Project Edeline

By Stephanie Hoffman Photo: Brian Biery

It all started when…

I received a phone call from my daughter’s volleyball coach asking if I could help a woman in Haiti, who was buried in the rubble of her school building for three days as a result of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. She had a broken neck, numerous fractured ribs and more PTSD than most trauma survivors. After all, she sang and prayed with the dying, unable to move underneath the concrete block that had her pinned. Edeline was one of four survivors that day out of 300 others in that same building.

What Happened?

On January 12, 2010, Edeline Felizor was on the third floor of a teachers’ college in Port au Prince when the most devastating earthquake in history struck, changing lives forever. During the next several days, in total darkness amidst the moans and screams of the dying, Edeline was unable to move with her arm pinned down by debris. She sang gospel songs and prayed with whomever was still alive around her. As the hours progressed, Edeline’s voice was one of the last one’s heard. As she lie there with horrific pain from a broken neck and several crushed ribs, she was miraculously rescued and slowly dug out of the rubble only to be placed on the side of the road, immobile in a demolished city totally paralyzed.

Edeline was transferred to the USS Comfort ship, where she underwent a delicate operation, requiring four screws to fuse her spinal column with her skull. Reunited with her family, she now needed physical therapy in order to not spend the rest of her life as a shut-in invalid. Through much determination, Edeline and her sister came to San Diego on special humanitarian parole visas. Stephanie Hoffman, Physical Therapist, volunteered to help and took in the Haitian women for several months as they arrived in the U.S.

As Edeline made steady progress, her hopes and dreams of starting a school for the “poorest of the poor” in Haiti, came to be with the help of Stephanie Hoffman, Byron Shewman and a few generous San Diego donors. In 2010 Project Edeline was established under the non-profit organization “Youth Without Borders”. The elementary school in Croix des Bouquets now serves 200 young Haitian children, many of whom were stranded and homeless after the earthquake. The goal is to serve the poorest children in the surrounding area where none would be denied an education because of inability to pay.

Help Us Help Haiti One Child at a Time

100% of your donation goes to Institut Edeline in Haiti

Youth Without Borders is a 501c3

www.Projectedeline.com