Madame Desbrosses, 87, Haiti
Madame Desbrosses is a nursing home resident in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
She survived the 12 January earthquake and now lives outside in a seven person tent while she waits for the home to be rebuilt or she is relocated.
If bad things happen in three's, Madame Desbrosses, an 87-year-old resident of a nursing home in Port-au-Prince, ought to be in the clear for the rest of her life.
A widow, Mme Desbrosses lived with her only daughter, Shirley, then 31, before moving to the nursing home a year ago.
But when Shirley was two months pregnant with her first child, her husband beat her to death. Mme Desbrosses tried to kill herself and was brought to the nursing home unconscious.
Just a year later, the worst earthquake in two centuries hit Haiti. It completely destroyed her new home, the women's ward of the nursing home.
"It's a miracle I survived"
Mme Desbrosses survived by crawling underneath her bed and waiting for the terrifying shaking to stop. She made her way past dead bodies and mounds of rubble to get outside.
The woman in the bed next to her was crushed, and another friend was hit in the head with concrete as she tried to get out.
"My bed saved my life," she said gesturing toward her small metal cot, which is now in the seven-person tent she shares. "Rocks fell on the bed and it protected me from getting hurt."
"It's a miracle I survived," she said. "I pray all the time. I pray for God to protect us. I ask for health, because without health,
you can't live."
Despite the difficulties she has faced, Mme Desbrosses is mobile, witty and alert. She has no teeth, but does not like wearing her dentures so she sticks to soft foods like bananas and potatoes.
"We help each other to forget"
Speaking of her current accommodation, Mme Desbrosses said: "We were given this tent and it works just fine. It will protect us from the rain. We appreciate it."
Taking about her tent mates, she said: "We help each other pass the time, because sometimes life can be unbearable. We help each other forget about the hard parts."
Over the past few months, HelpAge has provided three meals a day for the home's residents and medicines and medical care, including 14 medical evacuations.
Sixty-four older people remain in the grounds of the home. We have provided the nursing home with two temporary latrine and shower blocks and more than 100 "wellbeing" kits which include hygiene and basic household items.
We have made several recommendations over the last five months on the best way forward for the care of these residents, including relocation. We're still hopeful those recommendations will be taken up by the city government which runs the home.
We are also working in six other nursing homes in Port-au-Prince.
My bed saved my life. Rocks fell on
the bed and it protected me from getting hurt. It's a miracle I survived. I pray all the time. I ask for health, because without health, you
can't live.