News

Robins Airman ready to volunteer for homeland disaster aid

  • Published
  • By Wayne Crenshaw
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  For Senior Master Sgt. Rudy Lamothe, last week's devastating earthquake in Haiti was more than a tragedy unfolding on television.

Lamothe, a native of Haiti, still has many friends and family members there. He and family members, spread across the U.S., spent frantic hours after the quake exchanging text messages, phone calls and Facebook messages to account for everyone.

By last Friday, three days after the quake, he had determined everyone in his family had survived with only one cousin missing. However, many of his family members are now homeless and have lost close friends in the disaster.

"The only concern right now is that some family members are out on the street," he said.

Lamothe has a brother, sister, and sister-in-law in Haiti, along with nieces, nephews and other family members. He has volunteered to go there to assist with Air Force relief efforts, but has so far not been called.

He is a 26-year Air Force veteran and is superintendent of the 78th Operation Support Squadron. He came to the U.S. at the age of four when his mother immigrated here and he grew up in New York. He learned Haitian Creole, the primary language of his native land, when he was growing up.

"My family did a good job about maintaining the culture of our country," he said. "I basically grew up in a Haitian community with all of the foods and all of the different aspects of it."

He didn't return, however, until 1994 when he was deployed there to help the nation during the turmoil after ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was returned to power. Because he could speak the language, he worked in psychological operations to help maintain calm during the period.

Even before the earthquake, conditions in Haiti were still poor, he said, and he doesn't see a lot of hope for its future without some dramatic aid from the international community.

"I feel there has been some improvement in recent years, however, they can't do it by themselves," he said. "I honestly believe there is no way the country, without some form of intervention, can pull themselves out."

He urges everyone to consider donating to the relief effort.

The earthquake happened the afternoon of Jan. 12. Lamothe first heard about when he got a text message from a coworker that said, "Is everything OK with your family?"

The 7.0 magnitude quake is estimated to have affected 3 million people and killed 200,000. Estimates are that another 250,000 were injured and 1.5 million left homeless.