Bay Area Photographers
#272
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Most were taken in the city of Port au Prince, the major city in Haiti and the ones of the school kids were taken at a private school set up by missionaries on the outskirts of the city...the compound, and everything there is a compound for safety reasons, is called Village of Hope. My dad, uncle, and I went down with a group from a church outside of Chicago that sends teams down about twice a year if they can afford it. I went not only to help out, but to take advantage of an absolutely amazing documentary opportunity. I'll tell you one thing...it makes you humble that's for sure. The one thing I simply will never forget is the smell and quality of the air. Imagine burning styraphoam, burning plastic, burning garbage, and extremely dirty diesel all mixed together and that's Haiti for ya. This is the best shot I got that can give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Notice the absolute mess of wires above head...everyone steals power by just tapping into the powerlines...consequently the power is only on for a set amount of hours each day...something like 2-4 per day. Haitian concrete consists of sand, water, and crushed rock, and those that can afford it might put a reebar skeleton in for support. Everything has about 12ft. high walls, of this lovely concrete, and again those that can afford it will put barbed or razor wire across the top to keep everyone out...those that can't cement broken glass on top. About three months before we were there(March '07) there were mass kidnappings and even murder squads roaming the streets, targetting specific individuals...hence the heavy UN presence. Brazilian Marines, Guatemalan Air Force, and I believe some Chinese Army as well, were all put in place to quell the uproar in violence.
Last edited by EndlessWaltz RS; 02-14-2008 at 02:39 PM.
#274
VIP Member
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Marin - www.PachecoRanchWinery.com
Posts: 1,888
Car Info: 00 BRP RS LIC'd 01 EJ207 + non DCCD 6 Speed
Thanks homie, I appreciate it. I worked hard to take shots that would show the truth about every day life down there...which is pretty horrible. What caught me completely off gaurd is how important personal appearance is to these people. If you were to take most of them out of Haiti and put them in any major city here in America...it would be difficult to pick them out as Haitians VS say a typical African American. Pressed slacks and crisp shirts man...but they live in what you could loosely call a shack.
Another thing I just remembered is an interesting comparison. Haiti's population is roughly the same as NYC, about 8.3 mil. NYC has about 45,000 police/security...Haiti has somewhere around 5,000.
Another thing I just remembered is an interesting comparison. Haiti's population is roughly the same as NYC, about 8.3 mil. NYC has about 45,000 police/security...Haiti has somewhere around 5,000.
Last edited by EndlessWaltz RS; 02-14-2008 at 02:48 PM.