Hamiltonian has hope for a new Haiti

It’s official. Well, almost.

Preliminary results in the Presidential runoff election in Haiti are finally in. As long as the numbers check out, the job will go to musician Michel Martelly. Haitians call him “Sweet Mickey,” and they’re hoping his victory will open up a sweet new chapter in history.  

The flamboyant 50-year-old edged out former Haitian first lady Mirlande Manigat in a heated battle for the top job in the earthquake-rattled country. Final results aren’t expected until April 16, but Haitians are already celebrating. And Hamiltonian Debbie Berquist is joining the party, too.

The 58-year-old nurse has lived and worked in Haiti for the last two decades. She has seen everything from a Coup d’Etat to a devestating quake to a twice-ousted Aristide. Is she excited about what the future holds? You bet.  

“The next five years I think are going to be very important,” she says enthusiastically. “A lot is riding on how the new president of Haiti is going to conduct the business of Haiti and work with the international community to move things forward.”

Before she headed south, Berquist worked as a nurse in Hamilton for 16 years — everywhere from the former Henderson, now Juravinski Hospital, to Joseph Brant to theGeneral. But she loved to travel, and set her sights on working in a developing country. First, she targeted Africa and South America. But a friend of a friend convinced her to consider Haiti and introduced her to Hopital Albert Schweitzer in the Artibonite Valley north of Port au Prince.

Berquist started work there in 1989, and immediately knew she wanted to stay.  “A sense of peace and calm came over me,” she says. “I knew I had made the right decision.”

Two decades later, she now works as Director of Operations for Village of Hope — a school for 600 students in the township of Ganthier — east of the capital and is happily married to a Haitian man who is a community health worker at Hopital Albert Schweitzer. 

Over the years, she has seen a laundry list of Presidents come and go. Somehow, she admits, this election felt different. 

“Many people are hopeful that we’re going to see some change,” she sighs.

http://hamilton.openfile.ca/hamilton/file/2011/04/hamiltonian-has-hope-new-haiti