What's New // Featured Article / Bulletin from Haiti regarding the January 12, 2010 Earthquake

Villa Manrèse
We are still removing papers and furniture buried in the rubble of the Villa Manrèse which was destroyed by the terrible earthquake of January 12.  Seven bodies are still under the ruins of the building. We have been in constant contact with the Haitian authorities and with an Italian company in order to respectfully remove the bodies from the ruins.  They will also assist with the demolition of what is left of the building since it constitutes a danger for the more than one thousand refugees who are in the garden of the Villa Manrèse.

We have been able to recover more the 90% of our documents and more than 80% of our furniture. While waiting for them to be more permanently filed, the papers are being kept in a room of our provisory residence, the home of Mr. Einar Madsen, our closest neighbor. The entire outside entryway of the Villa Manrèse is filled with furniture, office equipment, gasoline containers, books, etc. Fortunately it has not rained. We are still waiting to see if we can buy containers to store everything we have been able to salvage.

To make the property secure we have hired two night watchmen.  To maintain a permanent presence at the entrance we have organized a reception service at the gate. Many people have come to take a look, to then cry, to offer us words of encouragement, to make promises to help us, etc.  It is unbelievable to see the depth of attachment people have to the Villa Manrèse. Many of our neighbors consider it the heart of the neighborhood. Dozens of priests and religious have come to express their sorrow to see Villa Manrèse destroyed. Many directors of charitable groups have also come to express their regret.

We are constantly getting calls from the faithful to learn what we are doing to continue our beautiful liturgical celebrations. While waiting to organize better, we are celebrating the Eucharist every day in a small corner on the property where there is an improvised shelter. On Sundays we celebrate on the property of Mr. Frantz Liautaud, located just in front of the entrance to the Villa,

Provisional Shelter
To prevent that we are not overwhelmed by the people from the neighboring five slums, we have asked the community leaders to set up their groups (camps) and we help organize them.  This makes our task a difficult one. In addition to the group in the garden of the Villa Manrèse, we are assisting five other groups.  It is difficult to give exact statistics. There are more than 9000 people in these six centers. At Villa Manrèse alone, there around 1000 people in need of assistance.

We are distributing aid in big groups that we have further subdivided in order to maintain order, control and security, particularly at the moment when we do the food distribution.  In addition to the large groups and the subgroups, commissions have been set up for different services: logistics, security, cleaning, communication, prayer, discipline, reception. We make regular rounds of the six centers to encourage the refugees and their community leaders.

The results are very positive. With the Jesuits we have begun a community education project: a grade school and high school, a six month vocational center to equip young people with the skills to help in the reconstruction of Port-au-Prince.  This center will continue to educate other professions beyond the six months.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Fr. Paul André Garraud, CSV
Port-au-Prince