ST. SUZANNE, Haiti As a Charlotte medical team treated people suffering from severe cholera and malnutrition on Wednesday, Pastor Medenel Angrand asked more than 500 parishioners at his church across the street to chant with him.

"Vive Haiti," he yelled. "Say it with me."

"Vive Haiti," they called back in the packed sanctuary situated on the town square of this mountain town 150 miles north of Port-au-Prince.

"This is a black day," Angrand told the St. Suzanne Parish, whose members filled the pews, the aisles, the doorway.

"We have to remember this day, January 12. But Haiti is not dying. Haiti will live. Haiti will not perish."

Residents expressed sorrow and hope on the anniversary of the massive 7.0 earthquake day that is now a national holiday.

Much of the community spent Wednesday together at the two main churches that held services during the day and evening.

They prayed. They cried. But they also danced.

St. Suzanne did not suffer direct earthquake damage, but the city of 30,000 struggling with poverty and a lack of jobs and education has had to search for ways to feed and employ hundreds of new residents that fled Port-au-Prince.

The town has also seen a rash of cholera - an outbreak that has killed about 3,000 people throughout the country.

The Charlotte medical team arrived Wednesday by German helicopter with 500 pounds of medical supplies ready to treat cholera victims and anybody else who needed help. The team had already sent a truck full of supplies, including a large cargo tent that will serve as the town's cholera hospital.

Within hours of touching down, Charlotte doctors Will Conner and Hadley Wilson met 5-year-old Rose Guerline, who had walked about three hours with her brother and father to get help. The two children were suffering from diarrhea and vomiting - classic signs of cholera, which causes dehydration that can kill.

Kim Parker, a Carolinas Medical Center nurse, held Rose down as a Haitian nurse searched for a vein in her left arm to give her an IV of water, salts, and potassium.

"Anmwé, Anmwé," the little girl screamed, as a nurse inserted the needle.

"It hurts. It hurts."

Parker, 26, learned that Rose's little brother, Donald, had died the day before during treatment in the same room. He was 4 years old.

"It's hard to comprehend ... to have two kids come in with something so easily treated take the life of a child," Parker said.

St. Suzanne Mayor Gustave Abdias was thankful for the care the Charlotte doctors provided. He said the community has few medical resources, so any assistance is more than appreciated.

"I just hope they come back," he repeated several times.

St. Suzanne had to absorb about 400 new residents just a week after the earthquake last year. He said it's still difficult to feed, house and care for the town's newest residents.

Pierre Piquion, principal of the secondary school College St. Eugene de Maznod in nearby Fort Liberte, said his Catholic school gained 98 new students because so many residents had fled to the countryside.

At Eglise Baptiste St. Suzanne, where members danced in the pews, Abdias Pierre, 34, said Jan. 12 is not just a sad day for Port-au-Prince, but for all of Haiti and the world.

"We must remember every second, every minute, every day that we lost 300,000 Haitians," the local school teacher said. "They were our friends and our family. We can't forget them."