Haiti, Port-au-Prince

It was clear from the start of this project that Haiti wasn’t going to be an easy country to visit. And that was even before the 2010 devastating earthquake. A challenge to take a Streets photo deserving of this strong, friendly and resilient people that somehow always seems to draw the short straw.

Dutch Red Cross Red Crescent
It wouldn’t be a very smart idea to walk the downtown streets of Port au Prince alone, with a big camera and a white skin. It still is a huge squatter town. Although the people that live here came from all walks of life before the earthquake, it’s just not a safe place to be if you don’t know anybody.

This is why I contacted the Dutch Red Cross Red Crescent. I told them about Streets and offered them to photograph their projects in return for some help with taking the Streets photo of Port au Prince. They liked the idea very much. So I went to Haiti to see for myself. And I saw much.

When I arrived it was just before carnival. I thought that would be a good idea because I want to show positivity in the Streets photos. After I arrived it turned out that carnival was about the most dangerous time to go downtown. So I had to postpone taking the photo and went to the different projects first. The Dutch Red Cross Red Crescent, together with the Haitian Red Cross is involved in several projects, which, after a very tough start, are running really well now. I had a look and photographed their water sanitation, cholera and HIV projects.

And then I met Rosena...
Rosena became a totally different story during this trip. Everything you want to know about her and the small foundation I set up for her you can find at my journal about the Rosena Life Project. I ran out of time so I had to move on to the rest of the Caribbean. I decided to return to Haiti at the end of this trip making it the last country of the American continent for Streets. When I returned by the beginning of April 2012 things had become more quiet. I started driving around with RCRC driver Jean Baptiste through the center.

It wasn’t easy to really walk around because Jean Baptiste didn’t want to hang around in one place to long. And with good reason. However we did find an interesting street corner where a family was frying chicken, or that’s what we thought it was, in front of their small hut. The had been living in it since the quake, frying their chicken and waiting for the return to a real house and the normal life they used to know.

Madame Poulle
After talking somewhat and being offered some of the chicken, which I shouldn’t have taken, we became friendly and I was allowed to take photos. The next day I asked Madame Poelle, as we called her now, if I could also make a short film about her and her family, because it turned out that this was the last day they would be frying chicken there. The next day, after two years, they were moving from this place! Finally ending their life on the pavement.