Trisha Zakhour returned home not knowing what she would find.
After a long journey, Port-au-Prince stretched out below her plane window: miles upon miles of tents, blue tarp-covered buildings and rubble.
As the plane descended toward the airport’s single runway, she could see cracks in what was left of the terminal.
“There were mixed emotions,” she said. “I was glad to be back but worried about what it was going to be like.”
Zakhour, 34, was raised in Oak Harbor as Trisha Koorn. After a decade of living in Haiti, the country had become her home.
She fled Port-au-Prince with her husband and newborn son a week after an earthquake pulverized Haiti a year ago today.
The devastating earthquake leveled much of the country and killed more than 200,000 people.
The Zakhours were lucky to survive.
Trisha Zakhour and her infant stayed with her parents on Whidbey Island until it was safe enough to return this past summer. Not long after the earthquake, her husband, Tarek, told The Herald that he planned to go back to Haiti as soon as possible to do whatever he could to help rebuild.
He kept his promise.
A year later, the couple talked about life in a country rent by disaster.
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When the earthquake hit, Trisha Zakhour was caring for a newborn baby at their apartment situated on a hillside above the city. Their home held together and she was able to escape.
Her husband had a far more harrowing experience. He worked as a manager in his family’s small grocery in Port-au-Prince. The top floors of the building collapsed on top of the bottom-floor market. Somehow, the market walls held enough for Tarek Zakhour to escape serious injury and crawl out.
It took him hours to make his way home through the destruction.
In the weeks following the earthquake, people talked of rebuilding a better Haiti from the ruins.
The Zakhours said progress toward that goal has been frustratingly slow.
A year later, workers have cleared main roadways but many smaller streets are still clogged with debris. The national palace is still a wreck. Thousands of people live in grubby tents or in damaged homes protected from the elements only by tarps. Many Haitians who lived in the city have returned to the provinces to eke out a living from the land.
Clean-up is happening slowly, Trisha Zakhour said by phone Thursday.
“We went to downtown Port-au-Prince a month ago, and you could see some evidence — bulldozers or a building cleaned up,” she said. “But not as much as you’d expect.”
Cholera is rampant, particularly among the multitude of poor Haitians. The epidemic is exacerbated by a lack of education. Haitians are warned not to drink river water, but more than a few still do.
“People are dying because they can’t get good water,” Tarek Zakhour said. “The government is doing nothing about it.”
The political situation is unstable.
The country pushed forward with preliminary presidential elections in November. There were reports of election fraud. After the contested elections, widespread rioting broke out.
Tarek Zakhour was in the thick of it, trying to travel daily through the city to a new store his uncle is building on the edge of Port-au-Prince.
Rioters lit piles of tires on fire. There was looting and gunfire. For a few days the streets were so thick with angry people, he couldn’t make it to work.
“It’s not good at all,” he said. “The current government is trying to stay in power. They’re trying to put their own candidate up for president for another five years. People aren’t happy and they want them out.”
They also worry about another earthquake.
She’s able to sleep now, after a series of restless nights when she first returned. Before the earthquake she would lock the doors. Now, they make sure the doors are unlocked when they’re at home.
“Before, we were afraid of who could get in,” she said. “Now we are afraid we can’t get out.”
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As frustrated as the Zakhours are, they see hope amid the wreckage — for themselves and for the country.
The Zakhours recognize they are fortunate in a country that has enough misfortune. They have a safe place to live, clean water and access to supplies.
Trisha Zakhour leads a quiet life at their old apartment caring for their son Lucas, who just turned 1.
The local markets are busy with shoppers. The Christian school she used to work at is back to teaching students.
Before the earthquake, Tarek Zakhours’ family owned a chain of markets in Haiti. Four were destroyed. His uncle’s new store is set to open in March. Tarek Zakhour hopes to put the 40 people who worked for the store he managed back to work as soon as possible.
“Sometimes I think I don’t want to go back,” he said. “It’s a hard decision to make. I want to stay and try to help and rebuild the business and get people employed.”
When she thinks about where her family will live out their lives, she can only imagine Haiti.
“Yes,” she said. “That’s the plan.”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
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