Personal Stories

Supporting Haitian and Haitian-American campus community members
Gallaudet continues to support members of the campus community who have strong ties to Haiti. Fortunately, they report that their families in or around Port-au-Prince are safe.

However, for some the January 12 earthquake's destruction meant the loss of friends and the irreplaceable destruction of property. A student enrolled in the English Language Institute lost his family home. The Office of the Provost has waived the student’s tuition for the semester and ensured that he has employment on campus to assist with other expenses.

Many in the Gallaudet community have a personal connection to the crisis in Haiti. Here are some of their stories.

Eve Mitton
Evelyn Mitton, better known as Eve on the campus where she has spent 33 years as a student and staff member, currently serving as benefits and records technician in Human Resources Services, holds a special place in the Haitian deaf community. She was the inspiration for and the first student to attend the Institut Montfort, which now serves over 600 deaf and deaf-blind students in Port-au-Prince. In the 1950s, Mitton became the private pupil of Sister Agnes Marie, an American nun. “When I was 10 or 11, I realized the deaf students could really thrive with their own school,” Mitton recalled. “So I made a suggestion to Sister Agnes.”

Soon after that, Marie established a new school for deaf students in one room at St. Joseph’s University. Its student body soon began to grow, and eventually relocated into its own building, which became Institut Montfort. From age 16 until her early 20s, Mitton taught at St. Vincent's Center for Handicapped Children before coming to the United States to work. Mitton has not been back to Haiti in more than 20 years, but she has thought of her home country often. She knows that the schools have very few deaf teachers, and the children rarely see a deaf role model. She encourages young students to travel to Haiti and teach.

Juan-Carlos Reinbold
Juan-Carlos Reinbold grew up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he attended Institut Montfort, a school for deaf and deaf-blind students. He came to the United States to attend Gallaudet, and has now spent half his life in the country. He continues to maintain strong ties with friends and family in Haiti, visiting his home city about three times each year. The devastation of the January 12 earthquake hit him hard. “Both of the schools for the deaf in Port-au-Prince were demolished,” Reinbold said. “When I learned that, I contacted about 100 friends from around the U.S. to start getting help.”

Several students and teachers at St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children lost their lives. Reports from Institut Montfort recount a ruined building but no major injuries, possibly because the occupants were in the open courtyard at the center of the building when the quake hit.

Reinbold collected about $2,000 from his contacts, and will send it through an acquaintance with the Friends of Montfort organization to provide help. The organization will purchase food and much-needed supplies in Florida, Haiti, or neighboring Dominican Republic, then distribute it to deaf students and school staff. In February, Reinbold will have the chance the fly to Haiti, accompanying five others to help however they can on the ground.

Sylvie Marc-Charles-Weir
Sylvie Marc-Charles-Weir won’t receive her master’s of social work degree until May, but she has already put her advocacy and organizing skills to work for deaf Haitians. From a Haitian family, Marc-Charles-Weir grew up in New York City and made trips to her family’s homeland as a child. Although her family was safe after the earthquake, she said, the news shocked and depressed her. As she battled with her own feelings, many fellow students and others came to her sharing theirs.

“So many people were talking to me,” she said. “So many people wanted to know what we can do.” Deaf Haitians, they knew, already faced many obstacles. The disaster would only make that worse.

That was when Haitian and Haitian-American students and employees began to gather. Informal dinners and meetings turned into a powerful group, a place to find emotional support and communicate in a common language. These Gallaudet community members, along with others from the D.C. area, have formed a group called Friends of Deaf Haitians. One of its members, Cashier's Office staff member Juan-Carlos Reinbold, will travel to Haiti in February. He will accompany Marc-Charles-Weir’s mother, Florence Marc-Charles, to work with deaf children in the hardest hit areas and make sure their needs are met. Florence Marc-Charles is the one of the founders of Friends of Montfort, Inc., drawing the inspiration for the organization from her daughter. 

In addition, Marc-Charles-Weir, Reinbold, and Human Resources Services staff member Evelyn Mitton have given presentations on the situation and the plight of deaf Haitians, both at Gallaudet and at deaf residential schools in the D.C. area. Marc-Charles-Weir herself has advocated for financial support of a current student from Haiti in the hopes that the earthquake does not topple his dreams of getting a Gallaudet education; and she has made a statement to USAID urging the agency to keep people with disabilities in mind during relief efforts.

The organization currently stands at 13 members, about half of them working or studying at Gallaudet. Along with a few acting officers, Marc-Charles-Weir is going through the process of making Friends of Deaf Haitians a nonprofit organization. The group plans to continue its advocacy and organizing in the coming months and years. Marc-Charles-Weir looks forward to traveling to Haiti herself, after graduation.

“I wish I could have done a lot more before the earthquake,” said Marc-Charles-Weir, “but now is not the time to think about the past—it’s time to think about the future.”