Marie Orbenia Cadet lives with her four daughters in a small apartment in Port-au-Prince. "They're all lovely girls," she says. Christella, 20, is the youngest. When she was just ten-years-old, she was injured in a violent earthquake, and her leg had to be amputated.
Humanity & Inclusion’s rehabilitation team met Christella and provided her with essential physical therapy to help her regain strength in her limb. Later, our experts fit her with her first prosthesis and helped her learn to walk again. Her mother also received financial support from Humanity & Inclusion to open a small store, which enables her to support her family.
Christella doesn’t remember much about the day the earth shook in Haiti. She prefers to think about the future. She graduated from secondary school last summer and wants to continue her studies, but she's torn between medicine and business management.
After spending so much time in the hospital, she’s considering a career in medicine. "When I was in the hospital after the earthquake, a nurse gave me an injection, and it really hurt,” she says. “I don't think she was doing it right. If a doctor had been present, I would have been treated better. If I become a doctor, I can provide patients with better care."
The only affordable university is in a district where violence can flair suddenly up at the slightest provocation. "There's always noise and gunshots and I can't run fast with my prosthesis,” Christella continues. “So, I’m also thinking seriously about doing management studies. But if by chance I get a scholarship to study medicine abroad, I'll be there in a minute!"
Christella shares about how she feels to be a woman with a disability: "If someone asks me about my prosthesis, I explain what happened. There’s no problem. It's cool."
Humanity & Inclusion continues monitoring and supporting Christella, who has recently been fitted with a new prosthesis.
Watch Christella standing tall!
Haiti's 2010 earthquake
On January 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, killing 230,000 people and injuring more than 300,000 others.
In the wake of the disaster, Humanity & Inclusion ramped up its operations, and mobilized about 600 people who deployed unprecedented levels of resources and assistance.
Humanity & Inclusion's impact, by the numbers:
- 90,000 people with rehabilitation care
- 25,000 people with psychosocial support
- 1,400 people with orthopedic braces or artificial limbs (click here to watch a video of Moise!)
- 5,000+ wheelchairs, crutches and walking frames to people with disabilities
- 1,050 shelters for extremely vulnerable families
- 20,000+ tons of aid for people affected by the disaster
Today, we’re still helping Haitians with disabilities stand tall.
Donate to support our ongoing work.
NOTE: until Jan 2018, Humanity & Inclusion was known as Handicap International.