Eight members of Binghamton University’s Caribbean Student Association spent nine days of their summer vacation in Haiti helping to rebuild in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake that claimed more than 200,000 lives and left more than a million injured or homeless.

The CSA executive board first came up with the idea to go to Haiti at an E-Board meeting held during winter vacation, about a week after the earthquake occurred.

Soon afterward, the CSA partnered up with Voices of Haiti, a non-profit organization that has coordinated year-round relief visits to Haiti since 2003, to organize the trip.

‘I wanted to do something different, something out of my comfort level, that I knew would help someone else,’ said Amanda Pusey, a senior majoring in political science and treasurer for the CSA.

The eight CSA members who attended the trip were Vanessa Flores, Nickesha Kelly, Darnell Jean-Charles, Ruth Jean-Marie, Brandon Jones, Emmanuella Murat, Amanda Pusey and Sean Sykes.

Although the trip to Haiti was paid for by the CSA’s funds from the Student Association, each CSA member who would attend was expected to bring 10 pounds of rice, pasta and other snacks. Members also brought and received private donations of toys, sporting goods and craft supplies to give to children in Haiti.

According to Kelly, a senior majoring in biology, CSA members also held fundraisers prior to departing, including bake sales and donations from friends and family members.

Alumni of the CSA also contributed money that was used toward food donations and traveling expenses in Haiti, according to Jean-Marie, CSA president and a senior majoring in political science.

Upon arriving in Haiti on Aug. 1, the CSA members made their home at an enclosed compound in Cabaret, 30 miles north of the capital city, Port-au-Prince.

‘As a Haitian-American, seeing the damage done by the earthquake struck a personal nerve that made me want to go above and beyond my call of duty,’ said Emmanuella Murat, a sophomore majoring in psychology and Spanish and the educational coordinator for the CSA.

Although the initial purpose of the trip was to build a school in Cabaret, those plans were hindered by financial constraints. Instead, the members hosted a recreational day camp at their compound for up to 150 local children of various ages, providing them with a variety of recreational activities and lunch.

The CSA members also landscaped the plot of land that was set aside for building the school, visited an orphanage to donate arts and crafts supplies and went to Port-au-Prince to see the destruction caused by the earthquake.

‘A lot of the buildings are still in the form of rubble,’ Jean-Marie said. ‘A great majority of the citizens are living in tents, some made of old clothing.’

For some of the CSA members, the trip put life into perspective.

‘It allowed me to realize that life is short, and that anything can happen,’ Pusey said. ‘It’s important to seize the day, as if every day is your last.’

Now that they have returned from Haiti, the members of the CSA hope to continue their partnership with Voices of Haiti, and are brainstorming other ways to help using similar avenues.

‘Haiti will be in great need of assistance for quite some time,’ Murat said. ‘It will take constant support to bring the country back to its previous state.’