Jacques Bazin is a Haiti-born humanitarian worker and president of JB Humanitarian, a non-profit organization that assists the poor and young people coming out of foster care. Though he describes himself as an average person, his life has been exceptional. Jacques has worked on many different humanitarian ventures in Haiti including projects related to education, agriculture and sustainable resources. He was working in one of the schools he set up at the time of the earthquake. Here is his story in his own words.

Q: What happened when the earthquake hit?

I was in one of my schools when it happened. We heard a noise -- a big noise -- and in the split of a second, you don't see the school anymore. All you hear is children crying, and there was no one, nobody to help because we were in the mountains. It's very emotional, you know, when you are looking at children and people dying and crying for help and you cannot help all of them. It is painful. The worst part about it is, until now, as we speak, help has not yet reached them.

Q: How did you get out and what was the first thing you did?

I spent so much time under the rubble. Hours and hours, you know. It was close to three days. The whole time I'm just praying and praying that someone comes and helps the children. I got in touch with friends when I could. My cousin was sending out information to anyone that could help: Red Cross Geneva, the Canadian Embassy. There is hard work, chance and fate.

Finally, it was God. I heard something shift and drop and then there was a little opening like a window. I crawled through there and I knew God was with me. My first thought was the children. I didn't care about nothing but the children, not even myself. I could hear them crying so after I got out, I managed to make a hole and I put in bread for them to eat. There was no water, just bread. I kept thinking about how these children, they have been neglected for years and this wasn't fair for them.

So, once I got out, I first thanked God and then I asked him to give me the strength to help and I did. I received news recently that six of them died from their wounds. Another one of the schools completely collapsed and it killed all the children.

Q: What are the next steps you are taking in the relief effort?

I left Haiti to go get help. So, I am trying to get help back to Haiti to help the people in the mountains. I work with an organization called Committee 50 and we go all over Haiti in the mountains. We will help them rebuild the school and also teach the communities about farming. We teach them how to interact with animals and once a month we have a class and tell them to come to us to explain the problems they are having. We also try to run classes at night to teach them how to read. Part of what we are doing is setting up an exchange system so that they can trade merchandise between them. I'm also working with Kengtek, which is another organization that is trying to provide help to Haiti now.

We have been working with them to set up sustainable electricity because right now they just burn the trees. We are trying to teach them how to use the resources around them without destroying them. So I am working on getting that kind of help to Haiti. If we can get it there in about a month or two, you know, the whole reconstruction of Haiti would be far easier for everybody. We are not going to bring some ships with stuff to burn we want them to have a future.

The children too, I've been helping get some of them adopted. One little girl just turned two years old on Dec. 21. We call her Sammy and we had a beautiful party. I really want to get them help. I plan on going back to Haiti as soon as possible, maybe tomorrow. A friend might come with me and we are going to bring back medical kits with us. We are just finding out which medicine is the most important to bring.

If you can just help one person, you know, it means something.