Copyright © Carole Devillers 2010   A young girl blows a kiss to the photographer in Port-au-Prince.

“The poorest country in the Western hemisphere”: that’s how Haiti has been described for many years.  When a disaster of unimaginable proportions came crashing down on the tiny nation early this year, many wondered, “Can the Haitians endure?”  After spending nearly two decades there and witnessing a variety of political, military, and climactic upheavals, I predict that they will grow even stronger from the tragedy.  As Haitian writer René Depestre so rightly put it:
 
“Your people are hungry,
And sleepless, and they know
How to manage their sweat and tears.

Your people were forged
On the anvil of suffering.”

 

Certainly, Haiti is very poor by material standards, but my own eyes and heart as a photojournalist I found it much richer than many industrialized countries in its strong faith, its diverse creativity, and its powerful culture.  Haitians are billionaires when it comes to resilience in face of adversity.  Haiti is unique and full of beauty.

 

What struck me most when I first set foot on the island in 1976 was not the poverty or lack of roads, but the smiles.  Aimed at the world like an antidote for their misery, smiles were everywhere--in the city as well as the countryside, around the corner, behind the few trees left on the island.  And with them came unforgettable generosity and hospitality toward any stranger, even an obvious foreigner.  Some 34 years later, I’m struck all the more by the enduring smiles, even when I see them in news clips of post-quake rescues.

 

 

 

Copyright © Carole Devillers 2010

 

A smile from Haiti - from a little girl pouring a gallon of water over herself as a shower in her camp.

 

Smiles through Pain

 

After she spent six days under rubble, alone in the dark, her fingers pinned by a concrete block, a woman was finally discovered and asked through a little opening if she wanted water.  She replied sweetly, “Water ... yes ... that would make me so happy.”  Three hours later, when she was finally pulled out of what might have been her tomb, the woman beamed and burst into a song praising God.  Likewise, a courageous five-year old boy has become an iconic image of the quake after being pulled from debris that entombed him for eleven days.  With arms raised in a “V,” his face beamed like a bright light.

 

Copyright © Carole Devillers 2010   Destruction of a row of houses in a neighborhood street in Port-au-Prince.

The victims could be crying or wallowing in self-pity.  Instead, Haitians sing to God.  They could be defeated, but Haitians of all ages keep fighting.  Perhaps they find it easier to battle a disaster once it’s personified.  “This thing,” as they call the beast that tried to annihilate them on January 12, won’t have the best of them.  “EQ Samson,” as they also call it, will not win.  They’ve seen worse.  What about their fight for independence 200 years ago--the first successful black slave rebellion?  Their buildings and infrastructure may be down, but Haitians are up, their spirit still shining.