haiti - unexpected

i think in snippets.  when i photograph, it is a snippet.  a definition of beauty in the moment.

a snippet of haiti.    

as i started my journey i knew that i was going to see despair, destruction and desolation.  i prepared to be heartbroken.  sure.  i read all the blogs.  i read every news article to be found.  i listened to those that live in haiti.  i listened to those that had travelled there.

but what i found unexpectedly, was hope.  and love.  everywhere. 

on the plane ride home a woman asked me what i saw in haiti?  what i would take away?  what was the most important thing?  and i answered, hope.  she scoffed at me.  she said, you think those people have hope?  what is there to be hopeful for.  and i thought to myself...she didn't see what i saw.

i will never be able to understand haiti.  it is complex.  i will never understand what it takes to climb out of the rubble.  there is post traumatic stress.  there is desperation and depression.  on a magnified scale.  there are stories needing to be told.  there is fear.  there is unimaginable sadness.  i saw that.  i heard it.  i smelled it.  but i know that just the fact that people climb out of the rubble means they have something to live for.  if there wasn't hope in haiti, no one would have survived.  there is life there.  people working.  people surviving.  a new son.  a new house.  art. iron.  markets.  conversations.  connections.  futures being built.  and progress.

flowers always find their way around obstacles.  turning their faces to the light.  surviving.  growing.

a snippet of haiti.