101 Things To Do Before You Graduate Living In History ... - Alumni

she cleans them in some dirty river in PAP and I half
expect to see my clothes drying in one of the IDP
camps I’m shooting!
… A school director I met took me to his school
that collapsed; he wants to build a new one (there
are no schools anymore) so I took his picture and got
a list of everything he needs. He has found a place to
rebuild. I’m going to raise money for him to do this.
There are no prisons and all 4000 prisoners
escaped, so the police are shooting people, or at
least shooting them in the hand to punish them for
looting and robbing, etc. … The best is that the police
steal from the looters! I’ve witnessed it. Already
escaped prisoners are starting to run certain neighborhoods.
Everywhere I go people tell me how NGOs
drop off food and as soon as they leave the Zenglendo
(Creole for bad guys) come out with guns and
steal all of it and give it to their own families … there
are people shooting and robbing people downtown.
The smell of dead bodies is dissipating, but you
still get a good strong whiff every now and then.
The mass graves that I shot a couple weeks ago were
horrendous, but then at the same time they weren’t
even humans to me. I don’t mean to be dramatic, but
that’s how I felt. I was actually listening to U2 with
headphones as I shot it. A surreal moment for sure,
but it is all surreal.
My friend, photographer Marco Di Lauro, who
I have been spending a lot of time with, has introduced
me to a bunch of photographers … They have
all been very sweet to me and actually realize that
they need me. I should start a business “fixing” for
photogs in Haiti. I give so much information out
about everything because I know this place so well …
Bill Clinton was here last Friday with our beloved
Paul Farmer, which I shot …
I’ve seen more dying, starving children … The
American doctors don’t know what to do. They are
giving them Pedialite, but that’s all they can do. And
of course when they find out I work for the UN they
Left to right, top to bottom: At the Handicap International
prosthetic clinic in downtown Port-au-Prince, amputees
are fitted with new legs and taught how to walk again.
A new campsite, Santos 17, with tents provided by the
disaster relief charity Shelter Box, was set up by the International
Organization for Migration (IOM), the Dominican
Civil Defense, and the Civil Defense Directorate to provide
shelter for about 1,400 people.
School in a Box opened on Monday, February 15, with
306 students in attendance at the IDP (Internally Displaced
Persons) camp at La Centre Sportif in the sprawling
slum of Carrefour. UNICEF partnered with the Danish Red
Cross to provide two large tents along with desks to be
used as temporary elementary schools. Teachers trained by
the Red Cross work with traumatized children.
People in the slum of Cite Soleil line up for a food and
water distribution from the World Food Programme.
Two young girls help with the removal of rubble at what
used to be the Petionville market in Port-au-Prince.
A couple pose outside of their new home; 194 families
(about 4,000 people) resettled into a site in Croix-des-
Bouquets that IOM, Shelter Box, and the Dominican Civil
Defense built and maintain.
ask me to help save these children and what the hell
can I do? Nothing. I’m sure this sounds bleak, and it
is, but food distributions have picked up in the last
3 or 4 days, and UNICEF along with ACTED has been
installing water bladders in the camps … xxooo
2/10/10
Dear Fam – The tremors are weaker and weaker, I’ve
actually gotten so used to them that I don’t even
feel them … Confirmed with Michelle, my new boss,
today that I’m going to Santo Domingo for three
nights next week/weekend … plan on lying in bed for
three days and ordering room service (with an emphasis
on veggies, I have had the equivalent of one
tomato and a handful of lettuce since I’ve been here,
and for those of you who have eaten with me, you
know that that’s not acceptable!), swimming in the
pool, and of course taking many hot, clean showers.
I might move into Gaelle’s place because she has
an extra bedroom; by MINUSTAH rules I must not
live anywhere in PAP because they are sure that
there will be another devastating quake. I need to
be sane in order to work and therefore need a bed, a
hot shower, and real food. It has been cleared by Canadian
engineers as being safe to live in. It’s in Paco
near the Palais. But little by little, it gets better.
2/11/10
Hi dad – I have my new BB and I’m in heaven. On my
way to Jacmel to shoot two stories. … Lots of armed
gangs again, and huge demonstrations. Ran into a
gang checkpoint yesterday (if you can call it that;
more like they want to stop you and rob you), my
moto driver was scared but I’m calm in these situations,
so I started joking around with them, and one
of them recognized me from 2004! He was thrilled to
see me and told me how he escaped from the prison
during the earthquake then gave me his phone# and
told me to call him if I have any problems. Love it!
This means I can work freely in Bel Mir anyway. All
makes me chuckle. Xxxooo
3/6/10
Dear Fam – Haiti is transitioning again into partial
cleanup mode; rains have started and camps are
turning into mini-slum cities. And suddenly the UN
has reorganized itself. Peacekeepers are patrolling
again and doing a lot of work to clean debris, provide
medical aid, feed people, etc. So there are all sorts of
things to shoot. We also resumed regular helicopter
service to all the regions so now I can travel and
shoot stories outside of PAP. I just completed two assignments,
one from UNDP [United Nations Development
Programme] and one from the International
Postal Union in Geneva. Feedback from both editors
was very positive and they want to “hire” me in the
future to shoot assignments for them — FINALLY!
Which brings me to: I resigned from my post in
NY yesterday and I am officially a MINUSTAH staff
member. I have an FS5 post, which is better than
what I had when I left here in 2007. I have a temporary
post for 3 months. They may want to keep me…
I am supporting a lovely family whom I met
through a UNDP assignment. Marie Jose lost her
husband and daughter, but has her grandchildren
and three other kids to look after. They live on the
street, and she works for the Cash for Work program,
which gives 180 Gourdes per day to men and women
to clean the street. It’s a nice project.
Marie Jose has been supporting her whole block
on her salary. I spent four days with her family and
just fell for them all. I am having “dinner” with them
under their tarp tomorrow. Her daughter is giving
me Creole lessons in exchange for English and MJ
is cooking dinner for us … She insists on feeding me
whenever I’m around and won’t take money. But I’ve
given them money for tents, clothes, and food (after I
was done with my assignment, of course!).
MJ is a very talented singer and dancer and has
a beautiful presence; I’m just blown away by this
woman and her resilience and determination to not
give up and to do anything she can for her family.
xoxoxooxox
Postscript, May 6, 2010
My first 33 days in Haiti after the earthquake
is a blur to me now. I have never
felt exhaustion, both physical and
emotional, so intensely in my life. I am
still in shock that my beloved little Haiti experienced
something so devastating. This is the first time that
I have seen both the elite and the poor suffering simultaneously,
with the loss of homes and loved ones
across the socio-economic plane, and this is very
significant. In a country where two percent of the
population holds 90 percent of the wealth, and there
is virtually no middle class and no public education
system, everything is disproportionate.
I have always been amazed by the ability of the
Haitian people to create homes, musical instruments,
transportation, artwork, or children’s toys out
of nothing. Now, they have maintained their dignity
in the face of utter chaos. Watching people scavenge
for metal rods in collapsed buildings to ingeniously
build homemade wheelchairs for the thousands
of amputees, I am simply blown away. Instead of
waiting for a solution to fall from the sky, people
are proactively finding a way to move on with life.
Sometimes it brings me to tears, but more often
than not, it forces me to engage in a reality that, as
extreme and intense as it is, I’m in love with.
The debris is slowly being removed and new
“settlement camps” are being built for the homeless
to move into before the heavy rainy season begins.
Schools have re-opened in the IDP camps, some in
makeshift tents made of a stick with a bedsheet over
it, the lucky ones in large tents and with school materials
from UNICEF and Oxfam — and they are all
tuition free. The Haitian people are emerging with
a greater hope for their country — so culturally rich,
with so much potential — than ever before. My work
here is sustained by these people who are tougher
than hell.
Editor’s note: See more of Paris’s photos from Haiti
and read about her photographic roots at www.
colgatealumni.org/scene.
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