"I heard Moïse crying under the rubble"

Moïse was four years old when he lost his left leg in the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12th January 2010.

Moise, amputated after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, received a prosthesis and followed rehabilitation sessions with HI and with the support of HHH rehabilitation center. | © Davide Preti/HI

The summer holidays are coming to an end. Moise, 13, his parents and younger brother Sonel, 11, have been living in Mariani district, just outside Port-au-Prince, for several years. The walls and roof of their small home are made from corrugated iron. The family lost everything in the earthquake. They have no house or belongings. But they all survived.

Like Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo

In recent weeks, Moïse has been busy cleaning the house and doing the washing and cooking. But his real passion is football. He and his brother often play on the construction site next to the house, which doubles as their football pitch. This summer however his prosthesis, which was getting too small for him, began to hurt when he walked, and Moïse had to make do with the football app on his mobile phone.

He was still a little boy in 2010 when he was fitted with his first prosthesis, with help from HI, and he had his first rehabilitation sessions. Since then, Moïse has grown and his prosthesis, worn from use, has been replaced several times.

Moïse was fitted with a new prosthesis at the physical rehabilitation centre run by Healing Hands for Haiti at the end of August 2019, with support from HI. Moïse can go back to school now and play football again with his friends.

A terrible day

Wecheline, his mother, remembers every second of that dark day, almost 10 years ago:

"I was taking a meal to my husband when the earth began to shake. When I came home, there was nothing left of our house. I could hear Moïse under the rubble... He was crying and shouting ‘Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom'."

A week later, Moïse had his leg amputated. “It was a very difficult time for me," explains his mother. "Moïse didn't have any crutches. He couldn't walk around. He had to crawl. When they told me he was going to be fitted with a prosthesis, I jumped for joy."

Moïse has his sights set firmly on the future. He doesn’t dream of becoming a footballer anymore. He wants to be an engineer or doctor instead, convinced his leg could have been saved if there had been enough doctors after the earthquake.

Date published: 09/01/20