Banagher nun a leading light in Haiti
In a small brick house under the shadow of the church of Louis Marie de Montfort church in Port-au-Prince live three nuns. The house is by the airport and the constant thumping of helicopters overhead provides a disconcerting soundtrack to the searing heat.
Conor O'Loughlin is International Humanitarian Communications Officer with Trocaire, and is on the ground in Haiti. He spoke with Former Banagher LSU Principle Sr Helen Ryder about her work in the devestated country
The three nuns have lived here for a long time and devote their time to the poor people of the neighbourhood.
"People are very poor here," says Sr Helen Ryder, a sister of the La Sainte Union order from Banagher in. There are poorer, but then in Haiti there is always someone poorer."
Her colleague, Sr Maria Hawkes from Bandon in West Cork, spoke of the moment the earthquake struck: "I was in my room at about 4.45 in the evening. Just sitting by my bed reading a book. Suddenly I became aware of the wall shaking. I got up quickly. My bed was moving across the room. The cabinet above my sink popped open."
They knew immediately that this was a major disaster.
"It was very sad to see, like a pack of cards, all the houses flattened. We went over to an open space and we didn't return until the next morning. We lay on the ground that night. When there was tremors you could feel them in your spine."
_______________
SEE ALSO
Offaly GOALies to the fore in Haitian relief effort
_______________
Sr Helen spoke of the terrible conditions Haitians live in. "Improvement isn't a word you hear around here. The four cyclones we had last year now seem small by comparison but they were huge too. That seemed to be the worst thing that could happen until this did.
"There is a tremendous amount of resilience. Food and water are what's needed at the moment, simply to survive. After that you can start talking about reconstruction and getting schools open and getting life back to normal. But it's food and water first."
The three nuns work on a pre-school feeding programme for the poorest children in the area. Every day before the earthquake, 100 children would come to the centre where they would be given a nourishing meal and some pre-school education. Each child is then sponsored through primary school, which many Haitian parents can't afford.
However since the earthquake they haven't been able to re-open the centre because they spent all of their cash reserves on helping people in the community in the immediate aftermath. And while their building remains standing, rebuilding needs to be done to make the structures safe for the children to return.
Trcaire's emergency director, Maurice McQuillan, visited the nuns this week, to look at the damage and consider how the aid agency might help them get the centre back on their feet.
The third of the group, Sr Eileen Davey from New York, told Mr McQuillan: "For many of the children who come to us, these past two weeks since the earthquake mean that they simply haven't eaten. They haven't eaten for several days at this point probably. If they don't have the food they'll become weaker and become more susceptible to diseases. That's always the concern."
Mr McQuillan immediately agreed to provide them with a grant from Trcaire's Haiti emergency appeal funds to fix their building and keep them running for a period.
"Long before aid agencies had even been thought of, missionaries like these three women were devoting their lives to the poorest of the poor in the darkest corners of the earth," Mr McQuillan said.
"They are the original humanitarians and their kind have been spreading the idea abroad of Ireland as a caring nation for more than a century. Walking through the local community it's easy to see how popular and valued these women are. Their vital work must be encouraged to continue wherever possible. Trcaire is proud to help them in whatever small way we can."
To donate money through Trocaire you can call 1850-408408 or log onto www.trocaire.org.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Weather for Tullamore
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy snow
Temperature: -3 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
