My time in Haiti |NWA children’s photographer | MJW Photography Blog | Northwest Arkansas Modern Photography | Rogers, AR
December 9, 2010Posted in children, personal, travel
This is Port Au Prince, Haiti. Beautiful isn’t it?
This was the view from my bedroom’s balcony. Notice how little forest is actually on that gorgeous mountainside? In the 90’s they deforested most of the land for money not realizing that it would never grow back. Since there is nothing left when it rains all the good soil gets washed away.
We had a team of 8 that went over to work on some construction. We had help from some really nice Haitian men along with our fabulous translators. I love those guys! This image below is what we worked on. It will be 1 of 2 new dorms for 28 orphan children to sleep in. The children have been sleeping in tents outside because they are too afraid to sleep inside the main house with the concrete ceilings ever since the 7.0 earthquake hit last January. Bunk beds will go inside the dorms and will sleep 2 children per bed, 4 per bunk bed. The new roof is metal instead of concrete. They will be able to place buckets on the ground around the dorm to collect clean rain water to use.
One of the problems Haiti had when the earthquake hit was that much of the structures were built with poor quality cinder blocks. You could literally pinch the corners and watch it crumble in your hands. The blocks we used are made of an earthquake resist material that will stand up much better.
I loved the way we got to travel around. The truck we all piled into had bench seats in the back. Driving down the mountain side, breathing in truck fumes as we went, swerving in and out and all around…ahhh good times. The Haitian women would carry buckets that had to weigh 50 pounds full of coal around on their heads. It was amazing to see. I wish I could have gotten a close up image of that, but when your barreling down the street and swerving around people it can be a bit tricky. 😉
Rudy, our driver, really was a good driver…by Haiti standards. 🙂
These sweet girls live at the orphanage we built at. They adored seeing what they looked like on my camera. I’ve never seen a child’s eyes light up so much in my life!! They wanted me to photograph their baby dolls too. You can’t imagine how hard it is to just leave each day knowing your going to sleep in a home, take a hot shower and fill your belly up.
These next two shots really get me. That a little girl has to grow up so fast and take care of another…and doesn’t complain about it. It’s hard to come home and not get frustrated when your children are nagging you for toys or fighting with each other. It’s a fine line. The little boy on the right was having a ball with the water. He wanted me to just follow him around and take pictures of everything he was doing, making sure I got some with his friends as well. 🙂
These children have no toys. At all. What they do have is each other and their imaginations.
These guys worked so hard building. They were not going to leave their without those walls finished!
This shot of the little boys was actually one of the first clicks off my camera. It still amazing me how little they have and how happy they can be. They love unconditionally. Complete acceptance.
We also did a couple medical clinics at two other orphanages. We were originally going to set up somewhere where the regular public could also come, but with the election going on riots were an issue.
Dr. Faddis was amazing. You can tell he loves people and wants to help as much as possible.
This woman is pregnant and brought her ultrasound…which was in French. One of our translators, Jean Phillipe, was helping him figure out what it said. Jean Phillipe loves his country and wants to become a nurse so he can help more. He is a wonderful man and I can’t wait to go back and see him again.
‘Bella’ in creole means Beautiful. That is all I can think of when I look at this young girl below. She is stunning.
being a boy is an international language. 🙂 🙂
