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OakvilleBeaverLivingLIVING EDITOR:ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone:905-337-5560 Fax:905-337-5571 e-mail:ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com A tragic chapter closes and life begins againBy Angela BlackburnOAKVILLE BEAVER STAFFhe ground shook in Haitiscapital city of Port-au-PrinceTon Jan. 12, 2010 and life wasnot the same afterward.It never will be.For the nearly 300,000 people wholost their lives in the massive 7.0earthquake now remembered bycrosses on a mass grave the painended that day.For those who survived, the painwas only beginning.It had also only just begun for reliefworkers and those trying to help thechildren, adults and seniors, who wereleft bereft of their families and homes,some without one or more limbs beyond being destitute.As the dust settled on the disasterarea, the worst was not over. Corpses were rotting where they layburied in the rubble before they werecollected and buried en masse. There was the heat of the Haitiansun, the rain and a cholera out-break. PHOTO COURTESY DR.CHERYL VAN DER MARKNow there is political unrest.IN SEARCH OF CLOSURE: Laurens van der Mark looks out over the mass grave just outside of Haitis capital city Port-au-Prince on Jan.12,2011,one yearTroubled elections and most recently,after the massive 7.0 earthquake struck the Haitian capital and changed life there forever.former Haitian dictator Jean-Claudehouse. Its a place we went one yearMission of Hope Haiti (MOHH).Baby Doc Duvalier who presided overOn Wednesday (the anniversary of the earthquake) we visiteda gruesome period in Haitian historyafter that horrible day for closure.Our mission had two specialthe mass grave,which is five minutes from our house.Its a placerife with human abuses, returnedHundreds of crosses stood in rowschurch services today. I am struckwe went,one year after that horrible day,for closure.Hundredsunder a veil of uncertainty from 25commemorating the tragedy, Cherylagain by the tenacity of our Haitianof crosses stood in rows commemorating the tragedy ...and Iyears in exile in France.told The Oakville Beavervia e-mailfriends lives. Their strength to moveNow, a year later, while pain has,from Haiti.on. Their thankfulness to be alive, towas reminded of the poem,In Flanders Fields.and is still being endured, Haiti and itsCheryl and Laurens, an OPP officerhave crawled out of broken buildingsresidents, touted around the globe as aon leave from the Ontario provincialor to have just stepped outsideDr. Cheryl van der Mark, resident of Haiti,hopeful, resilient people have taken thepolice service, finally made that trip toformer Oakville chiropractormoments before their buildingfirst of many steps on the road tothe mass grave to pay their respectscrashed down. Their thankfulness torecovery.on Jan. 12 this year the earth-be walking and breathing when soBut that day the ground shook inquakes anniversary date.many are not. We have been given ain mass graves. The crosses stood inflood back while looking across theearly 2010 and all the physical, emo-The visit was sombre and carried asecond chance. Life is so precious androws and I was reminded of the poem,graves. The memories of the stench oftional and mental misery that it left in itshost of memories.can be gone in a second. We haveIn Flanders Fields. They representdecaying bodies under buildingswake will never be forgotten.Cheryl recorded it on her familyslearned over the past two-and-a-halfalmost 300,000 people who lost theirfloods back, wrote Cheryl.It was a whole year before formerblog.years here in Haiti that each day is alives one year ago. A large cross sitsCalled out on an emergency thatOakville chiropractor Dr. Cheryl vanToday was a tough day. It is hardgift and we must use it wisely,atop the hill that looks over the site ofsame day, Cheryl said, There wasder Mark could even face setting eyesto write this blog as really I am at ablogged Cheryl.the mass grave like a soldier standingnothing out of the ordinary with thisupon that mass grave and she nowloss of words to say. Today was the firstNow, a year after the real miseryfirm. The banner stretching outcase and I did not have to be involvedcalls Haiti home.day I visited the mass grave. I have notbegan unfolding in Haiti, daily life forbeside it reads, 12 Janvye Nou Papmuch but for a short time, it broughtCheryl, her husband Laurens, andbeen able to emotionally visit it beforethe van der Mark crew has been rack-Janm Bliye (12 January We Willback the fear of the earthquake andchildren are all survivors of thenow, but it was time. Laurens and Iing up accomplishments to be proudNever Forget...)., wrote Cheryl whothe sorrow and pain of the more thanearthquake, and its aftermath.slipped away together for some privateof as the family members do use theirtitled her entry Closure.150 trauma victims we treated exactlyAnd that mass grave is only fiveclosure and Laurens was reminded ofgift wisely.I think that is what we are allone year ago today. Seeing thisminutes away from their home.the last time he had been. That timeAfter weathering many glitcheslooking for today. Closure. We arewoman lying there under a white clin-On Wednesday (the anniversary ofhe had seen the rows and rows of pitsand legal paperwork trials, the van derready to move on, but it is hard andic sheet not responsive was a gravethe earthquake) we visited the massfull of bodies.Marks have adopted Haitian-borntoday is a grim reminder of the pain.reminder of the past.grave, which is five minutes from ourThe massive area is where moretwins Ana and Mina, 7.The memories of the injured and deadThe van der Marks are in Haiti withSee Helping page 20than 70,000 people are dumped to rest19 Friday, January 28, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER www.oakvillebeaver.com