PICTURES FROM HAITI

Tremors tore apart families, homes, and hearts over one month ago in Haiti. The earthquake that took thousands of lives, changed the life of one Providence College student, Claudia Mortimer ’13, who was in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit. Although the earthquake has passed and Mortimer is now back at the College, her story is far from finished.

"I don’t know if life will be normal for a long time," said Mortimer.

Mortimer, along with her younger brother, four cousins, and her aunt evacuated Haiti and came to America. Mortimer’s older brother left Haiti one week before the earthquake to go back to college in the United States. Mortimer’s mother, Chantal, however, chose to remain in Haiti. She is currently living with an aunt while trying to rebuild their home and business.

During the earthquake, their home suffered great damage. With help from Mortimer’s uncle and aunt, Mortimer’s mother is cleaning and rebuilding both the home and the business, spending most of her time picking up the broken debris that was scattered everywhere.

"The first thing in my mind is trying to put the business back on its feet to have a source of income once again," said Chantal Mortimer.

Before the earthquake, Mortimer’s family owned a print shop where they would print photographs. Mortimer and her mother feel that the most important thing now is to rebuild their customer base, although now people have "other things on their minds besides developing pictures."

After the business is back on its feet, the second thing on Mortimer’s mother’s mind is to get her family back into Haiti. While Haiti is in the recovery process, Mortimer’s family just waits and continues with their everyday lives as much as possible.

"The world did not end, so we have to keep on going," said Chantal.

Her nine-year-old son, Brian, evacuated Haiti and went to stay with Sebastien, his older brother. He attends the fourth grade in Florida where Sebastian attends the University of Miami. Mortimer also evacuated Haiti with her brothers and came back to Providence College.

They all went to live with family in New York. Mortimer stresses that this is a temporary situation.

"I don’t know what the rest of my family’s plans are because none of us are expecting nor want to stay in the states," said Mortimer. "Everything is temporary. [It] all depends on how the country progresses. We won’t stay here because it’s not home."

Meanwhile, Haiti is in the recovery process. The U.S. embassy reopened and is allowing people to renew their visas, but Mortimer’s uncle still remains without a renewed visa. Shops are open from "time to time," but the streets are littered with vendors selling small supplies for high prices. Mortimer’s mother explained how people wait until dark and then go around stealing things. Prices have been said to be dropping, now ranging only about 10 percent above the prices before the quake, but crime rates are still above average.

The people of Haiti have begun to rebuild homes together. Many people whose houses were too damaged have now pitched sturdy tents as shelters instead of sleeping on the street.

Many organizations all around the world are currently in Haiti treating the wounded, burying the dead, and trying to rebuild the lives of the living.

All of Mortimer’s immediate family plans to return to their home in Haiti as soon as possible. When the home is rebuilt, depending on Haiti’s progress, Brian will return and continue school. Mortimer and her older brother will be unable to return until they have vacation from school.

"I hope Haiti can remain strong," said Mortimer. "We’ve been going through so much already. I want to see a better Haiti and I hope that we learn from this experience."