When Karen McCormick’s Haitian-born son curled up in the fetal position, the Whitefield science teacher got out the graham crackers.
The night Haiti’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit television news, seven-year-old Simon lay down on the floor. He began worrying about his biological father. Had he fallen into a hole in the earth? There was no word about whether he had survived the cataclysm that rocked the island nation Jan. 12.
Before the cracker demonstration, however, McCormick reasoned with her adopted son. She pointed in the family photo album at the woven reed house Simon’s dad lives in, in a rural village bordering the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. McCormick asked, “If Daddy lives in a house like that, and it fell over, would it be okay?”
It made sense. If the Haitian man, and Simon’s aunt, stepmom and older siblings were living in a big house of heavy materials, or near concrete buildings in the capital city, there would be more cause to worry.
Holding the crackers, McCormick gave her 2nd grader a mini-lesson in plate tectonics theory. She pushed the crackers together, demonstrating one segment of the earth’s crust moving east and colliding with the other headed west, before they slid past each other. The bang, when they hit, caused things to shake and fall down, but there were no huge swallowing holes.
“He’s very sensitive these days,” McCormick said. At the same time, he’s resilient. The day McCormick stayed home to care for her ailing three-year-old son Malaki, who was also adopted from Haiti, Whitefield students Taylor Hickey, and Elise Day organized a collection effort. When Simon arrived home that afternoon he announced, “Mommy, my school is doing something for my country!”
The youngster personally got involved in the collection and as of Friday had received $500 in donations from local families eager to help.
McCormick said the idea is for Whitefield School to partner with Russka village, where her friend Barbara, an American, lives and works. McCormick adopted both her children (in 2003 and 2007) through the upstate New York teacher whose mission is helping Haitians become self-sufficient, while also doing adoption work.
In addition to helping women start small business ventures, Barbara sends pictures of birth parents to people seeking to adopt Haitian children, McCormick said.
McCormick’s friend also educates Haitians about the importance of hand washing, and distributes water filters. “You can literally put the filters into sewage and get drinkable water from it,” said McCormick.
Bringing clean water to neighborhoods throughout the poverty-stricken nation has saved millions of lives in a country where only an estimated one in five children lives to age five, the Whitefield woman said.
McCormick recalled assisting Barbara at a conference attended by Catholic priests. The priests were given the filters to take to people in several villages, on condition that those on the receiving end share with others.
The money Simon has raised will go directly to Barbara. “There’ll be no red tape,” said McCormick. “She has a heart of gold and she’ll make sure (the money) goes to people. She’ll be smart about it.”
During her 2007 visit to Haiti to adopt baby Malaki, McCormick recalls helping Barbara hand out prenatal kits to women in Barbara’s village. “All these men showed up because it was something free. You could be giving out brown paper bags and they’d want them because they’re free,” McCormick said.
Those wishing to donate can contact McCormick at school or at home (549-7534). Checks can be made payable to “Reach Out to Haiti.”
McCormick paused at one photo in the album. It showed the presidential palace in Port- au-Prince. It was there in July 2007, through the window of a truck parked outside the building, that infant Malaki was handed to her. “That palace is now gone,” she reflected.
Of Whitefield School’s fundraising effort, she said, “It’s 100 percent to the people. We’re going to try to keep it going all year.”
On Monday, McCormick was thrilled to learn Cole Transportation Museum in Bangor offered to match any funds up to $2500.
