Overshadows Everything
Jan 19th, 2010 • Posted in: What They're Saying“A hotel has to be like a father, mother, everything at the same time. When (President Jean-Bertrand) Aristide was thrown out in 2004, it was tough. An Italian journalist had toothache, and when I took him to see a doctor, they nearly killed us at a roadblock. But this earthquake overshadows everything.”
– Frantz Rimpel, the general manager of the Hotel Villa Creole in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, talking to the Reuters news agency. The hotel, a once-elegant establishment, was damaged badly by last week’s earthquake, which is believed to have killed as many as 200,000 and destroyed entire towns. The Hotel Villa Creole is now “operating a hospital in its front entrance and allowing scores of aid workers, journalists and others to camp out on its grounds,” notes Reuters.
“My grandparents founded this hotel. We have lost priceless works of art,” co-owner Melissa Padberg told Reuters. “But this is nothing to do with money now. We are just trying to keep open to give basic services to our clients, and allow ourselves to somehow help.”
Source: Reuters, Jan. 15.
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