Mountains Beyond Mountains

Man wanders the dock searching for the hungry, Port of Carres,
approx 40 miles north of Port Au Prince.

"Perhaps it's done already, perhaps they have carried me to the threshold of my story. Before the door that opens on my story, it will be the silence. Where I am, I don't know, I'll never know, in the silence you don't know, you must go on. I can't go on, I'll go on." - The Unnamable, Samuel Beckett

I only know what I saw with my tiny eyes. Here I am, behind a camera again, with the protection of my sophisticated machines and the freedom to return home. I post this with reverence to Haiti and her invincible peoples who have endured the end, and the end, and the end, and go on, determined to begin again. 

 Children, Island de La Gonave. Medical Solar Mission, 2011

 Men rest in the sun from digging wire beds for solar panel electrical lines.

Patient stands in line at the medical clinic.

The staff photographer and I set up inside the church for late night post production hours on the first night. Before we settled in, we were informed of an emergency patient 

that was brought into the clinic after dark. 

 We got several versions of this boy's story, the most consistent was that he had fallen off his donkey, possibly carrying water. The island is made mostly of limestone and lava rock which is jagged and dry. He split his lip from his nose down and had several gashes on his forehead and legs. He came in holding his face, but did not whimper.

 The volunteer doctor tries dry sutures first, but the boy's tissue is too damaged to hold. He wraps the boys face in bandages and prepares to send him home. We follow the doctor into the supply room, he cracks open a beer and sighs, "I can't believe I didn't bring super glue." The writer on our team looks at him deeply, "are you serious?" The doctor stops the boy and the writer sprints to the church for his super glue that he travels with for his glasses that always fall apart. We are not the kings horses, nor the kings men. The writer left the glue behind and used grip tape for the next three weeks. 

 Alyce "no tears" Henson, post production, La Gonave, Haiti. 

Clinic attendees when not on foot.

This picture reminds me of growing up with Ruthie, my older sister. Clearly, I'm the cheeky scoundrel on the right keeping the intended portrait from touching the lense with a sweetness. 

Such a strong face for a man with an infection in his pinky. 

 Dinner

This boy, this face, I wonder.