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Haiti Day 11 and 12

I will keep this collection of photos updated constantly here.

A nurse here was telling a story of when she went grocery shopping with pastor, and how she was going from aisle to aisle picking out things she needed. He was standing at the edge, talking to employees, pointing at his watch and bored out of his mind.
Nurse: It was so funny.
Pastor: Funny? It’s funny? I don’t understand. When I need peanut butter, I go to the aisle with peanut butter and I walk to the cashier and then I leave.

Me: You did a good thing, giving that newborn a safe place to stay tonight
Pastor: The baby was born yesterday, how could I not?
Me: That was very pastoral of you
Pastor: I know pastors, I don’t want to do what they do, they would not do these things. If Jesus was here though, he would help them. So I will do what Jesus would do not pastors.

Sunday was a true sabbath. I did nothing but sleep, eat and read books. It was excellent. Chris is trying to recover from some sickness on Saturday and I just did what he did by lying in bed and enjoying the rest.

Today was a pretty busy day and I’m exhausted. We woke up early and went and picked up Rachel and the team. So for all you readers who really care nothing about me but love my wife; she is here, safe and sound and already making people like her more than me. As soon as we brought her back, Chris and I jumped in a Tap Tap (what they call their taxis) and drove to the airport. We got a release form from ShelterBox, left the airport and went to a massive UN warehouse where there was craploads of supplies there and loaded up a bunch of ShelterBoxes into our truck. The warehouse was a bit much. There were so many supplies and things that we needed and we had to just leave when we got what we were allowed to take. Every part of me wanted to grab the blankets, and food, and medical supplies and bring them to our sites so people would be taken care of. This picture is only one of many, many warehouses that are all over full of supplies and aid that is ready to go out.

UN Warehouse

We have to go back tomorrow to pick up the rest of the ShelterBoxes because our truck could only pick up 18 of them. If it is too noticeable that you are carrying something of value then there is a good chance you will get looted (do you really blame them?). So we took what we could bring and cover up and we will get the rest tomorrow.

The first ShelterBox from our batch was setup tonight, in the dark. A lady who lives in the tent city out front of Martinez’s house had a baby yesterday and she had no safe/dry place to be with her child. So we setup a tent and she moved right in. Some nurses tried to bring her some stuff tonight to make sure she was comfortable but were told they could not come in the tent. It turns out that there is a Haitian tradition that you can’t see newborns at night because it will give them stomach cramps. So they left the supplies and came inside. The newborn and their mother are outside in their tent sleeping right now. To all you hippie moms out there, how does this fit into your understanding of being born into familiar surroundings? Crazy right?

Rachel is planning on keeping track of the trip from her point of view also, so I will post her posts on here. She also brought her own camera, so she’ll be able to take some shots also.

Boy at Service

Old Man Waiting

Cute Haitian Girl

Boy Against Wall

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2 thoughts on “Haiti Day 11 and 12”

  1. Hi Nathan,

    Very moving shots.

    I’m curious about how you approach taking photos in this situation. Do you feel the need to ask permission of the subject? Do you have concerns about it?

    1. Ya, honestly, I kept my camera in my bag the first few days. The Haitians I am with were taking more video and pictures than I was and actually asked me to take photos of some things.

      Any close ups, I ask them before with my broken french, and in all cases it was in happy circumstances (church service, in the playground etc).

      I do not think I could be a photographer journalist type, in taking pictures of tragedy, id too quickly drop my camera and do what I could.

      Most of the far away shots (the man against the wall, the man win chair with head down) are actually drivebys, we are pretty busy so a lot of my picture taking is from the car.

      I almost didn’t bring my camera, because I didn’t want to be another photographer here, but I am doing my best to show whatever respect I can and put their needs in front of me needing any pictures.

      There are a bunch of shots that I gave my camera to some children and let them shoot, hopefully I can do a post later of their shots.

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