St. Christophe Mass Graves

We stopped at the mass graves from the earth quake that rocked Port Au Prince on January 12, 2010 – about 15 months ago. It is estimated that half of the victims recovered from the earthquake are buried here. 300,000 are estimated to have perished that day.

After the earthquake family members wrapped their deceased loved ones in sheets and set them on the curb. The bodies were loaded by frontend loaders in garbage trucks and dumped in the massive pit.

On January 12th of this year they had a memorial service at St. Christophe’s mass grave. Hundreds of crosses were placed in the ground to represent the thousands upon thousands buried. Now, just a few months later, dozens of the crosses had fallen over. Palm trees surrounded the grave for the memorial service, but they were left neglected and were now withered and laying on the ground. My heart broke as God revealed his sorrow and pain for those who grieve each mother, father, sister, brother, husband, daughter, son that was lost that tragic day. I raged with anger as I felt the injustice for the way these lives were memorialized. Mass graves. Fallen crosses.

I bent over to “replant” a fallen cross. I wanted to restore the symbol that represents the immeasurable love God feels for each life. The soil was like cement, so I dug with my fingernails to loosen the soil. My fellow teammate Kenny picked up the cross as I dug and together we restored the cross. One by one, each fallen cross was restored.

-Karen Moen

Healing Haiti Team Member