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Rescued from the Haiti Rubble

Denise Heesch and her team visited Merger, Haiti, on an Adventures Encounter trip. Below Denise tells the story of one family who experienced a miracle in the rubble of the 2010 earthquake.


We followed single-file behind Madame Pastor and the translator as they explained we were going to meet a special young girl.

When we reached a concrete slab at the top of a steep hill, we approached the door on the back of the cinder block “home.” The special young girl Meloonda had just woken up but the mother invited the six of us plus the translator inside to wait. While we waited, we looked around the room. It was well-lit from the high window and doorway and the dirt floor was swept clean but the only items were a small child’s wheelchair, a small walker, and a bench against one wall.

The atmosphere was hesitant as we introduced ourselves to Meloonda and her mother, Clarice. Eight-year-old Meloonda squealed when we approached her wheelchair to say hello. She lacked complete control of her hands and could not speak.

Meloonda, Haiti

Clarice explained Meloonda was a typical five-year-old about to leave for school when the earthquake happened. Clarice covered Meloonda with her own body and they were both buried beneath rubble. Meloonda’s two older siblings had been huddled in the corner on the other side of a cinderblock wall. Clarice called to them, and they answered, so she asked them to get some rocks to break through the debris burying her and Meloonda.

When they finally rescued Clarice and Meloonda, Meloonda was unresponsive and not breathing. They worked to try to restore her breathing but her father and some of the other men said she was dead. They started to wrap her up and prepare her for burial. Clarice called out to God, “Oh, God, I am your servant! Please give her back to me, as I have loved and served you.”

She yelled at the men to unwrap Meloonda because she was not dead. God blessed them and returned Meloonda.

She lived in the hospital for two months because her spine had been severely damaged and her brain suffered from lack of oxygen for approximately 20 minutes. Her prognosis was that she would never speak or walk again.

But God had another plan.

Meloonda standing, Haiti

By the time we visited Meloonda had started walking. She could say “Momma” and “Daddy” in Creole. When we looked into her beautiful eyes and told her she is “Belle, tres belle,” her beautiful shrieks of joy and the movements of her body served as evidence of God’s presence.

We had the privilege of praying that God would continue to heal Meloonda and bless their family. Really we were blessed by the godly example of a mother’s faith and by the intervention of our faithful God.


Experience stories like Meloonda's first-hand by serving on an Adventures Encounter short-term trip. This summer there are still openings on adult trips to Haiti, Swaziland, Puerto Rico, India, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Sign up today.