In Louisville, Kentucky, Haitian Composer Julio Racine Translates for Medical Refugees from 2010 Haitian Quake

Marcelous Pierre, left, chats with Julio Racine in Louisville, Ky., on Jan. 4. Three years after the devastating 2010 Haitian earthquake killed one of his children and severed his spinal cord, leaving him a medical refugee in Louisville, Pierre said his wife and three surviving children still live in a leaky tent, eking out a meager existence in Haiti. 'That's my concern, my family,' said Pierre, 38. 'After all the (recovery aid) money they put in ... my family is still in a tent.' l / GANNETT, MICHAEL CLEVENGER/THE (LOUISVILLE, KY.) Courier

The Haitian composer, arranger and flutist Julio Racine (b. 1945) is profiled at AfriClassical.com.  The above photo shows him translating for a medical refugee in Louisville, Kentucky, where the composer now lives.

Written by Chris Kenning, January 12, 2013
Gannett/The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal

LOUISVILLE, KY. — His legs are paralyzed, he can’t work and he barely leaves his small Louisville apartment – but what troubles Marcelous Pierre most is his family’s desperate plight back home in Haiti.  Three years after the devastating 2010 Haitian earthquake killed one of his children and severed his spinal cord, leaving him a medical refugee in Louisville, Pierre said his wife and three surviving children still live in a leaky tent, eking out a meager existence.

“That’s my concern, my family,” said Pierre, 38, one of at least eight injured Haitians who were treated and then resettled in Louisville after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake – one of the hemisphere’s deadliest natural disasters. “After all the (recovery aid) money they put in … my family is still in a tent.” Pierre’s plight is a stark reminder of the massive upheaval that continues to plague Haiti as a result of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that killed tens of thousands, left nearly a million homeless and spurred many Louisville residents, donors, aid groups and doctors to help.

On this third anniversary, local refugees and aid groups working in the impoverished Caribbean island nation say recovery is still painfully slow, despite billions in aid donations, including funds that remain undistributed. An estimated 357,785 Haitians still live in 496 tent camps, according to a recent report by The New York Times. Others have moved to shanties or slums. Cholera, widespread joblessness and other woes still grip the nation.