The Face of Haiti

Miami, FL:  Where do you see beauty?  This is a question I’ve been asking myself all week. I was invited, along with 12 other like-minded folks, to join our friends, Beth & Curt, in a creative adventure.  The sweet couple has been living in Haiti for about 4 months and is working on an endeavor called the Haiti Water Project.   In essence, the goal is to provide clean water resources to this third world country, since there is very little to none available or accessible. But another underlying idea is to show the world the beauty of Haiti.

One major challenge of this seemingly simple task is that people’s perception of Haiti is very, very negative.  Anything written about Haiti almost always has the words "the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere" tacked on to the end of it.   So, Beth & Curt's idea was to have people find creative ways (via photographs, writings, video, etc.) to capture the beauty of this often forgotten and always misunderstood country.

Whether traveling through the downtown slums of Bel Air (ironically named, dontcha think?), the beachside community of Jacmel and the artisan haven of Croix-des-Bouquets (Wyclef Jean’s hometown!), I found the common thread that binds the country together: the faces of Haiti.  Nothing can distract the eye more from the mounds of trash lining the streets and the colorful tap taps transporting Haitians around the rough, unpaved roads of the country than the unbelievable clear and smooth skin of a Haitian child or the strong and determined Haitian women carrying POUNDS of food and supplies in buckets on their heads.

Through a haze of beauty and filth, hope and despair, seclusion and chaos, I was able to capture some of the faces of Haiti and tried to focus on God in the eyes right in front of me.

Here are some of those extraordinary faces....