Q: Do you have family in Haiti now?
A: I do. I have an uncle, an aunt, and several cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Q: Have you been able to contact them?
A: We’ve spent all night and all day trying to connect with them. We’ve been able to, but it’s really been through a network of a network of a network. We’ve called the immediate folks, then the members of the lakou, the neighbors, asking, “Have you seen so and so?” We heard from one of them that our uncle’s leg is broken and that he’s getting care from the local folks.
It’s been really hard not being able to be in touch with family members. Not being able to hear how they’re doing—that’s the hardest part.
Q: What can people do to help on that score?
A: Sant La, a community center here in Miami, in Little Haiti, has set up a place where people can make phone calls. Calling people is really expensive and buying the phone cards is very expensive, so they’ve set up a place where people can come and call family members as often as they want. There are other places that are providing phone cards to family members. On the immediate level, these are things we can do in the U.S.
I know [my family] purchased 50 phone cards today and we’ve gone through about 30. They can be very useful and it’s a small way of providing help to these people.
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