Parents of a missing Lynn University student
react during an interview in South Florida.
(AP Photo/J Pat Carter)
Lynn University president Kevin Ross sadly announced today that hope has been lost for the four students and two faculty members missing in Haiti since the earthquake. The six people, who had traveled to Haiti as part of a mission trip with Food for the Poor, are now presumed dead. Ross said, “We had waited for good news, hoped for a miracle – prayed for a different outcome. But it is apparently not to be.” The South Florida university’s focus is now turning from hoping to grieving and healing.
Not everyone, however, is giving up on the people who had been staying at the Hotel Montana when it collapsed during the earthquake. On Monday, members of Congress received an online petition with thousands of signatures and emails beseeching the American government to step up efforts to rescue Americans still missing in Haiti. A Facebook group called “Haiti Earthquake Hotel Montana” has more than 15,500 fans and thousands of photos of missing loved ones. The most recent post was from a young woman struggling to accept the grim announcement from Lynn University, with people urging her “don’t give up” and “don’t listen to Lynn’s website.”
In Native Wisdom for White Minds, a Hawaiian Healer and Kupuna said, “The body [of a grieving person] is full of stuffed tears. Tears of grief and tears of rage and the steam makes the body cry.” Grief, rage, anguish, fear, doubt, helplessness – these are only some of the intense emotions that friends and families of the missing will almost assuredly continue to struggle with, regardless of today's announcement. And it is unlikely that their prayers for a miracle will cease when so many people are still keeping hope alive.
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