EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Heroes Star's Emotional Journey Home To Devastated Haiti - Bodies Are Like Garbage In The Streets
Jan. 18 2010, Published 1:20 p.m. ET
In an exclusive interview with Breaking Celebrity News Haitian Heroes star Jimmy Jean-Louis shares the details, the joys and the horrors of his heart wrenching trip home to the earthquake devastated nation of Haiti.
It's a bittersweet trip for the actor as he thankfully reunites with his parents, he at one time feared were dead, but at the same time tries to come to terms with the unimaginable horror that has hit his homeland and that he is witnessing first hand.
Heroes Actor Jimmy Jean-Louis Reunited With Family in Haiti
"It was nice and it was peaceful to see my parents because we already had comes to terms that I was coming," Jean-Louis tells Breaking Celebrity News. "It was just this amazing relief to see each other. It was calm and very emotional but nice to be able to see them and hug them - a genuine simple hug. That was great."
But the joy of reuniting was soon overshadowed by the realization of the devastation of his surroundings in the developing country that was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the largest earthquake to have struck the world in 200 years.
"As I said I had a house that collapsed and another house next door and there are people laying dead underneath the house," Jean-Louis shares. "From going around the neighborhood, from where we are, everyday, many times a day, I don't know how many times they come and they bring dead bodies just to burn them, just to burn.
VIDEO: Heroes Star, "There Is Nothing Left To Live For" In Haiti
"You see them being burned, you smell them. It's the most horrific picture I have ever seen. Something I wouldn't wish anyone would ever see, it's so graphic. The bodies in the streets become like a piece of garbage the way they treat them."
"As you go around the city you smell that smell, you know exactly how the human body smells because it becomes natural to you. The same way you could recognize the smell of a flower. Now people can recognize the smell of a human body. It is absolutely disgusting."
An obviously traumatized and horrified Jean-Louis tries to share with Breaking Celebrity News the magnitude of the levels of destruction and havock that have been wreaked.
"It is so terrible what has happened to Haiti," Jean-Louis says. "I think people still have no idea even with all the pictures you see, even with all the videos you see, you still have no idea of how bad it is. You really don't. It is extremely, extremely bad.
"What I have noticed is that so far everyone is just reporting from Port-Au-Prince, from the capital, and it revolves around the capital, but then you realize that the same earthquake went miles and miles and miles around to hit three, four, five other big cities. It's just that people can't make it yet to the next city."
"So far that's where the airport is so people concentrate around the airport but then there are other cities where in some of them 80 percent of the city is down, the entire city, and they still haven't received any help."
They are in desperate need for supplies and volunteers are having a difficult time transporting them to rural areas. To help the effort, please donate here www.hufh.org and at Pan American Relief.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Hero's Star Jimmy Jean-Louis Heads To Haiti: "I Need To Be With Them"
Jean-Louis says that he has nothing to relate the destruction to, and that he can only imagine that it is akin to a war zone. "Everywhere you go the buildings are just flat on the floor, just sitting there. What I mean is that they are flat and whoever was inside these buildings are still inside, trapped, and they can not get any help because nobody knows how to get underneath the building to rescue them. So you pass by these buildings and they smell of bodies. I feel so, so sad about this situation."
But despite the horror that is permeating around the country Jean-Louis shares with Breaking Celebrity News that the natural resilience and the strong spirit of the Haitian people gives them the strength, even though they are shocked and stunned to the core, to go on with everyday life as best they can.
"Even with some people losing everything you still see people being so well behaved," he says. "They all sit outside amongst themselves. Some of them sing just to keep the spirit up.
"The picture of what I see is the maturity of the city, I see a bunch of people who just can't believe what just happened to them."
"They are in shock - in total shock - some of them are just sitting in front of their dead loved o