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GR woman wants to return to Haiti
Beverly Jansma was first-responder after quake
Updated: Sunday, 17 Jan 2010, 11:37 PM EST
Published : Sunday, 17 Jan 2010, 8:22 PM EST
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Although the death toll in Haiti continues to rise after last week's earthquake, one Grand Rapids woman says she wishes she were back there.
Beverly Jansma was in the impoverished country during the quake, and worked as a first-responder with the organization Mission to Haiti. She has been there more than 12 times.
When the disaster hit, Jansma said the people she was with didn't even realize what they were feeling was an earthquake. She was in a suburb of Port-au-Prince when the quake hit, and within hours, she and others had helped dozens who came to their clinic.
But she cut her trip short because the organization ran out of necessary medical supplies, Jansma told 24 Hour News 8 on Sunday. And although she knows the country is devastated, she is hopeful for its eventual future.
"The Haitians are a resilient people," Jansma said. "They've suffered more strife ... than a lot of countries have, or even know how, and they always seem to bounce back.
"It's just, they started with nothing and now they really have nothing. This is something that's just going to take them a longer and harder time to bounce back from."
Jansma was evacuated from Haiti by the U.S. military. Because the country is so devastated right now, she said she was concerned for her safety if her organization had stayed much longer.
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