For more photos visit www.alisonwright.com Documentary/Haiti

or

http://archive.alisonwright.com/c/alisonwright

I’ve covered the aftermath of the tsunami and Katrina, yet nothing has come near the devastation I witnessed in Haiti. Quite honestly, until this happened, it was never even on my radar to go to Haiti. I really knew nothing about the people or the country, except for the random tales violence and kidnapping, overshadowed by a corrupt government. Now, this is place I can’t shake, burrowed deep under my skin.

A lot has been said about the resiliency and the tenacity of the Haitian people, and that is what really struck me to the core. Their infectious smiles and graciousness despite the unimaginable hardships they’ve endured, is truly humbling. These are a people who have had a lot of practice-surviving hurricanes, floods, an economy where seventy-eight percent of the population earns two dollars a day, and now a devastating earthquake that has literally rocked the nation. This country, with half its population brimming with children, has been brought to its knees, and these people of unwavering faith have taken advantage of the position to fall to the ground in prayer.

I couldn’t come back from photographing a project like this and not try to do something to help. Over a million people have lost their homes and been displaced, forcing them to live in the streets under flimsy tarps and tents. Many think the Haiti story is over now that it’s off the front-page news, but for so many the nightmare is just turning worse. Heavy rains are making their way in. With thousands of people living on top of each other disease is spreading; typhoid, TB, malaria. Many have had amputations in primitive medical tents, and then are sent home. Only, they have no home to go to, and infection sets in from living openily in the streets.

My initial project in Haiti is to help supply tents. I am partnering with a non-profit organization to bring them in, with  locals on the ground who are doing an organized job of setting up communities of 150 tents each. $100 will buy a family tent. I urge you to please donate to this cause. Thank you.