Haiti — a land of hope and hunger

Nightling,

I reviewed all 40 of the photos you have in your album. They are amazing. On top of being a writer, you are a great photographer. They really captured the essence of the people there. How long was your trip? Do you go on assignment or with a specific group?
So many questions! hehehehehe

I actually sent myself. Kind of a long story, but right after the earthquake, all those pictures, I just sort of was seized with a have to go there feeling. Of course there is no reason for the newspaper I work to send me ... so I started looking for someone with a local tie so I could at least write about this ... well they started doing a mission to build some homes there and a local group decided to go help them build. I tagged along with the mission group, just had to pay the cost of my plane fare and my food, and bring my own tent and such. It was kind of an expensive trip, but I don't think I will get many chances in my lifetime to write about something that I think is globally very important and so many people there need help. I hope the story will help them get their community built.


So, you mentioned that a tablet of duce kokoye brought 5 goudes. What is the value of that?
Not much. There's 40 haitian goudes to a dollar approximately. The tablet was actually the beans and sugar cane. She didn't sell the whole batch, but the slices for 5 goudes.


Why are there "median tents?" Is it because of the limited space? How horrible. People risk their lives by tenting along a highway (or road) just to have a place to pitch their tent.

This is a really good question. A lot of the people before the quake were renting, so they didn't own any land. There is no reconstruction to speak of yet, so there's no places to rent now, and all these people who didn't own any land have nowhere to go.

I noticed most of the photos were of women and children. I guess this was because your trip focused on orphanages? The few photos of men showed them "waiting and thinking" on the side of the streets or just cooling off. Most of the women and young girls looked like they spent their busy days cleaning and preparing food. Although, one of the photos showed a man, seemingly proud, of his cart built with scavenged parts. I was thinking maybe that the men spent a good part of the time planning and being creative with what there is to work with.
I think in large part, since I visited the tent city several times during the day that the menfolk were probably out and about trying to scrounge up what they could for their families, so I mostly talked to and interacted with women and children. I do have more photos with men in them, but these were the 40 that I thought best depicted what I saw there. I will have to think about what you say though. I don't want it to seem gender biased.

I loved the photo of the kids playing Hot Potato. That brings back memories and it is refreshing to see how children can get such enjoyment from such a simple game. I was also impressed with children's clothes. I especially like the little dress the one girl had on.
The winner got to keep that ball. I thought the little church house shack they were in would literally come down on our heads, they were so excited and jumping around and it was just a big tarp on some sticks itself.


The donated feast was impressive. The display of food is beautiful. It seemed like there was so much thought put into the whole preparation and offering to the children. They must have really enjoyed it.
The meal was all prepared in those three kettles I showed in the picture prior to the feast. Those kids were so sweet. Not one kid ate a single bite as their food was being passed out. They each waited very patiently for their bowl. They weren't patient at all when they got to eat though. Big bites, big spoonfuls. Very very hungry children. They don't get to eat every day, and usually doesn't include all those nice things they had that day.

This orphanage has really fallen on hard times. They had been renting in Leogane but the quake destroyed their facility, then their sponsor lost his job. He was a Haitian man living and working in Canada. One month the checks just stopped. They haven't been able to get a new sponsor because things are so desperate, people just kind of look at it and say that's not an orphanage, it's just a couple tents, what are you running here?


The produce sold on the street looked so fresh, although very primitive in the way in was laid on cloths on the ground. Made me wonder where the produce came from and how the farmers were faring throughout this whole tragedy.
The produce is bought fresh every day. Most people cannot afford refrigeration on a regular basis, so they have no way to store leftovers. Preparing food is an almost all day task ... you go to the market, buy what you need, go home, pluck the chicken if you were so lucky as to be able to buy one (I mean that plucking literally!) and cook it all day long ... the coconut shredding you see in the picture is another lengthy preparation as they shred it fine to squeeze out all the juice.

Very few things in Haiti happen quickly. There was a lot of waiting, and it took a lot of patience of us impatient Americans to get used to this.


One other note, looking at the girl balancing the basket of produce on her head made me think that they must have much better posture than most of us. lol.

And.........love the curly hair. You look so cute!

Thanks for sharing your pictures with us, nightling! They are simultaneously distressing and uplifting. Distressing to see results of the the devastation, yet uplifting to see the wonderful work being done by people to help the children.

I know first-hand much more needs to be done--my gf is half-Haitian and her father's side of their family still live there. Luckily they managed to get through the earthquake safely and without significant damage to their homes or any injuries. Very lucky.

I agree with newbie40--you are a wonderful photographer, and your curly locks and no make-up are quite cute too!

Thanks again for sharing!

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Our world is a closed system. Those children I saw are not just children of Haiti with beautiful eyes and hungry bellies. They are the children of earth someday if we exhaust our soils, deplete our oceans and don't find sustainable, renewable solutions to enriching the soil and feeding people.

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Thanks Nightling...good report and pictures. Yes, unless we are able to reign in population we are facing some tough times (and decisions). Personally I don't think the world is going to last that much longer. Earthquakes are on the rise (the big ones), the earth is heating up, and other things that are going on. Water will become an issue very soon. It already is in some areas here on Maui. Drought conditions are getting worse here in the pacific (including Australia).

Traveling to third world countries helps you to appreciate what you take for granted here. Thanks again..