Georges Auguste, a former police chief of Port-au-Prince, was in his St. Louis home on January 12 when his cousin in Haiti called to tell him that the earthquake had hit.
“Two minutes later, I couldn’t call back,” Auguste said. “The communication system went down.”
Like many other Haitians in St. Louis, Auguste and his wife Mama Lisa Gage watched CNN to look for familiar faces and find out more information. Auguste would have been on the first flight to Haiti had civilian flights not been banned on January 14.
“I’m devastated, not only for my family but for the people of Haiti,” he said.
After days of gut-wrenching worry, Auguste finally heard from his mother on Sunday, January 17.
It was five days after the earthquake, which all but destroyed the capital city. Estimates of the death toll have ranged as high as 100,000 and even higher. Since many are still trapped in the rubble and the dead are being buried immediately in mass graves to control infection, the final toll will never be known.
Auguste’s mother, younger sister, nephew and daughter were in Canapé Vert, about five miles from the main earthquake site, when disaster struck.
All of them are alive, Auguste said. But they are starving.
His family and other survivors have been sleeping in an open field, with no blankets and little clothing.
Haiti was shook again by a second, smaller earthquake on Tuesday night. At press time, the family had not contacted Auguste.
When his mother called after the Jan. 12 earthquake, she said they didn’t have access to food, but they did have water. Her house remained standing, but all the houses surrounding it had collapsed.
“After the houses collapsed, they had to get people out of the rubble,” his mother told Auguste. “It was terrible to see the other people.”
The houses still standing are not safe to sleep in, so his family and survivors are supporting each other in the field.
Besides the lack of food, Mama Lisa’s main concern is the health of people who remain close to the destruction.
“With all the decaying bodies, there’s more possibility for airborne diseases,” she said. “If their immunity systems are down, they are more susceptible to becoming ill.”
Although Mama Lisa’s perceptions of health hazards are common, the World Health Organization states that dead bodies rarely spread disease. Most disease-causing agents do not survive long in the human body after death, except for HIV which can be up to six days. Dead bodies contaminating the water supply may cause gastrointestinal infections, according to the WHO.
Auguste’s first priority now is to relocate his mother to another township. Mama Lisa, the founder of Fundisha Enterprises, will be right alongside him in that effort.
Fundisha is a local group that preserves the African cultural education and performance arts traditions from the Diaspora. The enterprise has promised to relocate 100 families and help the children of those families get back into school immediately.
To help fund the initiative, Fundisha will hold a benefit performance on Friday, February 26 at the Robbie House of Jazz in Webster Groves. The show times are 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Auguste and Mama Lisa intend to visit Haiti in about 10 days, if travel is permitted, to do the initial legwork, she said.
Having been a police officer, Auguste knows about the ports, boat docks, roads and other logistics, she said. Once they get back to Haiti, they will devise a formalized relocation plan.
Mama Lisa met Auguste in 2004, when she traveled to Haiti to research the country’s folklore, music and dance. She and many others in the St. Louis area were introduced to Haitian culture by choreographer, dancer, activist and anthropologist Katherine Dunham, who lived and taught for years in East St. Louis. It was Mama Lisa’s training with Dunham that sparked her interest in traveling to Haiti.
“It was an experience I never thought would affect my life as much as it did,” Mama Lisa said.
Auguste was her host for the one-week excursion in 2004, and for the two years following they kept in touch and got better acquainted. In 2006, they were married, and that was the last time she was in Haiti.
Auguste and Mama Lisa decided to organize an initiative to relocate people through Fundisha on Monday. She also plans to take notebooks for the children to write down memories and document their elders who died.
“It’s important to get the children involved and give them something to do,” she said.
Auguste believes it would be better for his family to leave the site and go to a nearby town. But his mother doesn’t have any money, and it is impossible to wire money directly to them right now. Auguste said that giving money to world relief agencies is the best form of support right now.
Across St. Louis, many organizations are coming together to aid Haiti. For example, BJC has committed to match total employee contributions up to $100,000 for the Red Cross.
Meds & Food for Kids, which produces a nutritious food called Medika Mamba for Haiti’s malnourished children, is looking to regain $80,000 in raw materials that the group lost when the main seaport was destroyed. Local pediatrician Patricia Wolff founded the program.
St. Louis musicians (including Mardra and Reggie Thomas, and Kim Massie) will perform at The Sheldon on Tuesday, February 9, with proceeds to benefit Doctors Without Borders, which has been active in the relief effort. Call MetroTix at 314-534-1111 or visit www.TheSheldon.org.
For a hip-hop/R&B benefit, see the story on Page C1.
And various church groups, organizations and individuals have been strategizing to make meaningful contributions. Throughout the next few weeks, The St. Louis American will report these efforts. For more information about Fundisha’s relocation initiative, contact Mama Lisa at fundishaent@yahoo.com.
