Colleges extend help to Haiti

By Bobby Calobrisi

Published April 20, 2010
The Enterprise of Brockton


Neite Decimus heard what sounded like the rumbling of an oncoming train and realized something was wrong. It was the sound of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 250,000 in Haiti on Jan.12.
Decimus, a graduate student at Bridgewater State College, saw death scattered on the streets and witnessed six to seven people being toppled by a house.
He survived and is telling people that educated Haitians are needed to help the country rebuild.
Decimus is one of thousands of college students raising money and awareness to help earthquake victims in Haiti. At Bridgewater State College, students and faculty raised more than $10,000 on Feb. 2. At Wheaton College, students have raised $3,425 as of Feb. 28.
Said Wheaton sophomore Paul Roell, “It goes to show that this really is a cause worth benefiting. People involved will do the best they can to see things through.”
Even without a first-hand account of what happened, students at Bridgewater State College and Wheaton College have raised a combined total of approximately $13,425 in relief efforts as of Feb. 28.
At Bridgewater State College, the event Hope.Help.Haiti, held on Feb. 2, raised $10,000 from students and faculty alike for the American Red Cross and Free the Children along with Partners in Health.
Decimus spoke at the fundraiser about how Haitians earning scholarships and college degrees would help rebuild Haiti in the future, according to the “Help for Haiti” BSC NewsLog.
In a separate interview, he stressed how Haitians need education to help them
recover for themselves.
“If you want to offer any help to Haiti, see exactly what Haiti needs and train us, don’t just give us food,” he said. “Train people in engineering and farming; train and prepare people for when things like [this earthquake] happen.”
Decimus said Haitians need education, but that education must go towards keeping Haiti its own country. “For [nations] to help us is not to change us. To help us is to help us access knowledge, access technology,” he said. “We are so far behind. We need to take it step-by-step to move forward.”
Decimus said after the earthquake, people took the opportunity to overcharge for resources. He said Haitians cannot extort themselves if they are to do better by their culture.
“We need to learn to live like other Haitians and defend each other,” he said. “We need to be educated as a nation and learn how to respect people, not just those with money or education but with lack of education. We need to know who we are as a people.”
Jonathon White, assistant professor of sociology, estimated over 1,000 people over the course of the event, drawing the feeling, “We are all Haitian.”
White said in the email that students and faculty alike are seeking to extend direct efforts to benefit Haiti.
“There is a strong contingent of students (along with a couple of staff members) organizing to take a trip to Haiti to put their skills to work to helping in any way they can,” he wrote. “Others are continuing to organize fundraisers and education/awareness events. Others, like myself, are deeply involved in organizations outside of the campus who will continue to do work in Haiti for decades to come.”
Wheaton College’s Student Government Association has raised $2,500 for Doctor’s Without Borders, said Gabe Amo, the SGA President.
“They operate on the ground and have been providing medical care for an historic period of time,” Amo said of Doctors Without Borders. “We wanted to put the money to use in a way that is in the spirit of contributing.”
The student-run events have included a social hour, a bake sale, a volunteer gate and a benefit concert.
Paul Roell, the Wheaton sophomore who organized the benefit concert, said pooling the money seemed the best way to send to a fast and efficient organization. “We wanted to have the most substantial amount that we could send for the most fitting cause.”
The one-night benefit concert at Wheaton raised $1,380 on Feb. 5. Seven performance groups (singing, dancing and spoken word) each sang two songs and then sang “Can’t Give Up Now” in unison to cap off the event, which collected donations at the door, starting at $5 an entry.
Each group also contributed from their funds that the school gave them, raising a couple of hundred dollars, said Roell, member of an all-male a cappella group, The Gentleman Callers.
At the Jan. 30 basketball doubleheader, held on Jan. 30, where the Haitian national anthem was played and $200 was raised, said Scott Dietz, assistant director of
athletics for media relations.
John Sutyak, assistant director of athletics, said the athletic department was honored the students used basketball to raise money.
“It makes you think how lucky we have it that we can play on sunny afternoon
and there are people struggling right in now in that country and we’re playing a game. It puts things in perspective a little bit,” said Sutyak.
From Feb. 5-7, the Wheaton Athletic Mentors (WAMs), who have put on an
alcohol free weekend the past six years, called the Big Event--that raises money for a local charity--dedicated the event to helping Haiti and raised $800.
More than 1,000 people from Wheaton and 300 others attended, said Jason Clucas, co-president of the Mentors executive board.
“We obviously had a great pouring of support of the school and because of that we were able to have our best Big Event in the four years I’ve been a part of the organization,” said Clucas. “When we changed the foundation, we showed that we were dedicated to helping Haiti and helping the [Haitian] student athletes we had here really finding themselves in tough times.”
The Mentors will send the money to groups helping special needs students in Haiti or a group providing clean water or both, said Clucas.