"Up From the Rubble"
by Elona Dotson
by Elona Dotson
My first real visit to Haïti in August 2010—I say real as I now know that the short stay I had in 1990 on
the shore of Labadee while on a Royal Caribbean cruise did not count — landed
me in the midst of a tragic aftermath.
The grey ashen dust from fallen buildings and the stench of death seemed
to be still in the air seven months after the January 10th
earthquake. If you were to stand
in the middle of any given street, you were surrounded by tents and
rubble.
At the time, there were many questions being asked regarding
the millions of dollars that had been collected to assist the island nation in
rebuilding. Those same questions
are still being asked now, in May 2012. Most of the aid has not been
realized. While the injustice here
is beyond comprehension and should be addressed, I believe the immediate need
to secure life is vitally more important.
When we were there, we found many without food and clean
water, existing in horrendous sanitary conditions, living in tents, and
children who couldn’t attend school as their schools had been destroyed. We listened to countless stories of
earthquake survivors and what they had encountered. We were invited in to their personal odysseys and introduced
to their pain, their frustration, their anger and in some cases,
bitterness. However, in spite of
all they had been through—the emotional scars that remained, the prospect of difficult
times ahead—these seemingly destitute people with their resilient spirits and
courageous hearts inspired us to believe in the promise of a hopeful
future. One man said, “We will
rise up from the rubble and continue to be the great nation that is in our
blood.”
We came back from that first trip, and Community 2 Community
(C2C) was born. We immediately set out to work with intent, focus and
vision. It would be another full
year before I would get back to Haiti again. When I arrived there in October
2011, I was happy to see a Haïti that was indeed rising up from the
rubble. The ash had settled, most
of the piles of concrete and bricks from destroyed buildings were gone and some
of the damage to the roads had been repaired. Some rebuilding was evident. While there was still much work to be
done, the progress was comforting, made more so by the fact that much of it was
occurring without the infamous “missing money.” The Haitian people embodied “where
there is a will, there is a way.”
It seemed as if the people went about their daily lives with purpose and
quiet determination.
As I looked over the pictures the team had taken on that
first visit in 2010, and also the ones from the October trip, I saw the upward
movement that has and continues to take place. I saw how things looked when we first went and how we have
helped to impact the progress of restoration and renewal. The photos showed this momentum, a sense
of moving forward – in the land, in the culture and in the faces of the women,
men and children. We are thrilled
to be sharing these photos with the public at C2C’s first photo gallery exhibit
and auction, appropriately titled, “Up From the Rubble,” on Thursday, May 31st from 6-10pm at Bed Vyne Wines, corner of
Putnam and Tompkins Avenues in Brooklyn, NY. Renowned Haitian photographer Ocean Morisset will be
donating two pieces from his Haïti collection for the auction. Bed Vyne Wines has also agreed to
partner with us by presenting a tasting from their collection of unique and
exquisite wines.
We invite you to witness with us the power of a people and
of a community. Please lend your support to the exhibit as all of the proceeds
will go toward the completion of a water system that is a key part of C2C’s Haïti
Restoration and Transformation Pilot Project.
Elona Dotson is Director of Productions and Logistics for Community2Community. She is the executive producer of the "Hope and A Future" Benefit Concert for Haïti. Contact her at elona@community2community.info