Today, January 12th, is the one year anniversary of the devestating earthquake that struck Haiti and claimed more than 200 thosuand lives.
One year later an Orillia resident who has been active in Haiti supporting a school in Port-au-Prince before and after the quake is looking back.
Ryan Sawatzky is with the Sawatzky Family Foundation here in Orillia, which provides funding for SOPUDEP, a K-12 school.
The school provides accessible education to adults and children and supports women’s rights and economic empowerment for the poor.
Sawatzky says following the January 12 earthquake, there was no sign of international aid in SOPUDEPs part of Port au Prince.
The school then came to the communitys rescue.
Its building was one of the few left standing in the area and was transformed into a makeshift hospital and shelter within 24 hours of the earthquake.
Sawatzky says one year leater, conditions in Haiti have really not improved that much and there has been little re construction which he says is very disappointing
He says their focus though, continues to be raising funds, to keep the school up and running.
To help raise awarness of the school and what happened after the quake, Madam Rea Dol the co-founder and director of SOPUDEP is coming to Orillia and Canada this week to speak about the rebuilding efforts in Haiti.
She will be speaking in Montreal and Toronto before coming to Orillia.
Sawatzky says this visit is to try and build bridges between this community , the local school boards and the school in Haiti and also provide support for for the teachers at the Haitian school as well.
He says by having Rae Dol speak to people in Orillia, this will help renew interest in the efforts in Haiti to rebuild that country.
