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Resilience in a Ravaged Nation: Haiti, After the Earthquake
Reporting in Progress
The people of Port-au-Prince will forever measure their lives in two parts: before and after the earthquake. As the ground shook on the afternoon of January 12, buildings toppled and crumbled, crushing thousands. An estimated 200,000 people are dead, many of them still entombed in the rubble.
The post-quake pictures of Haiti are overwhelmingly tragic, as images of Haiti generally tend to be. Hundreds of thousands were displaced, most of them already poor and marginalized, from the slums of City Soleil and La Saline. What is remarkable is that in the weeks since the earthquake, these people have come together to form new fully-functioning communities around their battered city. They have built their shacks with wood, sheets, plastic and blankets. A faithful people, they thank God for sparing them, rather than denouncing him for forsaking them. They press on, hoping that the government and aid agencies will help, but recognize that if they are to rebuild their lives, they must do so on their own.
There is a Haitian saying, “Dèyè mòn, gen mòn.” Beyond mountains, there are more mountains. Once you have survived one obstacle, there is always another to overcome. Yes, Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, with a tragic history of ills, both natural and manmade, but her people, undaunted by the cruel blows of fate, continue to climb.
Kwame Dawes
Ghanaian-Jamaican writer and poet Kwame Dawes is the author of over a dozen collections of verse, including the critically-acclaimed “Wisteria: Poems From the Swamp Country.” Dawes is also the author of numerous plays, essays and books.Click on name above for full bio
Andre Lambertson
Andre Lambertson is a New York-based photojournalist, teacher, and filmmaker committed to documenting stories of hope, healing, and transformation. He creates award-winning photo essays on social issues for magazines, books, foundations, advocacy organizations and museums including Time, US News and World Report, Life, National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, The Ford Foundation, The George Soros Foundation and The Smithsonian Museum...Click on name above for full bio
Lisa Armstrong
Lisa Armstrong is an award-winning journalist with credits in several publications, including The Washington Post, National Geographic, Parade, Ms., Essence, Redbook, USA Weekend and O, The Oprah Magazine. She is an adjunct professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and has also taught at NYU...Click on name above for full bio
