By: Jessica Lifland
Haiti: Six months Later: Therissa and Ernst Leo’s Story:
Ernst Leo and his 7 year old daughter Therissa live in a tent on Rue Wilson street in a neighborhood called Paco which was a thriving middle class neighborhood in Port Au Prince before the January 12th earthquake. Ernst, a professional computer technician works with the database at the Haiti Office of National Identification, ONI. Therissa, now in the 2nd grade, was pulled from the rubble of their home in the Delmas 17 neighborhood two days after the earthquake. She suffered injuries including the loss of her right arm. Ernst’s wife and other daughter were not as fortunate. Both died in the earthquake. Now the father daughter team live in a tent on the street. Their few belongings are locked up in their pickup truck.
They get up early so Therissa can go to school and Ernst to work. In the evening they come back to their tent where they sit together on some broken cinder blocks as Ernst helps Therissa with her school work. A mouse scoots by. With Ernst’s guidance, Therissa is learning to write with her left hand, although she is waiting for a prosthesis arm from Handicap International. Sometimes in the evenings they go for a walk together to a nearby market and he buys her a treat like ice-cream or a cold bag of water to drink. Then they wash up in a neighbor’s yard and head in to the tent for the night.
Their former home remains a pile of rubble. Ernst says It is too painful for him to visit the site of their old home or even their old neighborhood. While Therissa is out playing with friends, Ernst pulls out a picture of his deceased wife and daughter. His face is somber, but believes he must carry on for his daughter Therissa. He says she is what he lives for now.
