Haiti

Ok, this is my last post on Haiti, and then I'll have it all out of my system. Well, I may never really have Haiti out of my system, but at least I'll stop blogging about it every day :) I just wanted to share with you some of my images from the rest of Haiti - outside the pension. The parts of Haiti that aren't supported by foreign donations...

As I mentioned a couple posts ago, HFC is situated in a rough neighborhood - Bolosse. The school and the pension are closed off from the neighborhood with guarded gates.


Even the kids who live directly next door, only get to peer in from over the barbed wire. This kid's house is actually above the fence, and I often found him looking over the wall watching the children playing. It made me sad. He can see these kids having fun, eating food, going to school - and he is kept at a distance. Maybe his family can't afford to send him to the school? Who knows? But I wonder what goes on in this kid's heart. Is he jealous? bitter? angry? Does he even care? Only God knows... but I know he watches these kids, a lot...


A few more scenes of the neighborhood, taken from inside the walls of the pension.




oh, I love how she's standing. her stance is so full of attitude.


this. is. haiti.


We wanted to go for a walk around the neighborhood to get a better picture of what it's like, but we had to wait until one of the men from the pension could escort us. (there's a very real danger of kidnapping in Haiti). So, we walked up this hill, and at the top was a garbage dump, of sorts. It was also a soccer field where the local kids play... The garbage is everywhere though. Everywhere.



This kid was playing up there, riding his bike around the dump. And he did NOT like me taking his picture...


We also got to tour one of the high-schools nearby. The school is on the property of a seminary that is loosely affiliated with the pension. This was one of the few places we could walk freely. It was a beautiful campus.


We found some boys in an empty classroom singing and playing instruments. They were happy to let us sit down and listen as they rehearsed for graduation. They were such sweet guys and they drilled us with questions about the US, and how it might be possible for them to get there. For each of them, and for many people in Haiti, the dream is to get to America. That's the only way they can see their life improving.



This school is also where the kids go for Sunday School before church. There are a bunch of other kids there, and a ton of people at the main church as well. It was cool going to church with them, but I did almost fall asleep ;) When you can't understand creole, it's a lot harder to pay attention! So, to stay awake, I took pictures of the cute kids...




But, there's more to Port-au-Prince than just Bolosse! Here are a few shots from our travels around the city...

The President's house. It was kind of crazy to see this in the middle of everything else...


local markets line many of the streets


And as I said, there's garbage everywhere. One of the big problems with this is that when it rains areas can flood because drains are filled with garbage. But one of the reasons flooding in Haiti can be so horrible is because there isn't good infrastructure to allow for drainage. There is just water everywhere, rushing in torrents down the street, and just everywhere. You can easily see why hurricanes that hit Haiti can be so devastating.


Yeah, this is a street we're trying to drive on. It gives new meaning to the idea of a traffic jam.


And the lovely tap-taps. The tap-taps are like a cross between a taxi and a bus - but the guys who drive them go all-out to make them unique. Each one seems to have a different theme, and often the music blaring out of them will go along with the theme. It was totally entertaining, but I never did get to ride in one...


A view of Port-au-Prince from the hilltop in Bolosse. You can see the President's mansion, and the football stadium, and the giant section of blue-ish concrete near the bottom is the cemetery - it's enormous.


This kid approached our car as we were stopped at the light and asked us for money. This kills me when I'm traveling because I know I can't give it to them without the car being mobbed, and so I can't give it to them at all. I apologized, but he was a little annoyed with me...


And this is one of my favorite shots. It is exactly what I think of when I think of Port-au-Prince. Miles and miles of concrete dwellings squished together, taking over every inch of space. The reality that I didn't get to see is that outside the city, where there's fewer people living in such tight space, it's very green and lush and beautiful. Maybe on my next trip to Haiti, I'll get to experience more of that...


And this last shot is one I took on the plane as we left.


Thank you to Hope For The Children for bringing me down to see and experience Haiti and the work you're doing there. I hope and pray that the images we captured will help you tell the story of your efforts, and of the children - and that God would use them to bless and increase your ministry.

HFC - The School

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I went to Haiti to document the work of Hope For The Children of Haiti. Their Mission is this: Hope for the Children of Haiti is called by God to give Haitian children, particularly orphans, the opportunity to become well rounded adults who are self sufficient in Christ. One of the keys to fulfilling this mission is giving these children a quality education. And so HFC has started a school that teaches not only the orphans who are part of the Pension, but many other local children as well. Here are some images from my time at the school...

When we first arrived at the school that morning, the kids were in the middle of recess, and were playing all over the place. And MAN do the they love the camera!!! I was instantly mobbed! Since I'm supposed to be documenting life at the school, I was getting a little frustrated because this was not a day in the life of the school - this was mob the photographer day :) But, come on, look at how cute they are! Who can stay frustrated for long?




Of course, not all the kids were interested...


Finally, recess was over and everyone went back to class.
This teacher was totally embarrassed that I was taking his picture (in fact, they all were), so I had to crouch outside the door and try to be incognito. Not too easy with my 80-200mm f/2.8 lens on, but it worked somehow :)



The girls taking rigorous notes on the Haitian Revolution


And one of the boys listening attentively


The little ones couldn't concentrate that hard. Nor could they see very well. We happened to show up the week the generator died, and there was no power at all during the day. Many of the classrooms, like this one, didn't have any windows and were almost pitch black. But, school continues...




These poor teachers! Every time I walked by the classroom, the kids went nuts trying to get me to take their picture. Kids were coming out into the hallway, getting out of their seats, and totally freaking out. It was a little funny, but the disciplinarian in me wanted to tell them to go sit back down and listen to their teachers! :)


A teacher going over homework in the light from the hallway since her classroom is windowless.


I love this shot of a teacher going through a book in class. There's something about the way she's holding the book and the pages that is just beautiful to me.


Lots of answering questions on the chalk board


even when there's no light to read your work...



Thankfully, the generator has since been fixed the kids have light to read by again! Lack of power in Port-au-Prince and the cost of running a generator is one of the MANY reasons that HFC needs your support!! If you can, please think or pray about supporting this important ministry, so these kids can get a good education and grow up to be self-sufficient adults that make an impact on the future of Haiti!

HFC - Life at the Pension

Here's a little peak at life at the Pension (that's what they call an orphanage in Haiti)...

They have two main buildings. The main building is the school, girls' dorm, and space for another adoption agency. The other building is across the street - it's the boys' dorm, and it's called Woodworth's House (I can't remember who Woodworth was and why they named the house after him...). Here's a view of the boys' house, from the main building. It was laundry day :)


I found this hanging on the wall in the girls' room. It was incredibly humbling to think of how much this passage must mean to the girl who tacked it on her wall, and how much I have to learn about it's meaning...


A regular ritual of braiding each other's hair.


One of the most difficult parts of the trip for me was visiting the babies from the adoption agency. It's comforting to know that almost all of them will get adopted, most by American or European families. But, seeing their life as it is now... was heartbreaking.


These babies sit in their cribs all day. all. day. There's a woman in the corner of the room "watching" them, but mostly sitting around. These kids are sitting in wet diapers, stimulating themselves by banging their heads on the mattress, and some seem to have given up and just lay there. The teenage girls from HFC like to play mommy and come get some of the babies a couple times a day - but they don't take all of them, just the ones they like. I got a few out of their crib and played with them, but I couldn't take them all out, and it killed me. If you're even thinking of adopting a child - please consider adopting a child from Haiti or another 3rd-world country. This is the alternative until a family comes along to care for them...


Some of the toddlers from the same agency. It cracks me up that a 3-year-old is braiding the younger one's hair! Most 3-year-olds can't tie their shoelaces, how are they gonna braid hair?!


This is one of the little ones from the agency. She followed me around all over the Pension. She wouldn't let go of my leg, or stop touching my camera, and was just always there. She's pretty cute, huh? I had to try really hard not to bring her with me...


One of the fabulous cooks at the girls' dorm. I'm not exactly sure what she's making there, but I do know that I had to eat it. If you know me at all - you know I'm very picky. A bowl full of mush is not my idea of dinner. But, it's all they had, and they shared it with me. And I ate it, gratefully.


The view from the dorm. This is practically all these kids see of their community. They live in a really bad neighborhood - very dangerous and violent. They are fiercely protected, and therefore don't get to play out in the streets or spend time with neighbors. But, they are safe...


This is what teenagers look like at Sunday School... a little bored, and trying not to get in trouble for talking :)


Dinner at the boys' dorm


The boys' house-mother



One of the beautiful things about the kids at HFC is that they really are a family. A gigantic family of 60 kids, but a family nonetheless! I love this picture of Wislandy, the youngest girl with her arm around one of her big brothers. It just tells you so much about these kids.


Next up, a look at the school at HFC!