On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the Haitian city of Léogâne, 16 miles from the capital Port-au-Prince. It is estimated that 220,000 people were killed and 300,000 were injured. More than half of the government and administrative buildings, and 4,000 schools, were destroyed or damaged. Members of the Haitian diaspora share their stories of moving on after a tragedy.
Felix-Paul Michaud co-founded Seeds for Change
12 January is my birthday and I was preparing for my party when the earthquake hit. My first thought was that everybody was going to die. It felt like the end of the world because I did not understand what was happening.
After the earthquake, I worked as a carpenter supervisor with the Delaney Bay Fund in Léogâne. We provided shelter for people after the earthquake, and we built houses and furniture for schools. We also started a community clinic and helped to create a business directory for Léogâne.
I co-founded Seeds for Change with my wife, Christa. It had been my dream to set up an organisation since I was a child, but I started to think about it seriously after the earthquake. In the beginning, we didn’t know exactly what it would be called or what we would do. It took some time to figure out those things.
As a grassroots organisation, we work with smallholder farmers and rural communities wherever people tell us they need help. It’s important for us to work with the community and not just go and tell them what they need to do. Haitians have a lot of good ideas and we know our country. We need people to listen to those who can help to show us the way.
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