family so they can start their lives over amid the rubble of their country, is a way to see the results of your donation. 


Here is the Sentinel Article I was referring to earlier in the blog post:
 Santa Cruz man connects with Haitian family


--Stay tuned for more updates.