Many families in Haiti are still homeless, living on the streets and not getting enough food. Haitians in the United States are trying to send money so they can buy food and water. One business in Washington, D.C. gets money quickly to people in Haiti.
Haitians come to to this office in Washington, D.C. hoping to help their family and friends by sending money. Among them is Franckel Constant, who wants to get money to family members in Port-au-Prince whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake. "They are not getting any help whatsoever. My family is still homeless, hungry," he said.
Edourdo Edouazin lost most of his family in Haiti. He is sending money to his sister - the only one who survived. "She says she is on the street but alive," he stated.
John Boursiquot is a Washington agent for CAM, a Miami-based business. CAM transfers money for a fee to people in Haiti. For two weeks after the earthquake, the company waved the fee. "I would say 95 percent of the people who come here lost somebody," he said.
When the earthquake struck, he was at a relative's house in Port-au-Prince that collapsed. No one in the house was seriously hurt but Boursiquot and other family members were hit by cement blocks. He brought a seriously injured neighbor to the hospital and helped others who were hurt.
"I watched three people die in my arms," he says, "and there were so many dead people everywhere."
Boursiquot says Haitians in the U.S. routinely send money to their families in Haiti but now they are sending twice as much. He says they also help their families by paying CAM to put additional minutes on their cell phones.
Esther Castor says family members call her from Haiti asking for help.
"They keep calling my phone to say there is nothing else they can do because there's no food, no water," she explained. "So I just have to make the sacrifice and send money to them back home."
Wendy Duliepe is concerned that prices for food on the open market in Haiti are so high that it's hard for her family to buy it. She sends her relatives as much money as she can.
Roldol Louis expresses the feelings of many Haitians in the U.S. He says if he can't be in Haiti to help his loved ones, he hopes the money he sends will make their lives easier.
