Haiti Orphanages Helped By West Shore Rotary Club Safe From Earthquake – Vancouver Island Free Daily

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While opening the news on Saturday morning, Bob Beckett thought he had somehow opened up a story from the 2010 Haiti earthquake by mistake.

But the former Langford fire chief was sadly seeing initial reports of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake – which by Tuesday had killed 2,000 people in Haiti.

He was concerned that significant damage would occur no matter where the earthquake occurred in the Caribbean nation, due to its topography and the lack of building codes.

“You’re going to have unbelievable devastation,” he said.

Beckett took some relief when he learned that the earthquake had not affected two orphanages near the capital, Port-au-Prince, which he and the Rotary Club of West Shore had supported for more than a decade. On Saturday, he immediately reached out to Enel Michel, who grew up at the Baby Jesus orphanage in Prague – one of the two sites supported by the club – and now works there. Fortunately, there was no damage and no one was injured there.

However, Beckett said he feels for a nation that has been constantly bombarded by crises overrun since colonialism. More recently, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere has been dealing with an epidemic, gang violence and a presidential assassination in July.

Read also: Death toll from Haiti earthquake over the weekend rises to 1941

Southwest Haiti, which was hardest hit by the quake, was also hit by torrential rain from Tropical Storm Grace as it arrived in the area on Monday. The storm caused a temporary halt in search and rescue efforts, and Beckett said the rains could cause flooding and other issues further hampering earthquake relief work on the ground.

He is in constant contact with both orphanages, including a weekly call with Enel – who has become a close friend. Through it all, Ennell opened their conversation on Saturday by asking how Beckett was doing.

“The day I talked to him about the earthquake,” Beckett said, “(he said) ‘Yes we are fine here, how are you and your family? “It’s amazing, they don’t think of themselves, they think of others. It’s a lesson we should all take seriously and learn from.”

He wishes the Westshore Rotary Club could get down there and help, but that hasn’t been possible due to a number of factors in the past two years, such as the pandemic and security concerns. In the meantime, direct anyone with a way to donate to the Canadian Red Cross (bit.ly/3APv8bi) because they are providing relief in Haiti now.

Despite all the challenges they face, Beckett said Haitians have been enlisted by the love of life that is embodied through their rich culture.

“I fell in love with Haiti because of the Haitians, they are amazing people.”

Read: On the ground in Haiti: An existing orphanage struggles to stay open

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Haiti Rotary West Shore

Enel Michel leans on his tap full of supplies for the Prague Child Jesus Orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during a visit to the West Shore Rotary Club in 2016. (Black Press Media file photo)

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