In April, as part of a series of photo essays I'm doing, I made my way to Haiti for the recent Haitian Senatorial elections.
When I mentioned Haiti to friends, colleagues and travel agents, the universal response was "what?!?!?!". But I completely understood this reaction. I was worried myself. Haiti is thought to be a place where kidnappings are de rigueur. It's widely believed If your ride from the airport didn't show up on time, you might just be 'disappeared'. Given all of the talk of danger, I started to have nightmares of having my throat slit by the flight attendant as I deplaned.
So I made out a will. I took out all sorts of exotic insurance policies that I cannot discuss without risking them being voided. I signed up for a medical evacuation service and got prescriptions for Malarone and Azithromycin.
First, let me get this out of the way. Haiti is sad, yes. Desperate, yes. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and it shows. If you are Haitian and under five years old, you are more likely to die than if you were born anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. If you are a woman, you are more likely to die giving birth here than anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. If you are Haitian, there's a 50/50 chance you can't read or write. If you are Haitian and you die, there's a 50/50 chance what killed you was a water-borne illness. One of the leading causes of death in Haiti is diarrhea. The nation's children have it the worst: 98 percent of Haiti's children don't finish secondary school; thousands of Haitian children become victims of human trafficking every year; and 19,000 children in Haiti currently live with HIV/AIDS.
But that is only one part of the story. The other is that the country is stunning and Haitians are incredible people. It's nowhere near as apocalyptic as people make it out to be. In fact, for experienced travelers who understand the risks, caveats and cautions - it's a great place to see.
Haiti's proximity to the U.S. (only an hour-and-a-half from Miami) provides a compelling case for engaging programs and policies that can make life-saving differences to the men, women and children I met. They are, literally, our neighbors. There are nations everywhere that need help, but compared to a nation across the ocean, the cost of supporting our close neighbors is minimal. Haitians who are lucky enough to have a job earn the equivalent of $600 a year. As you can imagine, it doesn't take much to make a significant impact on the wider community.
Not that there aren't obstacles. Government corruption can prevent real, beneficial change from happening (things such as education, electricity and basic health care). The wrong kinds of "charity" render people apathetic and don't galvanize the population to help themselves. And a lack of long-term stability means a lack of foreign investors.
That's why it's important to at least start neutralizing the stigma and fear. While it's not going to be the most attractive choice for Caribbean tourism, Haiti is also not the abyss. Far from it.
My photos from the Haitian elections can be seen at www.jeffantebi.com but I want to point out that they are not good 'tourism' images. They are dramatic.
I'm currently in Afghanistan photographing the elections here.
Follow Jeff Antebi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeffantebi
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When we continue to say that life in Haiti is bad, sad or dangerous, there is little possibility for people in Haiti to shift out of their circumstances. When we continue to write "the poorest country…” the world keeps getting that AS THE TRUTH. No room for Haiti to be anything else, and it’s just bad writing.
You say, "It's a great place to see." I’d have said, "It's a great place to BE." If one desires to connect with what's really important about human life, or is interested in a vacation that could transform the experience of being alive, Haiti is a good trip to plan. Our organization Kledev has a guesthouse in Port au Prince for that.
Part of my personal mission is to have the world speak and write about Haiti in new ways, so people there have the opportunity to be recognized and accepted for their greatness, as opposed to being viewed only to live in their circumstances.
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My country is sure not perfect, and PAP like any big cities is hell on earth, but believe me, beyond that hell we have some paradises left that are visited and touched only by the locals.
If those things were fixed, it meant that there would be more tourism investments, more diaspora Haitians would be willing to come back home to do business, and there would not be what they called kidnapping in Haiti.
Haitians in the dispora should also be encouraged to visit their homeland and assist where they can.Any small endeavor can go a long way.As the Tibetan saying goes, it is better to light a candle however small, than to curse the darkness.
What I saw in Haiti, I will never forget.Eve
But despite the hardships, there is resilience, smiles, and hope in the people.
Also, is it really necessary to let us know that they aren't "good "tourism" images"?; that they are dramatic? You think we can't figure that out ourselves?
i have 2 children adopted from PAP. i've been 3 times, but fell in love with the country and its people on my first trip in 2004.
yes, the place is grim and it is shameful that a country less than 200 miles off our coast is in such dire straits, but the haitians i've met in portland and PAP have changed my life. nothing will slap you with a little perspective like a trip to haiti.
it's funny you talk about being scared. i've travelled all over the world, but i'm always smart and cautious in my travels, but even though there is always a travel advisory against haiti i've never hesitated when it was FINALLY time to go.
actually, i'm more afraid of the horrible american employees at our embassy with their pathetic power trips!!!
obviously haiti is not a relaxing vacation destination----to those people whose cruise ships have stopped in "haiti", you've never been to haiti-----but i HIGHLY recommend a volunteering vacation. we will defintely travel their several times when they are older.
i know haitians who went to school under a tree who are better educated than most of us are---seriously!!!!
do yourself a favor and learn something about haiti. they actually helped us settle this great country of ours, and now THEY need OUR help so let's get to it!!!!!
Elect educated leaders with strong political and corporate experience.
Allow haitians living overseas especially in the U.S. to participate in their elections.
Eliminate barriers to entry in their economy.
Haiti only has moms and pops hotels, they don't allow the big chain hotels.
Haiti needs a sewer system, that's why the water is killing them.
Haiti needs a better transportation system. For a small country, they used too much gas on a daily basis. Very bad for the environment.
Better building codes.
Better hospitals , schools etc..etc.
Or to relax on the beach with a fruity drink with an umbrella in it?
Personally, I do it for the former. Caveats and all.
it's always the people who've never been who talk about how awful places are, and offer unhelpful "advice". if only it were that simple!!
unless you've been there, you cant comment and pass judgment on a country and what they "should" do.
Paul Farmer has done wonderful things for the health of Haitians living in the Central Plateau. No argument that he scores a bucket of points for that part of his life. However, he is an Aristide apologist who uses his bully pulpit to blame everything on the United States and perpetuate the myth that Aristide was anything other than the anti-Christ. For that he gets 10 demerits and has to go to bed without his pudding. (Too bad two "anti's" don't cancel each other out.)
And can someone tell me how much time Noam Chomsky has spent in Haiti or even how many Haitians he knows? (Members of the Haitian diaspora don't count because they are generally as naive about this country as the average sunflower farmer in Nebraska.)
Note to ADVOCATE4ZPG: the reparations "thingy" is indeed true. Haiti did not finish paying off the debt to France until the 20th century. Gotta hand it to the French; they have a knack for losing wars and still getting all the money.
It's about perspective: one person’s hell is another person’s normal day at the office. As Joel Grey sang in Cabaret “if you could see her through my eyes …”
I have lived in Haiti for eight years (most of that time in the provinces; Port-au-Prince is as representative of the country-at-large as Los Angeles is of the United States). I have worked with Haitians in all ten departments as well as on projects in Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa and Sierra Leone.
In every place I have ever lived or worked .. including the United States .. one can find something hellacious. Carrefour Feuille comes to mind in this country. However, the barrios of Caracas, the squatter townships in and around Johannesburg as well as Southeast in Washington D.C. all qualify as places worthy of fire and brimstone but to label an entire country based on a limited dataset is unfair and inaccurate.
If you visit the South or Gran D'Anse, your perception of Haiti will be very different. Even here, there must be a bit of heaven to offset the existence of hell. One must always weight the relative costs and benefits of rural life versus urban life before passing judgment on either.
I agree that the problems must be tackled at the source: education, infrastructure, health systems, transparency, accountability. However the absence of a real plan for reform and recovery as well as the dearth of results-oriented people become rate-limiting factors.
We never once felt threatened. We are working to set up an adventure tourism business with our Haitian friends. The country has its problems but statistics and grim news does not capture the beautiful spirit and perseverance of the wonderful Haitian people. I have snorkeled all over the Carri bean and never experienced such healthy, beautiful reefs as i did in Du Croix near Labadee. Americans need to start vacationing in Haiti--it is an unforgettable place!!
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The bottom line: U.S. (and other Western countries') foreign policy has conspired to keep the Haitians down. Haitians elected a president (Jean Baptiste Aristide), and the Bush administration literally kidnapped him and dumped him in Central Africa.
I guess that was because we're so "pro democracy"
Farmer's phrase describing U.S. foreign policy toward Haiti and other nations like it: "Yelling at the poor." (The perfect description, BTW)
Of all the truly shameful episodes in U.S. history, America's role in Haiti is one of the worst. Going to Haiti as a tourist might be a good apology.
My view of Haiti is colored by knowing of its history, as well as the statistics you cite and the book A Crime so Monstrous in which Haiti is (if memory serves) Chapter 2. While I do not argue against your point, it is only my giving Haitians the benefit of the doubt. The stigma, as with most stigmas, are based more on fact than we would like to admit. If you want to counteract this, you must make your point with something at least as substantial as the verifiable horrors known of in the region.
I have not organized and posted all the images on my site. here are some
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a conversation on Haiti. I visited Port au Prince many years ago, stayed at Habitacion
la Clerque, Katherine Dunhams home. Haitians are amazing people. Colonizers were
afraid of Haiti in the past, and still are. The French were overthrown by African slaves,
a precedent that colonial powers agreed had to never ever happen again by any oppressed people. Haiti is still paying the price. But it WILL CHANGE.
Stefpix has some great photos.
Worst of all, it social order was BETTER under dictators than NOT and has degraded its environment to such an extent that the difference from its adjacent neighbour is easily apparent from the air.
If the author's experience in Haiti was salutory, it was largely a result of a safe itinerary, his local friends, a short stay, and simple LUCK!!!
Best regards to (the) "Zoe Pound"!
after the hurricanes hit. Many people lost everything.
What I find sensationalistic is not the Wikipedia entry but this article I just finished reading. perpetrates stereotypes. Throat slitting flight attendant??
Went to many places alone. could not afford a guide.
No one tried to kidnap or take my belongings. Many people asked for money to buy rice. While I agree to some points of the above article, I do not understand what is the point of showing just piles of trash burning.
Why not show the dignity of women that work hard to make ends meet and support their families? the old ladies that wear amazing traditional dresses? The painters! s
There are so many other realities than the slums.
I took pick up truck tap taps, I took moto taxis. I walked for miles in the countryside. I saw beautiful things.
I documented too the social injustice.
My point if you take photos and just show trash, if you write that a flight attendant may slit your throat you do not do a service to the country.