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NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Students at Uniondale High School on Long Island had a very special speaker Tuesday to mark the 6th anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake. Darline Bertil was 24 and working at her hotel job when the quake hit. The building collapsed on top of her and she was buried for 5 days.
Bertil's mother in the audience still aches at the thought of nearly losing her daughter. Bertil survived but lost both arms below her elbows. However, she has turned her tragic experience into a positive one teaching students lessons that they aren't learning in a book.
Uniondale has a large Haitian student population. Like Bertil, some of these students came to the United States after the earthquake.
Tuesday's event focused on remembering the more than 200,000 lives that were lost, the Haitian culture, and the courage it takes to start a new life. And Bertil's words made an impact.