Quick Facts and Tips: Challenges for Affected Students in the United States

Educators need to understand that it is likely that every Haitian American has been directly affected to some degree by this disaster. Students within this community will likely be dealing with a range of issues, including:

• the inability to communicate with loved ones and the corresponding inability to determine the status of friends and families
• worry and anxiety for survivors who are coping with horrific conditions (including injured loved ones)
• grief for loved ones who have died
• distress over identifying loved one’s bodies and the inability to obtain proper burials that provide a sense of dignity
• concern over continuity of the lineage, that is, no future generations to carry on the family or the family name
• no opportunity to establish a sense of closure with their loved ones who have died
• a deep sense of despair over the total devastation of a home town
• for those who had never traveled back to Haiti, a profound sense of loss over ever connecting to their homeland and culture
• concern about the potential for violence and significant disease and widespread health problems
• extreme frustration over not being able to do more to help
• an intense urgency to do something proactive
• parents who are immersed in their own emotional reactions and attempts to cope, and/or locate and help loved ones
• temporary absence of a parent who has gone to Haiti to look for missing relatives
• a strengthening or crisis of faith as they try to understand the tragedy
• a deepening sense of community and pride in being Haitian

Students who are not part of the Haitian American community but who have family members or other loved ones in Haiti may also be dealing with many of the same issues mentioned above, in addition to experiencing a sense of isolation in their distress or grief because they are not part of a larger community experiencing a similar situation.