Newfoundlander staying in Haiti amid 'ugly situation', hoping to help

ANewfoundlander who has spent decades helping the poorest of the poor in Haiti says she has no plans to leave the country, despite a period of unrest on a scale she says parallels the worst inrecent history.

"I was here when they ousted Aristide and we were calling it a war. It was bad. It was bad then, it is bad now," said Karen Huxter, referencing the country's former president, who was forced out of office in a military coup in 2004.

"I've been throughseveral things here, but this is one ugly situation we're in."

Huxter, originally from Springdale, founded and is one of the directors of Hands Across the Sea, a non-profit organization that runs a children's home and school in Deschapelles, a town about 50 kilometres north of the capital Port-au-Prince.

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Since anti-government riots began wracking the country on Feb. 7, that school has been closed and supplies for the children's home have been scarce, said Huxter, with some employees scouring neighbourhood back streets in search of basic staples and everyone trying to make what's left stretch through the uncertainty.

"The kids are getting fed. It's not a good situation at all, but we are OK at the present," said Huxter, adding their propane and diesel supplies will probably last through to the end of Tuesday.

"I am not scared'

Huxter is one of four Canadians atthe Hands Across the Sea compound, along with her sonand two others from Montreal.

That couple were supposed to leave Wednesday, but flight disruptions to the country cancelled theirplans. The Canadian federal government has issued a travel warning for all Canadians in the country, asking people still in Haiti to consider leaving as soon as possible.

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While Huxterhopes the couple, as well as her son, can make it back to Canada, she herself has no plans to leave.

"My emotions, to be honest, are all over the place. But Iamnot scared, Idon'tfear anything," she told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning Show.

"I'm OKon my own, I've been on my own a lot for the past 24 years. But if something should happen health-wise, then there is absolutely no way to get any help whatsoever."

Help for Haitians

As the unrest and economic crisis continues, Huxter'sprimary concern continues to be for the people of Haiti.

"The people out here with me and the people all over the country are in a desperate, desperate situation," she said.

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With that in mind, she made an appeal for donations to Hands Across the Sea.

"If the money came in for me to purchase food, as has been done in the past, Iwould buy it," she said.

"I'mOK with staying. What Iwould really like to do is see this end ...and be able to get some food into the mouths of the Haitian people. That's my desire."

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