By Nina Laing

Freeport News Intern

When 10-year-old Weskernisha Calixte travelled to Haiti for the first time, the unplanned visit turned potentially deadly for the young Walter Parker Primary School student.

Flown to Haiti as part of a repatriation exercise, Calixte, one week after her arrival, found herself in the middle of the catastrophic earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12.

During an interview with The Freeport News, she was all-smiles as she recounted the events leading up to her terrifying experience on that day.

"My daddy was in Haiti first," she explained. "Then immigration came and they took my mommy. They saw my pictures so then they came to Walter Parker. They took me in my school uniform."

Although she was born in Nassau, Calixte said that she had been sent to Haiti because her mother was being repatriated and she was under age, so she was made to stay with her.

On Monday, January 4, Calixte, her mother and baby brother were flown to Nassau and taken to the detention centre.

Two days later they were in Port-au-Prince where Calixte said, they stayed with her aunt and four cousins.

She noted that Tuesday, January 12 had progressed just like any other day. However, at 4:00 p.m. that evening, something went terribly wrong.

"We felt the earth start shaking," Calixte recalled.

She said they had been informed that there would be some construction to make a new road in the area, and, initially that is what they mistook the rumbling for.

However, the family quickly realized that this was not the case.

"I was really scared. We thought it was the road. We sat down. We were waiting."

But, according to Calixte, the shaking continued and what appeared to be smoke clouded the inside of the house.

"Everybody was scared. Everybody ran out," she said. "Inside the house was dusty. The house was standing but inside, everything dropped."

The occupants of the house, including her mother, sister, and eight-month-old brother, escaped unscathed and while the house was still upright, Calixte said they were in-structed not to re-enter be-cause there could be aftershocks.

"They made us sleep in the road for three days," she said. "So my mommy saw the fourth day coming, so she say 'No, we won't make the fourth day sleeping in the road'."

The group packed their belongings and travelled, by bus, for over seven hours to Saint-Louis du Nord, to stay with Calixte's grandmother.

While her aunt and cousins made themselves comfortable at her grandmother's house, Calixte said her mother saw that she needed to return to school and decided to have her sent back to Grand Bahama.

She said her mother in-structed a friend to care for her and ensure that she arrived to the airport and on the plane on February 19.

Calixte arrived in Grand Bahama at 6:00 a.m. and attended school the same day.

At the time, Calixte said, she was torn about her mother's decision. She did not want to leave her family behind, yet she was happy to be returning to Grand Baha-ma where she could see her friends again.

The 7.0 earthquake that ravaged Port-au-Prince Haiti, devastating the nation, claimed the lives of over 200,000 people and left the capital city in ruin.

Since the earthquake, media coverage has exposed the world to heart-wrenching stories of victims who have lost their family members; victims who have lost their homes.

Calixte stands today, un-harmed with all of her family members accounted for.

Polite and seemingly bursting with positivity, she considers herself "blessed."

She said her experience was not nearly as horrible as what can be seen on the television.

Calixte recalled seeing blood splattered through the streets, passing by the bodies of a woman and two men, but insisted that she was not afraid.

She spoke of a woman who had lost all of her children, and noting that families had been ripped apart, Calixte said she is "lucky" that everyone she loves is still alive.

Smiling down on Calixte was big sister, Lisa Louis, who said of her sibling, "I think she is very courageous, and she is a Christian also, she's always praying."

Calixte currently resides with her older sister and says her only regrets at this point, are that her mother and brother are not with her.