I was walking through a market in Saint Marc, Haiti. It was a small one with some fruit stands, a knife grinder and a few other stands. The typical sounds of traffic, mixed with the sound of people was in the air. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw him. Immediately I knew something was different. He was touching the wall towards the door of his house. Some days later we passed by his house again, knocked at the door and were invited to enter a man's life whom I will never forget - Ernest.
That is the beginning of a story that deeply moved us on our outreach in Haiti. We were a photogenX DTS on our outreach to Haiti.
The Mission
Our heart was to look beyond what we know as Haiti - a failed state full of poverty where reconstruction happens very slowly - if it happens at all. We wanted to look for beauty in this country - and we wanted to show that unseen beauty to Germans back home where we come from.
Equipped with our camera, a little notebook and a pencil we went on the streets in Gonaives, Saint Marc and Port-au-Prince.
Children
The Haitian kids surprised us with incredible creativity. Out of trash they made cars, little kites, swings - toys they could play with. They were spending hours making each other new hairstyles every day.
However some of those children already had a story to tell like old veterans of the world wars could tell their grandchildren. In the earthquake they lost their family, their homes, everything they could hold on to. Now they have to rely on themselves in a world were children count for little!
But in all that they do not lose their creativity and dreams.
English Club, Hip-Hop, Backpacks...
We got to know a young guy who once was lucky enough to know a seaman who, whenever his ship was in harbor, taught him some English. Now that his English is pretty good he wants to be such a "seaman" for other people. He founded a club to help others speak English. A group of 15 to 30 people now meets every sunday in a school building to speak only English.
His friend loves music and does some astonishingly good Hip-Hop. Now he is working on his first album.
We also met another guy who one day had the idea of making backpacks out of plastic sacks. He took normal backpacks as a model and tried to imitate them in order to learn how they were made. That was almost 8 years ago.
Today he is producing all kinds of stuff like wallets, caps, shoes, pants or raincoats. His range of products grew with the business. Now he has several friends working for him selling the things, and when he got connected to the local YWAM base a whole new market -"the white people" from teams going in and out - opened up to him.
Although they do not have the great opportunities we have in our world, they hold on to their dreams and try to realize them even if they seem impossible.
Especially in older people you could see a attitude of "no matter what there is - we will not give up" . They had to deal with earthquakes, hurricanes, civil wars and other - also personal - catastrophes. I for myself would have given up beginning all over again and again. But they seem to never do so.
Ernest
We met this guy Ernest, a car mechanic, who went blind five years ago. With no help and nobody who could teach him how to live as an amaurotic he started by himself to figure out how to walk, orientate, know what time it is. He just did not give up.
"it is all the grace of God!"
After three years he was able to go out of his house for the first time again. He lives in four walls without a roof which a storm destroyed. A metal bed frame with a wooden board on it, his bed, is all the furniture he has.
Being asked where he gets his strength from to keep finding ways to live he simply answered: "People think I am a strong man, but I am not - it is all the grace of God!"
Tour through Germany
We told stories like that on our tour through Germany for two weeks to show people the "other side" of a country everybody "knows" about.
With the money that has been spent for Haiti during that time, even without us asking for it, we are able to help Ernest to build a roof on his house. But we also sold calendars we had produced - one focusing on kids, as they are the future of what Haiti will look like, and one portraying the country in a broader way. With the the money we got and still get from selling the calendars we can support several projects we got to know while we were in Haiti.
That is what phototgenX is about: being a voice for the voiceless.