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News & Events

2010-02-18

Students Learn of Haiti First-Hand from Alumna Journalist

Two weeks after departing the devastation and heartbreak of earthquake-ravaged Haiti, Elizabeth Solomont Levy '97 was back at her alma mater, describing to scores of Maimonides School students her journalistic experiences there.

As New York correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, Ms. Levy, who writes under the name E.B. Solomont, was assigned to match up with the 200-person Israel Defense Force disaster response team that had been dispatched following the earthquake. She spoke to assemblies of fourth, sixth, ninth and tenth graders about her experiences, emotions and pride.

“My goal in going to Haiti was to find Tzahal,” she told each group of students. “I wanted to tell my readers – and tell the world – what Israel was doing. Israel established the first field hospital. I wanted to find it.”

Ms. Levy not only connected with the IDF; she also moved into the compound of 12 medical tents for four days, monitoring and reporting on everything from surgery and radiology to pediatric emergencies and maternity. During her stay the 40 medical personnel treated some 1,100 victims, performing more than 350 surgical procedures. “Some of the patients had been rescued from houses that collapsed,” she said.

On her way to Haiti, Ms. Levy told the students, “I was scared and nervous. But as a journalist, it’s my job to go places and report on what’s happening.”

She described her first encounter with the tragedy: as she crossed the border from the Dominican Republic, she encountered a hospital that was overwhelmed. “Patients were everywhere,” she related. “Doctors were working on patients in the corridors, even in the hospital’s driveway.” Ms. Levy tried to share with students sensations they couldn’t as easily realize from news broadcasts – the smells from countless open fires, the heat and humidity of January on the large Caribbean island.

Arriving in the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince, she discovered that “nobody was inside their houses. Everyone was basically homeless. Imagine driving up Philbrick Road and every other house has collapsed, and people are outside with their belongings.”

The reporter also accompanied IDF search-and-rescue operations in the capital. The troops had high-tech help, including devices that can confirm a heartbeat and motion from breathing, even when buried under rubble. Also on hand was Max, a dog trained to detect human breathing.

Some efforts were successful; others fruitless. After one eight-hour search in and around a collapsed house, the team headed back. “It was pitch black, driving out of this poor part of town,” Ms. Levy recounted. “People lined up and reached out, trying to touch the soldiers and thank them.”

The Jewish community in Haiti totals around 25, and never has exceeded 300, Ms. Levy reported. Yet “by the time I left, a lot of people had learned how to say ‘Shalom’.”

“It really was an honor for me to go to Haiti and share this story with the world,” she declared. “Israel really did an amazing job.”

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