My most recent roommate Benjamin Myers, a freelance photographer in Washington, D.C., said that he sometimes feels a little guilty about making photographs of all the suffering and tragedy that we’ve encountered here. There are hungry people just a 10-minute walk away, and some of those who were seriously injured may not have a strong chance of pulling through to a full recovery. A new generation of amputees has emerged, along with thousands of orphaned and displaced Haitians added to the ranks. People will continue to live in tents (or on the streets of Port-au-Prince) for a very long time and the state of shock that many find themselves in may take years to subside – if ever. No one will ever really trust buildings here again and their relationship with the very ground they walk on will forever be different. People need real things immediately and they need their lives back, so I understand Benjamin’s concern.

Just yesterday, I had a young woman in one of the smaller tent cities respond to my request for a photograph by saying, “I need food, I don’t need pictures”. Being the subject of an, out-of-the-blue, photojournalist was definitely not on her ”to do” list for the day. I was feeling her. But I also understand the long-term impact of imagery. And I’ve seen the effects of a well-told, powerful story. Every journalist sent here, or those who came on their own, was here to bear witness - and this was not a simple story. The scale is too large and the layers run fathoms deep. But the word had to go out. It’s kicked most of our butts and I think it really made us question our own professional beliefs concerning commitment to a cause that we cover, empathy towards a subject and our own personal involvement. This was a time for human responsibility. It was too significant an event to keep up the glass wall - at least from where I sit. Haitians are some of the most resilient people that I’ve ever met, and if any group can get past this level of catastrophe it will be them. Judging by the worldwide out-pouring of help, they won’t be doing it alone and that’s a very fine thing.

I said in my previous entry that the “Haitian people don’t need your prayers…(read it for the context)”. I’ll amend that a bit, because sometimes prayer is all folks have to work with. And after spending two weeks watching people survive in the most extreme situations possible, sometimes faith is what gets you through. I suppose that prayer has a lot to do with that. But there’s another type of faith, and it’s not the fatalistic or religious type. It’s the type that says, “I’m going to make it regardless, against any odds. This life will work for me and I’ll be the one to kick in”. That type of faith has been demonstrated here to me everyday. Peace to all.

dmb

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 10:56 pm and is filed under Haiti. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.