Faith Unshaken by Haiti Earthquake
The devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12, demolishing most of Port-au-Prince, shook everything except the faith of Lovell and Virginia Cary. The retired missionary couple living in Cleveland, TN, said they feel “blessed to be alive” although they are not 100 percent after surviving the 7.0 quake that left a fellow passenger dead with more than 200,000 others.
“Physically, we’re not as well as we would like to be,” said Lovell. “My wife has bruised and cracked ribs and a cracked sternum caused by the wall that fell on us while we were in an SUV.”
The couple, both 81, were in Haiti for the national convention of the Church of God when the disaster, of biblical proportions, engulfed them.
“We had just arrived at 3:50 p.m. from Miami (Fla.) by American Airlines,” said Lovell. “We had gone through customs, gotten our luggage and Bishop Joseph Elysee had met us. He was a man of great influence in Haiti. A wonderful man. We went to the SUV that had a driver from the church, Lloyd Frazier, who had been a missionary to Haiti for 22 years. We were in the city when it happened. We were on our way to a hotel. We had stopped because of the traffic congestion in front of us which was normal in Haiti.”
Lovell said as he was looking out the window he glanced up and saw a stone wall between 15 and 20-feet high to keep the embankment from coming down. “I said to myself, ‘That would kill us if it fell on us,’” he recalls.
One minute later, at 4:53 p.m., the quake struck with such devastating force that the wall suddenly collapsed on top of them, killing Elysee instantly.
“All I remember was a horrible thud when the wall fell,” said Virginia, who described that moment and the hours that followed as pitiful to behold.
Building after building collapsed as frightened and panic-stricken people ran into the streets, screaming, crying, many trapped, many hiding, as dust and debris engulfed the area.
Stunned, shocked and injured, Virginia started calling out to her husband who was not answering. There was blood coming from the back of his left ear. “I think he was hit so hard it knocked him out for a minute,” said Virginia. “It scared me so bad when he didn’t answer. I kept saying, ‘Oh, God, Please, don’t let us die here. Help us get out of here. Just let us get back home, be able to hold our children and tell them we love them.’”
Dazed, he finally answered. As the three wounded survivors realized what was happening, they had to make a decision to leave the body of the bishop and try to make their way to the Church of God headquarters on foot. The images they saw, the sounds they heard left an indelible mark on the elderly couple.
“When we got out of the car, the aftershocks just kept coming, kept coming, every 20 to 30 minutes, all night long and into the next day,” Lovell said. “We lived in Asia for 30 years. We’ve been in earthquakes. We know the seriousness and the awfulness of earthquakes. None were as bad as this. This was the most devastating thing I have ever seen.”
Virginia agreed. “You can’t even imagine what it looks like over there — the rubble, the destruction, the dead, the dying — it’s so pitiful,” she said, wiping away tears. “Nothing to eat. No water for the children. They have no parents — nothing. I don’t think we’ll ever forget it all. It shook every building just about down.”
“It’s the most overwhelming thing I have ever seen,” admits Lovell. “I have seen volcanoes erupt on the big island in Hawaii, but nothing like this.”
Three Haitians walked about 50 minutes from the Church of God headquarters in Port-au-Prince, through the streets and the rubble, to find the trio. As they walked, the Carys report seeing people crying and praying as they walked together.
Although the couple said they have not suffered any nightmares yet, Virginia admits, “We will never get rid of those images in our mind. They were so pitiful — so pitiful.”
“That’s what breaks my heart,” Lovell added with watery eyes. “They have nothing. We saw the dead and the dying. We had over 600 who came into the headquarters when we finally reached it. I received word there are more than 6,000 there now.”
When they finally reached headquarters that Tuesday night, Lovell and his injured wife slept on the back of a pick-up truck outside with countless others. They said one Haitian lady found a thick piece of foam rubber for them to sleep on.
“When I think of America and our insatiable appetite for material things and I think of them that have nothing — how gracious and generous and loving they can be — they are marvelous people,” Lovell said, as he fought back tears.
As aftershocks continued throughout the night and into the next morning, the Carys rose at dawn, ready to make their way to the airport. After going down several closed streets due to rubble, turning around and taking detours, they finally made it to the airport where hundreds of people were standing outside, confused and homeless. Only authorized people were allowed inside.
“It was so hot and so many people were crowding to that door until I would not go up there,” said Lovell. “In that heat, my wife fainted for the second time.”
A group of five Haitians came to her aid. One of them, a Haitian doctor, took her blood pressure, and then poured a bottle of water on her head and face to revive her. Lovell was moved to tears.
“One of those young men picked my wife up, put her on his back and carried her,” said Lovell, his voice breaking. “Those young men made an impression on me about the character and the quality they have in their lives. What an impression! It just makes you love them so much.
“The man that took us to the airport — I tried to give him money but he wouldn’t accept it. The men who carried our luggage for an hour and a half — I tried to give them money to express my appreciation. They wouldn’t accept it. It says so much about them.”
Lovell said the Scriptures foretold there will be earthquakes in different places as well as famine and pestilence but reading about it and living through them are very different experiences.
“That earthquake strengthened our faith and made us aware of our need to make our relationship with God much better than it’s ever been in our lives,” said Lovell. “We saw love manifested, compassion, concern and care for others — we saw that.”
“They didn’t put themselves first,” said Virginia. “They love the Lord. The 600 people who gathered on the church property for safety’s sake would sing and pray until one and two in the morning.”
This was Virginia’s first trip to Haiti and Lovell’s third, although both said they hope it will not be their last. Married for 63 years, Virginia and Lovell Cary, have traveled over Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, Central America and other countries. They said they would love to go back to Haiti some day and are planning to go to Mongolia in August.
The 7.0 earthquake has been described by the United Nations as the worst disaster in decades. The United Nations Security Council recently voted to add 3,500 troops and police officers to the 9,000 peacekeepers already in Haiti. The search for survivors buried under piles of rubble continues as aftershocks wreck further havoc in the quake’s aftermath.
Haiti Earthquake Relief
Project Number 7650042
William Wright, Cleveland (Tenn.) Daily Banner
© 2010 Church of God World Missions
