Although on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010, an unfathomable category 7.3 earthquake rattled the island nation of Haiti, an after-shock of that quake is still being felt right here in
Jackson, Miss.
Haitian-American Jean Ones-Austin has the events of that day indelibly pressed in his head. “On the day of the earthquake,” Austin recalls, “I was at home with my wife and my family. That’s when I got a call from a former FEMA coworker and she told me to turn my TV to CNN.” Upon turning to CNN, Mr. Austin became privy to the breaking news in his home nation that a massive earthquake left the nation in shambles. At that point, the well being of Jean’s family became an immediate concern. “I didn’t know what it [the earthquake] had done to my family and my wife’s family,” Austin recalls.
Once he got word about his family, the number of deaths in both Austin’s family and
his wife’s family totaled 14. Even with such devastation, Mr. Austin seems to be
holding up. “You cannot prevent a natural disaster from happening, so I’m okay with
the outcome,” he states resolutely. Jean Ones-Austin, 30 years of age, shares a common faith that all Haitians have adopted. “Haitians are very resilient and strong,” Austin states.
“They have a lot of faith in God, knowing that they will come out of the situation stronger than before.” However, Mr. Austin, a former FEMA employee, feels that the condition that Haiti is in should not be left up to other nations to decide. “I didn’t want the country to fall back into the hands of another country, being that Haiti is the
first independent Black nation,” Austin replies. “Our pride is high.”
Despite the constant negativity that surrounds Haiti at the present time, Mr. Austin
feels that he will never turn his back on his country because of the immense pride
he has in his home.
Born in Dam-Marie, Haiti, Jean Ones Austin spent 25 years of his life in Haiti, before deciding to move to the United States. “Initially I never had any intention on coming to the U.S.,” Austin says with some disdain. “I really wanted to go to Canada to study because they speak French there.”
However, now that Austin is here in the United States, he hasn’t wasted any time
being involved with charitable and humanitarian work. In fact, Austin has 5 years of
FEMA experience, working first hand with the relief efforts of Hurricane Katrina.
“By working with FEMA for five years, I already have a lot of knowledge on disaster
preparedness,” Austin informs.
With that experience, it was rather disappointing for Mr. Austin that he has not been deployed sooner. He made efforts to be deployed by the American Red Cross, but
was told that he would have to retrain and take classes for the organization. “I let
it go,” Austin says. Nevertheless, he does work part time at Catholic Charities, and
is still considered a DAE (Disaster Assistance Employee) for FEMA. Mr. Austin feels
strongly about assisting Haiti. He wants it to be clear to Americans that helping
Haiti is priority one. “All I can say is if they are willing to help Haiti build
their own country, then help them and share the same vision with Haiti,” Austin
affirms. “Don’t try to take over the country, and say ‘this is how I want to build
and your idea isn’t good enough.’”
Austin even gave a word of advice to college kids who may have a desire to help
Haiti. “First, keep praying for Haiti,” Austin advices. “If you give money, make
sure that your money goes into the right hands and not into some fake organization
that is only looking out for themselves and not the good of the Haitian people.”
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