A report from Miami Herald stated that “Many united in prayer on the day.”

About 810,000 people they left behind still are homeless from that day’s devastation. But on Wednesday, Haiti’s 10 million survivors declared a national holiday to take the time to remember, to say goodbye to the ones they lost and thank you for the lives they still have.

A variety of activities were planned, including an appearance by former U.S. President, Bill Clinton.

“Everyone has a destination,” Pastor Jonathan Joseph of the Connection of Haitian Baptists Churches said in Creole from an oversize stage at the Champs de Mars survivor camp.

He spoke to a gathering of people who raised their hands to praise God and danced against the backdrop of a broken national palace and thousands of tattered tents.

“We have 10 million citizens. The quake killed 300,000. We still have 9.7 million. We have a reason to celebrate life,” Joseph told The Miami Herald on his way to Leogane, which was all but flattened by the quake. “Our message is today, we need the engagement of Christians to revive the church to transform the Haitian nation,” the Pastor said 

According to the report; “Hundreds of white-clad mourners, many weeping, and some shrieking with grief gathered for a special Mass at the base of the battered Notre Dame Cathedral and under tarps in downtown Port-au-Prince.”

Meanwhile, MiyVue.com understands that Robert Sarah, a representative of the Pope, implored Haitians and foreigners to write a new story for their lives.

“I hope the Haitian people will be the protagonists,” he said.

On another note, Nigel Fisher, the U.N. coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Haiti, said Tuesday that about 800,000 people remained in camps, down to about half its highest mark. He defended what he said was “incremental progress” in efforts to repair Haiti.

“We can’t rebuild Haiti. We have to transform it,” Fisher said. “Haiti cannot be transformed in just one year, or even two,” the UN coordinator added.