GRETNA, La. — She’s a long way from her home country, but Olita Monvil’s cooking keeps her connected to Haiti while at her restaurant, Belle Fouchette, in Gretna.
“I love my country,” said Monvil.
That love is what makes watching rescue and recovery efforts from last weekend’s deadly magnitude 7.2 earthquake so hard to watch.
“I’m crying, crying, crying every day,” said Monvil. “I feel so bad.”
That quake hit the country’s southwestern peninsula hard. It’s the same area Monvil grew up in before moving to the U.S. when she was 17. Friends and family members still live there, including her 80-year-old mother. After two days of worry, Monvil was finally able to talk to her.
“Because of the earthquake, the house is cracked. She doesn’t want to stay inside the house,” said Monvil. “She’s sleeping on the street with my sister, my niece and my nephew.”
There are other family members she’s still unable to reach. Watching videos sent to her, Monvil says familiar streets and buildings are destroyed, basic resources like water are lost, and medical care is either limited or it doesn’t exist.
Cell phone video sent to her shows people being treated outside on blankets. Another video shows the bodies of seven children lying on the ground. Monvil’s daughter, Juliana Francois says those kids were all being baptized when the earthquake hit.
“It’s like they can’t catch a break,” said Francois.
Francois says most Haitians already struggle daily. In a country dealing with poverty, violence, political unrest and a pandemic, Francois fears there is no help for those who are now homeless and in need.
“They’re all there now waiting for resources, waiting for water, medicine,” said Francois. “They have no hope. Their only hope is for other countries to help.”
Thankfully that hope is showing up as U.S. resources filter in. Monvil and Francois say the culture of Haiti keeps people from giving up on faith. They just wish they could be there to help.
“Even though they’re suffering, there’s no food, they always find a way to put a smile on their face,” said Francois.
Knowing that keeps Monvil cooking up Haitian cuisine while thinking of the people who are some of the ingredients that help shape her life.
Monvil and Francois are collecting donations, like food, toiletries and money at the restaurant in Gretna to send to people in Haiti.