Mount student was volunteering in Haiti during earthquake
By: Ashley Arseneau
Issue date: 2/2/10 Section: News
When earthquakes struck Haiti last month, relief groups already in the area helping residents with other issues were faced with joining the disaster relief effort.
Thalia Mayo, an art major at Mount Wachusett Community College, is a member of the MissionE4 group that travels to Port au Prince, Haiti each year to work with local children. Her trip this year was not what she had expected. On January 12th, two days before she was supposed to fly home, the first earthquake hit Haiti.
Mayo said the group normally concentrates on tasks such as building schools and helping out at a local orphanage. This year, the group was also working on building a medical center for the children at the orphanage.
According to Mayo, after the quake, half of her group went to a former United Nations camp and turned it into a field camp were they tended to injuries sustained from the quake. Mayo was not in the medical group, but she did assist with an amputation of two gangrene ridden toes. She also helped keep the children of the orphanage safe from dangers such as human trafficking and looting. None of the children at the orphanage were seriously injured.
Mayo said she saw bodies of deceased victims lying in the road. "Group leaders told us to close our eyes and look away, but even looking away on the other side of the road was another body."
Two days after the quake Mayo returned home on schedule, but not by choice. "I was thinking no, I can't leave, there's still so much here to do, there's still so much they need," she said. Being a diabetic, she had to leave when medicine supply, including insulin, started to run low.
When she retuned home, Mayo was inspired to channel her experiences and what she saw into art. The piece was made for the 1,000 things sculpture assignment in a class taught by Professor Tom Matsuda. It consists of pieces of a smashed up cinder block to represent the after affects of the earthquake. Attached to some of the pieces are parts of photographs taken during the earthquake.
Mayo's 1,000 things sculpture is currently on display in the East Wing Gallery at MWCC along with other student work.
Thalia Mayo, an art major at Mount Wachusett Community College, is a member of the MissionE4 group that travels to Port au Prince, Haiti each year to work with local children. Her trip this year was not what she had expected. On January 12th, two days before she was supposed to fly home, the first earthquake hit Haiti.
Mayo said the group normally concentrates on tasks such as building schools and helping out at a local orphanage. This year, the group was also working on building a medical center for the children at the orphanage.
According to Mayo, after the quake, half of her group went to a former United Nations camp and turned it into a field camp were they tended to injuries sustained from the quake. Mayo was not in the medical group, but she did assist with an amputation of two gangrene ridden toes. She also helped keep the children of the orphanage safe from dangers such as human trafficking and looting. None of the children at the orphanage were seriously injured.
Mayo said she saw bodies of deceased victims lying in the road. "Group leaders told us to close our eyes and look away, but even looking away on the other side of the road was another body."
Two days after the quake Mayo returned home on schedule, but not by choice. "I was thinking no, I can't leave, there's still so much here to do, there's still so much they need," she said. Being a diabetic, she had to leave when medicine supply, including insulin, started to run low.
When she retuned home, Mayo was inspired to channel her experiences and what she saw into art. The piece was made for the 1,000 things sculpture assignment in a class taught by Professor Tom Matsuda. It consists of pieces of a smashed up cinder block to represent the after affects of the earthquake. Attached to some of the pieces are parts of photographs taken during the earthquake.
Mayo's 1,000 things sculpture is currently on display in the East Wing Gallery at MWCC along with other student work.
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