Volunteer tells of escaping earthquake

A young Oldcastle woman narrowly escaped the devastation of the Haitian earthquake last week as she flew out from the capital Port Au Prince just 48 hours before the earthquake ravaged the country. However, an emotional Sarah Finegan, of Williamstown, Oldcastle, has been traumatised by the suffering of the people she left behind in Haiti, who "seem to suffer setback after setback". Sarah, a daughter of Jeremy and Colette Finegan, had travelled to Haiti on 27th December with a group of UCD Volunteers Overseas where she was working on a building project in the western hemisphere's poorest country. It was her second time to travel to the country as a volunteer. "Those of us who travelled out together all got home safe and the people of Gros Morne, where we were working, are okay, but many of the people we knew in Port Au Prince were injured," she said. Sarah had travelled through Port Au Prince, which was devastated by the earthquake, two days before the disaster, which is believed to have claimed 200,000 lives. "When I got to New York and heard the news, I just went into physical shock. It was very upsetting. All I could think about was our contacts and the people we had met over there," said Sarah. "Haiti keeps suffering setbacks. Different disasters keep hitting the country," she said. The earthquake has left the capital in ruins, knocking down hospitals, high-rises and churches and it levelled the presidential palace. Many of the US contacts working with the charity she was involved in were badly hit by the disaster. Sarah was clearly upset at the devastation left behind in the country where she had been working to help an already highly impoverished people. However, here in Ireland, family and friends were pleased to hear she had left the country before the earthquake hit. "My phone died while I was in New York and a lot of people didn't know if I had left the country. My mother had to convince my grandmother that I was alright," she said. UCD Volunteers Overseas began working in Gros Morne, a six-hour bus journey from Port Au Prince, in 2005 and Sarah spent two months working there in 2008. "Our main partners are the Sisters of Jesus and Mary and they have worked there for over 10 years. The town and the townland surrounding it have a population of 120,000," she said. Sarah taught in a local school in the morning and worked on building projects in the afternoon, before returning to Ireland to continue her studies. In December she travelled out on an Alumni volunteering mission which saw volunteers who had worked there before travelling out for a short period to help with building work. "It was very successful and involved an intense construction project," she added. Projects which her group have been working on since 2005 include several reforestation and flood prevention projects and house construction projects. "All of the projects have made a change. Our work out there this winter involved us funding the materials and the Haitian workers we worked alongside," she said. Haiti has, in the past, suffered terribly as a result of hurricanes and flooding. Sarah explained that buildings were very easily destroyed because they are built without foundations. "The country is so poor that they try to save money by not putting in foundaitons," she said. Sarah is a past pupil of Eureka Secondary School in Kells and a UCD Commerce (Hons) graduate and is currently working as a management consultant in Dublin. Meanwhile, over €450,000 has been raised by the Irish Red Cross in its Haiti Appeal and Noel Wardick, head of the international department of the Irish Red Cross, thanked the Irish public for their generosity but appealed to the people of Ireland to continue to give what they can, as every cent would make a difference to the people of Haiti. To date, the Irish Red Cross has sent €125,000 in emergency aid to Haiti and donations to the appeal can be made online at www.redcross.ie and by calling 1850 50 70 70. However, the Red Cross has warned the public that it is vital they remain vigilant and ask people collecting to provide identification, as there have been a number of cases of people making bogus collections for the charity.