FOUND ALIVE

Saratoga TODAY has received many inquiries about this story when it first ran on January 22, and putting journalistic objectivity aside, this is one update we are thrilled to print:
Ricardo Sopin, Saratoga resident and Haitian national, has found his daughter Marcia, 8, alive and relatively uninjured in a hospital tent in the rubble and devastation of Port-au-prince.  
"It's really a miracle," related Leslie Valencia, family friend and employer of Ricardo at Arthur Murray Dance Studio. "We were expecting the worst, and for this to happen, and so quickly, is amazing. Now the hard work on our part begins."
Specific details about the reunion between father and daughter are still vague given the nature of communication capabilities on the Caribbean Island Nation. What is known at this point is that Marsha had been taken out of her family home by her mother and brought to a park on Tuesday, January 12 just prior the earthquake in Haiti. Their family home was crushed by a collapsing church, and it was feared that Marsha had perished. Her father reports that though Marsha is in relatively good physical health, she is understandably traumatized by the ordeal and saying very little about it
Marsha and her father are staying together with family friends and attending to Marsha's injured grandmother, who suffered a crushed leg and broken arm. Beyond medical needs, the family is now dealing with the bureaucracy of immigration. Over 50,000 emergency visas to the USA have been requested to date.
We will continue to update this story as conditions warrant. Visit Saratoga TODAY's website - www.saratoga.org/today - for the latest information.
- Arthur Gonick