A Child's Story - Mikeline of Haiti
POSTED ON Mar 05, 2010
Mikeline looks up from reading a book in her first week at COTN's medical clinic in Barahona, Dominican Republic.
Mikeline rests in her corner of the COTN medical clinic.
COTN-DR clinic nurses and staff listen as Mikeline and her sister, Olanda, talk happily with their mother (far left) after their reunion at COTN's clinic in Barahona.
Olanda hugs her mother, Alta Gracia (left) as Mikeline watches -- happy to be reunited. COTN medical team leader Dr. Vicki Sakata and other COTN-DR staff and nurses witness the joyful family reunion.
From left to right, Alta Gracia stands with her daughters Olanda and Mikeline after finding them at COTN's medical clinic.
Mikeline laughs with COTN medical team member Linda Paquette, during the first week of her stay at COTN's medical clinic in Barahona.
COTN medical team members Bernice McLellan and Linda Paquette help Mikeline walk around the clinic to exercise her injured leg during the first week of Mikeline's stay at COTN's medical clinic in Barahona.
Mikeline stared at the homework in front of her. She was almost finished. Her friend was beside her—diligently working away as well. They had come straight to her friend’s house today after school to get their homework done early. Mikeline picked her pencil back up and the table started moving. But it wasn’t just the table—it was the chair that she was sitting on; it was the house; it was the actual earth beneath their feet. The girls looked up at one another with fear and confusion in their eyes. Was this an earthquake? They had felt little earthquakes in their home of Haiti before, but this one was not stopping.
The girls took off toward the door to get out of the house, which was already beginning to fall behind them. Just a little farther, Mikeline thought to herself. She could see the door ahead of them. But she passed too quickly by a window. The curtains somehow entangled the 13-year-old’s arm, causing her to fall to the ground. Her heart was racing and sweat was running down her forehead. She had to get out, she thought to herself. But before she could pick herself up, she felt the wall tumble down—heavy cement blocks hitting her hand and leg. It seared with pain. She cried out for fear of what would happen.
The earth had stopped shaking and 18-year-old Olanda was looking for her younger sister. Luckily, Olanda had been outside when the earth had begun to move and she had not been injured, but she knew that her sister was doing homework and she was desperate to find her. She ran down the street to Mikeline’s friend’s house. Was she here? There was movement under a pile of rubble and she immediately recognized Mikeline. She cried out to her and began to drag her out from under the blocks. She was alive! Relief spread across Olanda’s face, but she could tell her sister was in pain. She helped her to the street, away from any buildings. Their father was there and their brother. The four of them slept in the street there together that night.
About eight hours away from her home and children in Haiti, Alta Gracia was working in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for a Dominican government official. Though the job was far away from her family, it helped pay the bills and it allowed for her children to go to school and have food on their plates. Right now, her heart raced after hearing about the earthquake in her home country. Was her family alive? How would she ever find them? A few days passed and her boss volunteered his time and ability to find her family so she could travel to be with them. He began by going to Alta Gracia’s home in Haiti.
Mikeline couldn’t walk. It was too painful for her leg and her hand and arm fell limp to her side. She hobbled with her sister Olanda to a hospital near their home in Haiti. Once they arrived, all they could do was wait. There were so many people. Two days went by as the girls waited at the hospital, but still no help. It wasn’t until a group of Americans took notice of the girls and offered to drive them to a hospital in the Dominican Republic that the girls began to have some hope of getting care. They were soon on their way to Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani, Dominican Republic. There, Mikeline’s arm was amputated and her leg bandaged. She was recovering, but at a slow pace.
When COTN medical team leader Dr. Vicki Sakata assessed Mikeline, she determined that she would be a good candidate to come to COTN’s clinic to receive better care. Dr. Vicki knew that she needed a skin graft and additional help with her amputation. Olanda and Mikeline agreed to go. They both wondered if their mother—who worked in the Dominican Republic—would ever find them. They hadn’t talked to her at all since the earthquake.
It took six days for Alta Gracia’s employer to track down her family. In Haiti, he found her son and husband near their destroyed home, but neither of them knew that the girls had been taken to Jimani. He asked around the area and at the hospital where the girls had been in Haiti and found out that a few girls had indeed gone to a place over the border where there was a hospital. He went to Jimani and again asked around—carrying their photographs and saying their names to people in the street. He was told to check at Good Samaritan Hospital at the edge of town, where many Haitians had gone for help.
Once there, the man again asked for the two girls. Had anyone seen them? Had they been here? Someone recognized their names and their photos. He was told that they might have been part of a group that was airlifted to a medical clinic in Barahona, Dominican Republic. "Try there", he was told. Once in Barahona, he asked around about a medical clinic—where was it located? How do I get there? Finally, the patient Dominican entered the doors of COTN’s clinic. He showed the photo of Mikeline and was led to her bedside. He had found the girls! What good news he had for his employee, Alta Gracia.
The reunion was a beautiful one when Alta Gracia finally walked in to COTN’s clinic and found Mikeline in a clinic bed and Olanda at her side. There were tears of joy and relief—both for the girls and Alta Gracia. “When the earthquake happened, I was worried because mothers are always stressed about their children. I couldn’t eat because I couldn’t find them,” Alta Gracia said after she was reunited with her girls. “Now I feel better because I’m together with my daughters.”
Mikeline received the needed skin graft on her leg about a week after arriving at COTN’s clinic. It has almost completely healed and she has been working with COTN physical therapists to get accustomed to her amputated arm. The teenager, who loves soccer, the color orange and playing all kinds of games, also has a much happier demeanor about her now that her mother has joined her and she is healing. She says she wants to be a nurse when she grows up so “I can help people, like I’m being helped now.”