Tolworth teacher caught in Haitian horror (From Kingston Guardian)

Tolworth teacher caught in Haitian horror

2:01pm Friday 15th January 2010

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A Kingston man who left the borough last year to set up a children’s home in northern Haiti is leading a mercy dash towards the capital Port-au-Prince, in an ambulance stocked with medical supplies, to help victims of Tuesday’s devastating earthquake.

Carywn Hill and his wife Reninca, a teacher at Our Lady Immaculate Primary School, Tolworth, moved to the country’s second city Cap Haitien in January 2009, to support the work of Surbiton-registered charity Haiti Hospital Appeal.

Writing on his blog yesterday, Mr Hill said: “Tomorrow I’ll be going with my dad in our ambulance on our first aid convoy providing food, clothing, medication and the like. On the way back we will most likely carry some victims seeking medical support in the north, as the hospitals in Port-au-Prince are overflowing.

“This work will continue as funds become available through alternative vehicles. We will possibly arrange outreach clinics with foreign medical teams to this region later.

“Today I witnessed many people trying to pile on to buses to go to the capital to find loved ones. However, this task won’t be easy. Many of our staff have now been waiting for days to hear whether their friends and family in Port-au-Prince are OK or not. One of our dear friends has four young children living there, but has had no news. The communication channels are still down.”

Cap Haitien is about 90 miles north of the capital, which bore the brunt of the magnitude seven quake, and the charity’s clinic, children’s home and hospital were undamaged. It is now working to open the clinic 24-hours-a-day to deal with the expected northward migration of victims.

The couple were due to return to the UK on January 21 and Mr Hill’s family was visiting them on the island when the earthquake struck.

While Mr Hill and his father were in Haiti on Tuesday, his wife and mother were in neighbouring Dominican Republic for an operation to treat a seven-month-old baby orphan Grace, who has hydrocephalus. The operation was due to take place today, January 15.

Mrs Hill taught at Our Lady Immaculate for five years, and in December 2008 the school raised £348 for the Haiti Hospital Appeal. Last February, six Kingston primary schools took part in a Last Choir Standing event at All Saints Church, Kingston, raising £6,500.

The charity, which was launched in 2006 after three founders saw an 11-year-old Haitian girl die because of a lack of basic medical care, is appealing for donations to assist victims and complete work on the hospital.

Donations can be made from their website haitihospitalappeal.org/ Have you been affected? Tell us below

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