Haiti celebrates hero in tragic school collapse. Men sa yo rele ero. Bravo.

Haiti celebrates hero in tragic school collapse

Reuters
Friday, November 14, 2008
By Joseph Guyler Delva

An unemployed man who risked life and limb to pull children from the rubble of a collapsed school was celebrated as a national hero on Thursday by the impoverished Caribbean nation's president.

More than 90 people were killed in the disaster involving the La Promesse school, a ramshackle three-story building that collapsed in a slum on the outskirts of the Haitian capital.

Ronaldo Charilus, 29, said he rushed to the structure soon after it caved in last Friday.

"When I arrived on the site, I prayed and said to myself my life was not mine anymore. I left it in God's hands," Charilus told Reuters. "And from that moment on, I stopped thinking about my life but about the innocent children's lives."

Charilus, dubbed "Ronaldo the Hero" by the Haitian media, saved the lives of several dozen children trapped under the debris while putting his own life in almost constant danger, according to numerous eyewitness reports.

President Rene Preval, who visited the disaster site several times, told an awards ceremony at the National Palace on Thursday that Charilus was tireless in his efforts.

"The young man was all over the place. He worked with so much energy that he grabbed my attention," Preval said.

Though his dogged efforts continued day and night for several days running, Preval noted that Charilus was officially unemployed like so many other people in the poorest nation in the hemisphere.

"When I asked Ronaldo if he had slept, he replied to me by saying, 'Mr. President I can't sleep and I will never be able to sleep as long as I know there are people still trapped under the rubble,'" said Preval.

Several other rescue workers also were recognized for their service at the ceremony, but Charilus was clearly the star.

"He crawled like a snake through the rubble and squeezed himself into holes from which he was not sure whether he would be able to come out," said Gael Pinson, who worked alongside Charilus at the school site.

The school disaster, blamed on shoddy construction, struck as Haiti was struggling to recover from four tropical storms and hurricanes that killed more than 800 people and destroyed 60 percent of the nation's crops in August and September.

Charilus, the father of a 8-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, said he acted as if his own children had been caught up in the tragedy.

"You know there is nothing a loving and responsible father won't do to save his children in immediate danger," he said.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Vicki Allen)

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Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com

piporiko a écrit:DIRE QUE LI PAMENM JWENN NAN DEKORASYON PREVAL BAY YO.OU WE KI JAN MOUN ACHTE FIGI NAN PEYI A.MWEN PA DI BLAN YO PA FE ANGNEN NON.MEN TIPLA KA ZO DWET FE BAGAY KE BLAN YO PAP JANM FE SI YO PAGEN APAREY.RONALDO,TU ES MON HEROS
ONE RESPE POU WOU....

Pipo,

A chacun son héros!

Moi, mon héros reste le propriétaire du College La Promesse. En dépit de cette catastrophe, nous devrons reconnaitre que ce pasteur avait de bonnes intentions. Il voulait batir des écoles dans les zones défavorisées et permettre aux gens démunis l'accès à l'éducation. En d'autres termes, il a remplacé l'Etat haitien. Malheureusement, la nature l'a trahi, comme dans le cas des Animaux malades de la peste, on est en train de le sacrifier.

Mwen ap bat bravo pou Ronaldo Chérilus tou. men, anverite mwen pap pale de Ewo. Paske, se lojik fè teyat pou andòmi moun sa a ki lakòz koze anòmal kontinye ap pase nan mond lan kòmsi deryenetè.

Parekzanp, yon ekip kriminèl chita Washington ak London, yo voye yon ekip timoun 18-19 van al touye moun parèy yo ki pa fè yo anyen....epi chak fwa sèkèy retounen vin jwenn manman, papa, fiyanse pa bò isit, ou wè seremoni teyat pou "Ewo".

Nan peyi pa nou, neglijans yon leta - kote yon dividal parese san sans kreyativite ap paweze nan "wine and cheese" ak konferans pale rans - pandan machin ap chavire sou wout kolonyal, kay ap tonbe tankou se nan mwayennaj n ap viv, nenpòt ti lapli fè katastwòf - epi mechan kontinye ap fouye tif nan tèt mòn Lopital....Epi Cherilus ki riske lavi li - san sa p at oblije nesesè...san lè sèvi dra pou kouvri sa.

Ewo pa m nan se sila a ki va deside mete resous ak kouraj ki nesesè pou, anvan lontan, Ayiti genyen travay pou 55 mil Zanj Lavi tankou Cherilus kapab itilize zouti adapte pou yo pwoteje lavi fanm ak gason, timoun tankou grandèt, nan yon peyi kote gen anpil anpil prèv Cherilus pa yon "anomali". Li pa yon espès ra. Chérilus se pwototip sa Ayisyen an kapab ye chak jou nan lavi li.

Cherilus te toujou pare, se Leta ki poko mete li opa.

Lè li t ap pale ak Prezidan an Chérilus te mande pou yo ba li papye pou li vwayaje al pèfeksyone li pou li ka sèvi peyi li pi byen. Mwen ta renmen wè yon "ewo" non sèlman reponn rèv Chérilus la - men pou li fè plis toujou. De kwa pou, kontrèman ak doktè ki te fòme Kiba yo, Chérilus pa retounen Ayiti san li pa ka jwenn mwayen mete konesans li ak eksperyans li osèvis lanasyon - akoz dezòd jeneralize ki ap boloze nan biwokrasi tèt anba peyi a. Nou ekzije pou leta mete li opa!

Dekorasyon se teyat. Aksyon konsekan ki pote chanjman se sa nou bezwen!

Jaf