HAITI – A COUNTRY IN CRISIS
Posted on May 12, 2008 - Filed Under Charity, Edeyo, Nigel Barker Today, Personal Picts, Photography, Studio NB, Travel Shoots
About 6 months ago a party promoter, restauranteur, entrepreneur, Haitian and good friend of mine who goes by the name of Unik told me about his charity Edeyo over a cold pint of Guinness at D6 in the Meat packing district. Unik was born in Haiti and came to the USA over a decade ago and has been a big splash in the fashion/club/party scene ever since. We had become friends over the years so when he wanted to talk to me about his charity I was of course interested and intrigued.
Edeyo – which means “Help Them” is designed to do exactly that. The foundation is based in Port Au Prince with the fund raising based in NYC. He told me how desperate the situation in Haiti is and how he had set up Edeyo as a way to give back and help the country he loved.
The situation in Haiti has been troubled for many years with corruption at all levels, a serious drug problem, poverty effecting 95 percent of the population and hunger a constant issue. In fact in the time I had my first meeting with Unik and we planned our trip to Haiti, riots broke out in Port Au Prince over massive food shortages. The rioters attacked the Presidential Palace, driving a garbage truck through the front gates! The US Embassy warned us not to go to Haiti and postpone our trip. We called a meeting and decided to postpone. However the situation calmed and after speaking with a friend at the World Bank who just returned from Haiti and various Haitians at an Edeyo party we decided to go as planned. The US Embassy closed in Port Au Prince so if anything were to happen we were on our own……
My team consisted of Marcus Brooks (my first Assistant) Theo Stanley ( Our cinematographer) and myself. We were to meet Unik out there, he was traveling down the day before us to make sure everything was in place for the trip. We were a few short as a couple of people decided not to come out of the original group due to the situation – understandably.
When you fly in to Haiti the first thing you notice is vast deforestation from your airplane window.
On landing you see the United Nations Food depot and their look out tower which consists of 3 storage containers on top of one another with a look out post on top with a ladder leaned up against it for access! Driving from the airport to our hotel you can see that Port Au Prince had seen better times. The main boom in Haiti had been in the 1970s and there is little new construction. There looks like building construction is going on but in fact it is just housing in various states of collapse. The most striking thing to me was the total chaos that life seemed to entail in the capitol. There are literally people everywhere, in the middle of the streets, in the gutters, in the trash- everywhere. There is little to no employment opportunities and pretty much the entire population is below the poverty line.
As we had only limited time in Haiti it was important for us to visit the School Edeyo had built and the surrounding areas including Cité-Soleil ( the largest slum in Port Au Prince). It would have been nice to visit the beautiful beaches Haiti has to offer but our mission was to document the growing disaster in Haiti and show that with a little help charities such as Edeyo can offer a ray of hope and thus a future to the next generation of Haitians.
Our 3 days consisted of driving the length and breath of Port Au Prince. We were taken to a Voodoo church down a labyrinth of sewage strewn back alleys, to the largest cemetery in the capital where we needed an armed guard for protection, through Cité-Soleil which was beyond horrific, where every building was riddled in bullet holes and children played in the trash, to a cock fight run by gangsters and finally to the Edeyo School.
The School is literally a little heaven for these destitute children.
A small building freshly painted with the sound of singing and instruction wafting out the windows. Of course only a stone’s through away the streets are controlled by gangsters and hoodlums. The children who attend are a mixture of orphans and very poor kids ranging from 3 years old to 12 years old. Amazingly enough a couple could speak English, French and Creole and all were extremely well mannered. They get a rounded meal once a day cooked at the school and get school uniforms helping you to forget at least temporarily of the existence the majority of their peers live.
The purpose of our trip was to photograph and film the life of everyday people in Port Au Prince and to show with a little bit of help what a big difference a school like Edeyo’s can bring. As it is through education not just food relief that the people of Haiti can learn how to help themselves.
We will be having an exhibition of the photos I took and the film we made of our trip in the coming months so stay tuned for updates. Please feel free to visit
www.edeyo.org to read more about their mission and donate money.
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12 Responses to “HAITI – A COUNTRY IN CRISIS”
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Thanks for this Nigel, I think posting this is extremely important to get us off our comfort couches and be more aware of what’s happening out our little luxury of a window. Glad you and the crew made it just fine. Can’t wait to see more of those pics. Til then, will check out the org.
Thank you for these powerful images, Nigel. We can all appreciate your ability to bring awareness to worthwhile causes. If you ever travel to where I was born, Sydney Australia, it would be awe inspiring if someone like you could capture the essence of our multicultural identity and make us and the world aware of it- as a young woman with a British father and a Filipino mother, it hurts to see that we still have race riots when we lose sight of that vision.
The pictures are really inspiring. It really is an eye opener for someone who is really quite sheltered from the different sides of the world. glad you guys are ok
I am not sure how I landed on your blog, but I am glad to see that you are spreading the despair that is currently facing Haiti.
Both of my parents are from Haiti, and were fortunate enough to be able to leave Haiti in their early 20′s. Growing up, I was taken to Haiti many times to appreciate where my family was from, and to appreciate everything my parents were able to give me.
I haven’t been back to Haiti since I was 17 (almost 10 years ago..) but I try my best to stay current with the situations, and recently I know they are suffering with the prices of food rising so fast.
I think your pictures show the true honesty of my countrymen, happy people, yet suffering and I will do my best to share your blog with everyone I know. A small movement can make a lasting impression.
http://www.togetherforhaiti.org
omg.. u ran around Haiti with a medium format camera?? UR NUTS!! LOL
amazing pics anyways
wow, the realitty of this place is shocking, i hope.. some day… they could be better.. and every people help they.
Im chilean.. and my country try to help too ^^
!
Dear Mr.Barker,
Thank you for refusing to be lowered to lowest common denominator TV. Watching ANTM is a pleasure because it seems like (and I don’t know if this is true or not) it is one of the only “reality TV” shows that doesn’t engage in hysterical obnoxious exploitation, cheap sneers and giggles at the participants’ expense. So thank you for that.
I’ve read quite a bit of your blog. I note your interest in evironmentalism, as well as your passion for banning the seal-hunt. I would so strongly urge you to watch “Sharkwater” — it’s been out on DVD for awhile.
For both ecological and humanitarian reasons, I think Sharkwater is perhaps one of the most important films I’ve seen in a decade.
Everybody *gets* that baby seals need to be saved. Nobody (it would appear) seems to understand why Sharks need help. The brutality that you witnessed in the seal hunt is just as bad in the poaching of Sharks that is going on in the world. Millions of Sharks are butchered alive for their fins alone. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry. I had no idea until I watched this film.
I know it might seem like a joke — but I assure you, it’s not.
I never would have guessed it, until I watched the film and did some research. Sharkwater literally blew my mind, and I am not a militant animal rights activist by any stretch of the imagination. If Sharks are wiped out the way whales have been, we have no idea how incredibly damaging that will be to the health of the oceanic ecosystem which provides most of the oxygen that we breath.
Seriously… check out Sharkwater. Keep Saving the Seals, and helping the kids in Haiti. But Save the Sharks Too!
God bless
MCW
It is worth every effort to see the grateful kids do well. I recognize these initiatives for children in Suriname, the country where I am from. Please keep me informed about the exhibition.
Hi,
I’m always very glad to see&read that famous people also care about poverty and ecological issues.
About the sharks and seals: people often feel only for animals that look good, or are “popular” in this moment, but I think there are a lot more species than just seals and sharks, that would need help also.
Apart from that, thank you for nice photos and most of all, for calling attention to the Haitian poverty. Hope this will help improving their position…
Hello! I am so excited that you visited Haiti. I too along with my husband were in Haiti in the month of May. We were asked to visit a Mennonite mission. During our visit, I was asked to dress Mennonite with a head covering and plain dresses. I felt extremely unattractive. How humbling it was to dress in such a way. What my eyes seen while I was there was horrifying. Horrifying is the word. Hunger is real. I was personally begged to take a Haitian womens baby. Since or visit we were convicted to sell our second home on a lake (it sold in 1 day). We have brought an Haitian man in to stay with us. We are working to get him set up in an export company selling vanilla. While he was here he made a comment…..”People in the United States treat their animals better that children in Haiti are treated” While watching you on TV today you brought up you charities…..I was steaming when you mentioned the Humane Society, and my ears rang with the statement from our Haitian friend. Than you mentioned Haiti. Thank you.
I plead that someone with your influence, will support a mission in Haiti. We would be honored to start an orpanage. We have an 12 year old 501 (c) 3. As you experience the birth of your child think of all the little babies in Haiti that need help. God Bless.
Thanks for sharing this information. I am in the process of making some decisions on trying to help the children of Ayiti myself. I will probably get in touch with you and get some advice on how to go about it. I want to start in Jacmel.
this was awesome. I’m so glad many more people with influence are being interested in helping out for a worthy cause. God does answer prayers. Thank you Nigel for your dedication & commitment to making a difference in the Haitian communities and with the people who need hope for a better future.