Haiti and the 2010 Earthquake: Part 2-Where In the World is Ruth Hodges?

As I mentioned in my previous Haiti Earthquake blog post, "Haiti and the 2010 Earthquake: Part 1", my adoptive Mother Ruth E. Hodges, may be missing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in the aftermath of worst disaster in 200 years. "Ma" as I've called her since my adoption in 1989, is 82-years-old, has been a missionary to Haiti since 1969, and is responsible for having fundraised and overseen the building of several hundred church buildings, schools & orphanages in these 40-odd years. She is known as "Mother Hodges" by the Tampa Bay community.

Ma travelled to Haiti, leaving Tampa International Airport on an 11:00am American Airlines flight. Friends on the ground in Haiti confirm that she arrived in Port-au-Prince at 3:40pm and expected to be picked up by a pastor, long-time family friend and host for her 50-something missions trip by 5:30pm. The earthquake hit Port-au-Prince at 4:53pm. Based on past experience it takes approximately 1.5 hours on a good day to get through customs where officials search luggage thoroughly, inspect and stamp passports & gather visitor itineraries, and then travellers pick up their luggage at the baggage carousel. So we assume she was still in the airport terminal at the time of the earthquake. Unfortunately, our Pastor friend hasn't spoken with anyone via cell phone in the States since Monday, and we don't know if he was able to get to the airport or if he did, if he was able to transport Ma to his house in a more northern city which is out of the earthquake zone. Travel through Port-au-Prince would have been extremely difficult with debris from collapsed houses and buildings forming roadblocks and casualties in the streets. We don't believe she is still in the airport, however, because many American travellers were stranded at the airport waiting for transportation, and it seems Ma would have approached anyone who had a cell phone to call friends or family in the States.

While watching commentary on CNN, I saw the information on the newscrawl referring to the U.S. State Department 888-407-4747 phone number for those searching for American citizens in Haiti. It took me until Wednesday afternoon to finally get through the phone number as I kept getting kicked off the line between 30 seconds and 1 minute, 45 seconds. I gave the clerk on the other end all the most recent information I had on Ma, and they promised to forward the information to US employees in Haiti and relief workers who would contact me by phone once they located Ma. It's now Thursday morning, and we still haven't heard anything yet which is understandable considering there are over 40,000 Americans living in Haiti.

Ma, despite her advanced age has survived hurricanes, coups, motorcycle accidents, obstinate horses, food poisoning, Dengue Fever (which doesn't kill you but makes you wish you were dead), death threats from witch doctors & more in Haiti. She is a fighter and survivor, and has survived in difficult circumstances that would discourage-if not kill-most people. We believe God will keep her safe.

To read more articles about "Mother Hodges" access the following links:

• Mother's way By JEFF KLINKENBERG, Published May 13, 2007
• 2002 "My Favorite Older Person" Winning Essays-Fifth Place General Education Winner: Hillsborough County
• Tampa/Hillsborough County Human Rights Council, Annual Human Rights Award Recipients