On way to build school in his native Haiti

FDNY FIREFIGHTER Weaver Debe is heading home to Haiti on Thursday — and he’s bringing some of his fellow Bravest with him to help build a school for a local orphanage.

But they won’t be working alone.

Along with his FDNY muscle, Debe is traveling with union ironworkers and carpenters from the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and two retired Port Authority police officers.

All of them are part of HEART 9/11, a nonprofit disaster relief organization that aims to help suffering communities with the same spirit the world gave to New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in lower Manhattan.

“We’re going to be working long, hard days,” said Debe. “But it’s great to travel and work with firefighters and police officers — they know how to focus and get things done, and the ironworkers and carpenters have the special skills we need.”

Debe and his crew will also get assistance from local builders in Haiti for the special project in Fond Parisien, not far from the island’s border with the Dominican Republic.

The goal is to build a school for 600 children — more than large enough to serve the orphans who live at Miracle Village, which will run the facility.

Debe, 45, a member of Rescue 4 in Queens, knows all about the importance of a good education.

His parents brought him and his six siblings to the U.S. when he was just a young boy. They were eager to move the family away from the bloody Duvalier regime.

“This was during a time of turmoil and political upheaval in Haiti, and my parents were really worried about us staying there, especially about what kind of an education we would get,” said Debe. “They chose to bring us here, to give us better opportunities.”

One of those opportunities came in the form of joining the FDNY, which Debe learned about while studying at City College.

“Coming from Haiti, I didn’t know much about firefighting as a job. I hadn’t really heard of it,” he said.

But when he was in college, he became aware of the FDNY cadet program, which helped promising young students get familiar with the department.

Debe was already a licensed emergency medical technician, a job he did for private companies between classes to help his family, which suffered financially when his father died unexpectedly when Debe was 16.

“I still wasn’t thinking about becoming a firefighter, but then I met Lt. Sheldon Wright, and he kind of sold me on it,” said Debe. “I took the test in 1999, and worked as an EMT for a year, and in 2000, I was called to the FDNY. And I’m so glad, because I love the job.”

Debe’s connection to his charity mission isn’t just about his childhood in Haiti. It’s also about 9/11. The young firefighter had gotten married three days before the terror attacks. He watched them unfold on TV on his honeymoon in the Cayman Islands.

“I knew I had to come home and help,” he said. With air space restricted in much of the Northeast U.S., Debe had to fly to Miami, rent a car and drive to the city. He reported directly to Engine 75, his station at the time, and was immediately put to work at Ground Zero.

“It was really hard. We had lost so many, and among those were some who I’d been very close to, a few who had been at my wedding just days before,” Debe said.

For many years, Debe didn’t know that HEART 9/11 existed. The initials stand for Healing Emergency Aid Response Team, and it’s the brainchild of a Ground Zero first responder who wanted to harness the expertise on display after the 2001 tragedy and share it with the world.

Always active in giving and helping his family and others in Haiti — especially after its devastating 2010 earthquake — Debe jumped at the chance of coordinating with HEART 9/11 when a fellow firefighter told him about it.

HEART 9/11 has already made several trips to Haiti since 2013, and done building before at Miracle Village.

But putting up the school has special meaning for Debe, who sees echoes of his younger self in the many kids who have to study outside due to lack of facilities.

“We’re going to hit the ground running and do all the work we can. It’s tremendously rewarding to get in there and get the job done,” he said.