Haitians Show an Outpouring of Support for Phi Delt

Though the small island country of Haiti may be a world away from our little College on the Hill, an inspiring act of charity last weekend made many reconsider what it means to be part of the human community. When the victims of the devastating earthquake that wreaked havoc on Haiti heard of the tragic state of the Phi Delta Alpha house right here on campus, charred and uninhabitable, they answered the call for help. Following the earthquake that destroyed much of the country last Tuesday and left an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people dead, a group of nearly eight thousand Haitians who had received donations of clothing, food, and basic supplies rallied together to send those supplies straight to the town of Hanover, New Hampshire, to help the brothers of Phi Delt recover from their own crisis.
David Jeffs ’10, president of Phi Delt, expressed his gratitude at the compassionate move. “It is truly a saintly act to give to those who have so little. After the Haitians did that for us, I just had to do my part and send some ITunes gift cards their way. I sent a fruitcake too. I hope no one’s allergic to nuts!”

The many crates of desperately needed donations arrived a couple of weeks after the chimney fire forced upwards of fifteen students into homelessness. Before the “Haitian godsend,” as the donations have been dubbed, the brothers who had been living in the house at the time of the fire were scrounging for scraps they found in the grill line at FoCo and wearing the cast-off rags of the few Dartmouth students who could afford to give the clothes off their backs. The well-worn hand-me-downs included trucker hats, wifebeater tees and Michael Vick jerseys, clothing that Jeffs dubbed “at least four years out of style—just totally unwearable.” Many were unable to get to class on time due to their new on-campus living quarters which were, in some cases, more than five minutes farther from their classes than the Phi Delt house had been. The new ORL housing regulations confused and upset most of the dislocated brothers who were now left without their necessary weed-smoking room and were told it was against the rules to remove the screens from their windows in order to “shine flashlights and yell at dimepieces” who walked by.

Even worse, those who managed to salvage some belongings from the house reported that the smell of soot could not be scrubbed out. “It’s terrible,” Jeffs lamented. “Every time I put on my jeans from that day it’s like I can just smell the stench of human destruction. It’s like I’m reliving it all over again, the fire engulfing everyone, the screams of those brave young men, the sounds of explosions all around.” When pressed for detail, as the Dunyun was unaware of any injuries, Jeffs explained, “Yeah, we were watching Apocalypse Now when it happened. God, that movie really gets under your skin.”

Maria Franco, one of the kindly Haitian benefactors of the Phi Delt donation, says that she and the other Haitian earthquake victims do not want to be seen as heroes. “We were just doing our duty as citizens of the world,” she explains. “No one should have to go through what those poor young men had to go through, and we are lucky to have been receiving so many free donations from others lately. I thought, why let our privilege go to waste? This is an opportunity to share the kindness that we’ve been shown with those who need it the most of all.” Franco, who lost everything she owned and 7 of the 8 members of her immediate family, also organized a sort of “charity party” for the cause. “Well, to be honest, at first the proceeds donated by the guests of the party were meant to go to rebuilding our local church in our village outside of Port-Au-Prince. But once we heard about the crisis in New Hampshire, we knew we had to take action. The church still co-hosted the party anyway so it was no biggie.”

The money donated by the Haitians is expected to expedite the process of rebuilding, but Jeffs is hopeful that the reconstruction may be finished by the end of the year. “I know it’s optimistic, and it’ll be a long, hard process. But together, I know we will succeed. As God is my witness, we will never go sober again!”

Disclaimer: I’m tired of doing disclaimers but you’d have to be a real asshole not to recognize that the Haitian earthquake was a serious and awful disaster affecting millions of people. To help out you might want to visit the Red Cross list of possible relief funds to donate to at http://arc3.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_FrontPagePanel or if you're too indecisive for that you can donate at http://clintonbushhaitifund.org/ or any number of other sites. Oh, and we’re sorry for being such bullies all the time Phi Delt.