Family in Monterey County says the PhD student and mother phoned around 3am to say her family is safe and sound.
A UCSC graduate living in Haiti checked in with her family in Monterey County early this morning to say that she, her daughter and husband are all perfectly fine. The family had feared the worst when they had no communication after a text message they received from her just as the earthquake hit on Tuesday, Jan. 12.
Sterry Sprenkle completed her undergraduate studies at UCSC and continued her education at UC Davis, working toward a Ph.D. in Ecology. Last week she was in Haiti, working on her dissertation on the country’s reforestation efforts. It wasn’t simply academic either: she was getting her hands dirty planting trees in the countryside. She had been living in Haiti since 2005, and her husband, Dr. Erlantz Hyppolite, is the head of the Maternal and Child Health Ccenter at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Deschapelles, just two hours’ drive from Port-au-Prince.
When the earthquake struck she was on the road between the capital and home. She had texted her father in Monterey County to let him know where she was, but her subsequent silence had the family fearful for her safety, as well as that of her 20-month-old daughter and husband. During times of trouble, communications with Haiti have been sporadic at best, and even now only 100 of the estimated 45,000 Americans living in the country have been able to contact the U.S. Embassy.
Sprenkle’s sister said initially that Sterry and her husband were likely too busy helping the needy to make contact. “We’re just waiting to see where they are and if they’re safe,” she says. Her hopes were realized early this morning.
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