United Methodist woman saves colleagues in Haiti
Sarla Chand leads a seminar at the 2009 Pacific Regional School of
Christian Mission in Powell, Wyoming. A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey,
Response.
A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
UPDATED 1:00 PM EST Jan. 15, 2010
Sarla Chand
|
The Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince was collapsing around Sarla Chand
moments after a massive earthquake struck the Haitian capital.
A piece of debris hit Chand on the head, and all the former staff
member of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries said she could
think of was not to give up. “If I didn’t keep moving, I think I’d be
dead,” Chand said Jan. 15 in an interview on “ABC News.”
Chand was able to move through the debris to escape the hotel, and
her quick action in bringing back help is credited with saving the lives
of several colleagues, including three United Methodist mission
leaders.
“Apparently, Sarla was small enough to negotiate (the space) and find
her way around inside the hotel,” said Aaron Gulley, son of the Rev.
James Gulley, a United Methodist who also was trapped in the hotel.
Chand was able to make contact with rescue personnel and lead them
back to the others, James Gulley told his son.
When the earthquake hit, Chand and two other staff members from IMA
World Health were meeting at the hotel with the Rev. Sam Dixon, top
executive of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Rev. Clinton
Rabb, head of Mission Volunteers, and Gulley, an UMCOR consultant. The
other two IMA World Health workers were Rick Santos, the agency’s
president, and Ann Varghese, program officer for Haiti.
Five of the six humanitarian officials were rescued. Rescue workers
early Jan. 15 still were working to extricate Rabb from the debris.
The group had been in the Montana Hotel lobby when the earthquake
occurred. Afterward, most of them were trapped in enclosed spaces, and
the legs of Dixon and Rabb were pinned by a concrete beam.
Aaron Gulley said his father told him that other people had found
them earlier and said they were coming back with help, but never
returned. “They thought they were forgotten,” he added. “He said they
did a lot of praying.”
His father said Chand saved their lives, Aaron Gulley said.
All, including Chand, were grateful to be alive.
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“For us not to die with that magnitude of an earthquake, to me, that
is second life,” Chand told ABC.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New
York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Audio
Aaron Gulley, son of trapped UMCOR consultant:
“They prayed and sang hymns to keep their spirits positive.”
Video
BBC:
Team rescues Sarla Chand
slideshow
Photos from team in Haiti
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Resources
Facebook: Haiti Earthquake Hotel Montana
UMCOR Field Office: Haiti
Haiti Emergency, UMCOR Advance
#418325
The United Methodist Church
UMC Giving
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