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The difference between tragedy and salvation came down to the space of a few minutes for Martine Augustin’s family.

Her husband had picked up their youngest child, Leila, then 10, at her school in Port au Prince and was taking her home when the earthquake struck at 4:53 p.m. The school collapsed, killing Leila’s teacher and several of her friends. An estimated 220,000 died along with them, and more than a million of the nation’s 10 million inhabitants were displaced from their homes after the earthquake hit on Jan. 12, 2010.

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Augustin’s family was alive, but suffering. Their home had structural damage and required expensive repairs. Leila was traumatized by her near-death experience and the loss of her friends. Augustin and her husband worked for the Haitian government, which was devastated in the earthquake, almost all of its ministry buildings reduced to rubble. Both lost their jobs. Their marriage was foundering, but they had to stay together for the children, and because they could not afford to live apart. Their cash reserves were almost gone.