My name is Beniteau. My mom and dad are dead. I have a brother, but I don’t know where he is living or if he is even alive. I come from a mountain village named Enard, but now live in a larger town called Sabourin. I don’t know how old I am, but I think about 50.

I have a wife and one son. We live in a place that is not for us. We used to live in a smaller shack. It leaked when it rained and we slept in the mud. It was bad conditions. The owner of the land saw this and built a house with blocks and cement with a tin roof. It had 2 rooms and he told us that we could live in one of the rooms. This was so good for us.

I can make ropes with old rice sacks. These ropes are strong and can hold all kinds of animals like cows, horses, and goats. We sell them in the market. This is how we find money to buy food to eat. The clinic also gives us a food box to help us eat. We couldn’t send our son to school because we didn’t have enough money.

We don’t do much in the area because I can’t see. In Sabourin, there are 6 churches and 6 schools. There are 2 vodou chapels. Most of us get water by digging a hole on the riverbank and letting the water seep through the sand into the hole. We dip that out and take it home to use for making food and drinking. For water to wash and bathe, we just get it out of the river.

The one thing that I will always remember is the earthquake. I didn’t know what was going on. At that time, I was living in a shack made of sticks and dry leaves. I could hear the leaves rubbing against each other. I thought it was the wind, but I didn’t feel any wind. Then, things were moving. I didn’t understand what it was. It didn’t last a long time. After just another moment, I heard many, many people yelling. I listened. I heard people saying a house fell down. I heard some say that someone died. It was after a while I found out that it was an earthquake and it killed many, many people in many other places.