News

Glen Ellyn woman home safe after Haiti disaster

Posted January 18, 2010 10:00 pm

By Justin Kmitch

Growing up in Glen Ellyn, Mallory Holding had no idea what an earthquake felt like.

Now she'll never forget.

Safe and sound Monday, the 23-year-old Episcopal Church missionary to Haiti described surviving the 7.0-magnitude earthquake and the harrowing two days that followed before the Air Force brought her home.

"It was about 5 p.m. and I was in my apartment working at my desk, and I thought a car had run into the building or a bomb had gone off outside my apartment," said Holding, who had been living and working in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince since September as a member of the Young Adult Service Corps.

The realization

Her apartment, next to the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti's seminary where she was working, was undamaged by the quake, but she quickly realized she was facing an incredible emergency.

"I got under my desk until the shaking stopped and I wasn't sure whether to stay or get out," she said. "But once I got out, I immediately saw dust and smoke and car accidents and realized something serious happened."

She headed to a nearby soccer field in her gated community where several others had gathered, including her friend and fellow volunteer Jude Harmon and many injured Haitians.

"Once the aftershocks calmed down, I convinced my supervisor to let me back into my apartment so I could grab water, food, towels and some medical supplies I had and bring them back to the field," she said.

A doctor who happened to be at the soccer field took some of the more seriously injured people to the hospital and left Holding in charge of tending to smaller wounds and less serious medical needs. By about 2 a.m. Wednesday, she had run out of supplies and energy.

"Once I ran out of what I had, there was really nothing else I could do, so I slept outside on the ground, sharing one pillow and one sheet with five seminary students," she said. "But as exhausted as I was, I couldn't sleep, fearing what the morning would bring."

It brought bad news, as word began to spread about the number of deaths and people trapped in buildings across the capital. She and Harmon also learned Harmon's apartment had been destroyed, along with his passport and other important documents.

Most of Wednesday was spent tending to between 500 and 1,000 survivors who were camping in about 40 tents on the soccer field. Among them, Holding said, was Haitian Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin and his wife, whose home was destroyed. About 100 students from the diocese's St. Vincent's School for Handicapped Children also took refuge at the camp.

Late Wednesday, after learning another friend had made contact with home, Holding tried calling her mother about 50 times before the call went through. She estimates she talked to her mother for less than a minute before the call was cut off.

"It was troubling, wanting to get the word out that I was OK but not being able to," she said. "I knew my family would be worrying and I didn't want them to."

Indeed, back at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, concern for Holding's safety was high, the Rev. George Smith said. Congregation members were saying prayers for her safety "around the clock."

The rumor

The relative calm of the soccer field got flipped on its head late Wednesday night when Holding was awakened by gunshots, screams and stampedes of people running through the makeshift camp.

"Everyone was screaming that the water was rising and that a tidal wave was coming," she said. "One of my seminarians grabbed me and we ran for our lives up the mountain side. I think I ran as fast as I could for an hour."

While on the mountain Thursday, Harmon and Holding met a man who spoke English and let them sleep on his front porch for the night. Thursday morning he drove them back to the camp to get their belongings and then to the U.S. Embassy.

The rumor of a tidal wave turned out to be a ploy to empty the camp so looters could have their way. When she and other campers returned from the mountain Thursday morning, many of their possessions had been stolen - but her backpack and passport were still there.

The driver rushed her to the embassy, leaving her little time to say goodbye to the seminarians she had grown close to in recent months and even more so in recent days. She also had to leave her belongings in her apartment, much of which included shoes and clothing she had intended to leave anyway when her yearlong tour was up in September.

"I talked to some of the seminarians I was close with and they agreed I needed to leave before conditions and safety got worse," she said. "But I felt so guilty for leaving, while so many people have to stay and deal with this tragedy for years to come."

Going home

At 2 a.m. Friday, Holding boarded an Air Force cargo plane headed for a New Jersey base carrying nothing but her backpack and wearing the same clothes she had on when the earthquake hit.

After a short stop at the base, where cots and calling stations were set up, she left for Newark Liberty International Airport to board a flight to Chicago.

Knowing she only had a T-shirt, flip-flops and jeans, friends greeted her at the airport Friday evening with a sweater, a pair of shoes and hot chocolate.

"I'm glad I didn't have to sit next to me on the flight home," she said. "I'm sure it was unpleasant and I kept apologizing for the smell, but folks seemed to understand."

Moving forward

Holding kept a regular blog (http://holdinghaiti.blogspot.com/) during her stay in Haiti in which she described the trouble she initially had connecting with the country. But as time went on it grew on her and she began to feel a special connection.

Despite being home in Glen Ellyn, Holding said she is dedicated to doing what she can to help make sure the story does not disappear once the national media and television cameras leave. She's also considering how soon she can go back.

During her four months in Haiti, Holding was responsible for teaching English to the seminarians, helping them create an Advent Devotional celebrating Haiti, creating a revenue source for the seminary and helping with the construction of dorms. But any new work down there would be starting from scratch.

"I would love to go back but only in conditions where I would be useful and not a burden, so I don't think that is in the near future," she said. "Thankfully the (Young Adult Service Corps) understands that I'm committed to what happened in Haiti and I think they will allow that to be a part of what I do next."

Survivors survey damage Wednesday at College St. Pierre, the Episcopal Primary School which collapsed during the quake. The school is near Holding's apartment and the seminary. Courtesy of Mallory Holding

How local businesses are helping:

• Lincolnshire-based Hewitt Associates is spearheading a Chicago Helps Haiti relief drive and telethon for the American Red Cross with the help of the media, including the Daily Herald and WLS-TV Channel 7. The telethon will take place from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday, with local TV and radio stations leading the promotion, joined by the Herald and Crain's Chicago Business. Hewitt will provide the phone bank with 1,500 employee volunteers, in Lincolnshire and other company call centers in Florida, North Carolina and Texas. A hotline number will be announced Thursday. Hewitt and Chicago media previously worked on a similar one-day telethon to benefit the Red Cross following the Asian tsunami in 2004.

• On Tuesday, Jan. 19, 100 percent of the money spent on dinner, lunch or cocktails at Meson Sabika, a restaurant in Naperville owned by Hossein Jamali, will be donated to the American Red Cross for Haitian relief. And the Naperville Rotary Charities has agreed to match the amount raised at Meson Sabika that day.

• Chicago's Hideout nightclub will sponsor a benefit for Haiti with the Waco Brothers and Eleventh Dream Day performing at 8 p.m. today. Tickets are $20, and proceeds will go to Partners in Health, which has been working for 20 years to provide health care to the poor in Haiti. The Hideout is at 1354 W. Wabansia. Call (773) 227-4433 or visit <a href="http://hideoutchicago.com" target="new">hideoutchicago.com</a> for details.

How you can help

Local

• St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church: stapostle.org/index2.php? area=news&data=detail&id=4646

• Feed My Starving Children: fmsc.org/Page.aspx? pid=276

• Spirit of Truth School in Haiti, run by Ruth Caudle of Vernon Hills: haiti-world.org

• Naperville-based International Buddhist Progress Society at Chicago is helping through the Buddha's Light International Association to provide food, water, shelter, medical services and emotional support. Donations may be sent to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund (Account # 1005231), c/o American Metro Bank, 4878 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640.

National

• To donate $10 to the American Red Cross, text "Haiti" to 90999. The amount will be added to your next phone bill. Or, donate through the Red Cross' International Response Fund, redcross.org.

• Former President Bill Clinton Foundation's Haiti Relief Fund: Text "HAITI" to 20222

• InterAction has a list of agencies responding and how to donate to them. Find it online at interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti.

• To find out how to help the International Rescue Committee, visit theIRC.org or call toll-free 1-877-REFUGEE.

• To donate through Oxfam's emergency appeal, visit oxfam.org.uk

• unicefusa.org

• doctorswithoutborders.org

• habitat.org/Haiti-Earthquake

• salvationarmy.org

• Donating cash to established relief organizations is the best way to help because it allows professionals to get what they need.

Other tips

Aid organizations need your assistance but warn that well-intentioned efforts like collecting bottled water and clothing on your own may not be the most helpful thing for a disaster-ravaged country that does not have the infrastructure to distribute them. Some tips from InterAction, a coalition of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations:

• If you decide to donate supplies and not cash, contact an established relief organization before you collect anything.

• People who want to volunteer should have previous disaster or international experience or technical skills and should work through a relief organization.

• Be careful of scams. The Better Business Bureau offers the following advice to help Americans decide where to direct donations:

• Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity.

• Be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist relief victims.

• Be cautious when giving online, especially in response to spam messages and e-mails that claim to link to a relief organization.

• Find out if the charity has an on-the-ground presence in the impacted areas.

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