At Immaculée, Talk of Haiti Earthquake Ebbs

Home Brooklyn Life At Immaculée, Talk of Haiti Earthquake Ebbs

By Clare O’Connor

Imaculee Restaurant on Nostrand Avenue in Flatbush. Courtesy of O'Connor/TheBrooklynInk
Imaculee Restaurant on Nostrand Avenue in Flatbush. Courtesy of O'Connor/TheBrooklynInk

Inside Immaculée Haitian Restaurant and Bakery, there’s a big-screen TV on the back wall, its volume turned up. ESPN is on, but no one is paying attention to the golf on the screen, just chatting to each other in Creole and forming a line.

On January 12, the day of the earthquake — and the nightmarish days following — the channel was set to CNN. Haitians waiting for their lunch orders would watch intently for updates on progress rescuing those trapped in the rubble. “It was on 24/7,” says Nic Zamy, whose father and stepmother own Immaculée, motioning towards the flat-screen. “Most people would come in to buy food and then end up watching.”

Today, six weeks later, Nic is in charge of sticking labels with Immaculée’s address on hundreds of transparent red plastic bags. These will be used to package the bakery’s Haitian pastries and desserts for sale.

Above Nic’s head, a poster on the wall advertises a Haiti Relief fundraiser held back in January, featuring music by the Kreyol Divas band. Alongside it, a flyer offers advice from a Haitian immigration lawyer.

Lunch customers start to filter in – mostly Haitians from all over Flatbush. One of the ladies behind the lunch counter asks a customer if he wants extra sauce on his rice. He answers with a polite “oui, s’il te plait.” Hungry customers start placing their orders – fried fish for some, oxtail for others. A flaky beef patty – oozing delicious grease – and a bottle of Immaculée’s sweet homemade lemonade cost just over $2.

Gary Joseph, a 48-year-old who moved to Brooklyn from Haiti 20 years ago, orders his curried goat and perches at one of the five small tables to eat. He lost two cousins in the quake, and has been sending money home. His friend Renel Saint Louis, who emigrated from Haiti in 1983, waits for his lunch order and counts his family’s casualties on his fingers.

“I lost six relatives from my mother’s side,” he says. “I sent money already. But the big problem is people in Haiti who are now sleeping in the street. It’s raining, it’s cold, but they’re scared to go inside the house to sleep. People are still scared of aftershocks.”

Soon the lunch crowd thins. Nic resumes making his labels. Luckily, none of his family back in Haiti was hurt in the quake. He knows many of Immaculée’s customers have been sending food and clothes to friends at home. “Haitians are slowly coming back to their normal lives,” he says.

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