Bower earthquake survivor will stay on to help in Haiti

A nun from Athlone's Bower Convent has survived the devastating earthquake that ripped apart Haiti last week. Sr Maria Hawkes managed to make contact with the sisters in the Bower by text message to reassure them that she was safe and well. Sr Maria has worked as a teacher in Athlone for many years and was former principal of the Bower National School. Sr Maria first travelled to Haiti last year for three months, but on her return to Athlone, decided to go back to the country last September for one year. She works with other sisters of the La Sainte Union in an education and nutrition centre for children set up by the nuns near the airport in Port au Prince. A nun from Cameroon who works in the north of Haiti travelled down to check on the sisters within hours of the earthquake occurring. She emailed Sr Denise, principal of Our Lady's Bower, to tell her they were all safe, while Sr Maria herself sent a text message which Sr Denise received on Sunday. In her text, Sr Maria sent her love and said 'Thank God we are alright'. "She said what you see on TV doesn't even begin to reflect the reality," said Sr Denise yesterday (Tuesday). "The sisters are helping wherever they can... They have food but water is scarce. Sr Maria is well and since Tuesday she has been sleeping in an armchair and is now consoling and encouraging the mourning families... They lost some of the children, it's very sad, they're very close to them." Sr Maria works in the centre with two other Irish nuns, Sr Helen Ryder from Banagher, Co. Offaly and Sr Mary Hardiman from Galway, but they have no plans to return home yet. Their house and church survived the earthquake, although both buildings have a few cracks, so the sisters are sleeping outdoors to be safe. Sr Denise said that their first reaction would be to stay and help. "We're grateful that they are all well and there's no problems out there for our sisters. We're very blessed really," she added. Sr Maria is originally from Bandon in Co. Cork but has spent many years in Athlone as a teacher. She was previously with the Bower convent in Kilashee. Meanwhile, two locals who have been to Haiti with Irish charities have expressed their sadness over the disaster. Declan Finneran from Kiltoom, spent a week volunteering in Haiti last October with Haven, and only last week in the Westmeath Independent, urged people to consider volunteering there. All of Haven's staff and beneficiaries in Haiti are alive and well, while the houses that were built last October are also all still standing. When in Haiti, Declan became friends with a local man and has been in irregular contact with him since. "I have been in broken contact with him since I came home as he doesn't have the same access to the net as we have here. And he is only able to email for 30 minutes at a time. I'm glad to say he is alive and well and has lost no relations to the quake. Although he says that it's very difficult for them as the price of living has shot up in his area, presumably due to less supply and increased demand." Declan, an engineering student in IT Carlow, said he saw poverty on "every patch of ground" where he was based with the other volunteers outside Ouanaminthe in the North East. "And now on top of this poverty, Haiti gets another natural disaster, followed by the hurricane that hit the country in 2008. For such a small country they have gone through alot of hardship; years of corrupt leadership and regular natural disasters," he said. However, the earthquake is not going to deter Declan from volunteering again. "The quake hasn't put me off going to Haiti again with Haven in October, I look forward to getting back there again to lend a hand," he added. Another Kiltoom native, Francis Dowling from Carnagh, was a member of the Athlone Community College team that won the All Ireland Concern Debates competition three years ago and their prize was a visit to the Concern project in Haiti. "When I heard of the earthquake I just found it all so unreal. I cannot imagine what they are going through. After we left the country in 2007 a hurricane struck. The people just keep picking themselves up and I don't know how they manage," said Francis, who is now in second year in St Pat's Teacher Training College in Dublin. Concern has over 100 staff in Haiti, mostly local staff, and work with 16 local partners. It has been working in the country since 1994. Haven is now working alongside GOAL. The 7.0 magnitude quake hit south of the Haitian capital Port au Prince and has so far killed up to 200,000 people across the Caribbean country. Tens of thousands are homeless and desperate for water, food and shelter.