{"id":356745,"date":"2010-02-23T13:42:25","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T18:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reuters.com\/photo\/?p=15370"},"modified":"2010-02-23T13:42:25","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T18:42:25","slug":"the-devil-on-the-loose-in-haiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/356745","title":{"rendered":"The Devil on the loose in Haiti"},"content":{"rendered":"

The incessant drone of the motorcycle under me becomes distant as my mind creates images from the words of an elderly woman in the camp I just visited. \u201cThe Devil is on the loose in Haiti. He turns into a dog, a pig or a hen, to move unnoticed in the camps and devour life. Last night he appeared as a dog and took the life of a child.\u201d In the camp everyone knows and speaks of the death, and the strange disappearance of the boy\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

Every form that I have ever imagined devilish beings to take are banished from my mind when this Devil appears. He has become a 7-day diarrhea that \u201cdevoured\u201d the life of the child. Is it easier to explain death in the hands of a demon instead of looking around and thinking that it might have been the lack of water, hygiene and food that snatched the life?<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The destitution of the Haitian people hits me everywhere I turn. In none of the camps I visited is there a face that doesn\u2019t show the mark of poverty. \u201cThe city looks like it was bombed,\u201d says the security expert who accompanies me daily. There is no building, house or street that doesn\u2019t show the effects of nature\u2019s strength. They really were<\/em> bombed – bombarded by political violence, illiteracy, unemployment, AIDS and extreme poverty. The quake did nothing more than expose to the world the indigence of\u00a0an entire nation.<\/p>\n

\"Survivors<\/p>\n

The three-day-long Mass held to remember the earthquake’s first month moves me in every way. Without realizing it I find myself\u00a0swaying to the rhythm of the music sung by the throng of mourners dressed in white. The innocent faces of children contrast brutally with the cold stares of looters on Route National #1, the scene of the most dramatic images of the disaster.<\/p>\n

\"Earthquake<\/p>\n

In front of the ruins of the Government Palace the plastic sheeting and cloth are slowly being replaced by brick and wood. Probably in a matter of months these camps will become shanty towns built from quake debris turned back\u00a0into walls and roofs. The debris already has a recognized value.<\/p>\n

\"Earthquake<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want more rice. The world has raised millions of dollars and all we get is rice,\u201d screams a man as he tries to get others to follow his lead in blocking the route to the airport with sticks and stones. In just minutes riot police arrive to clear the road. The demonstrators disperse but the yells of people in the camps all along the route continue in unison, \u201cNo more rice!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The food distribution tickets are by coincidence red, \u201cthe Devil\u2019s color,\u201d one man says to me echoing fears that the Devil is present. \u201cToday we pray to God. Anyone caught practicing voodoo in these ceremonies will be executed by the people.\u201d The feeling is unanimous. Voodoo is prohibited for now. The looks of fear and the insecurity of my motorbike are the best reasons to continue on without inquiring.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

I come across a fight over four wooden posts. A blow to the head is the raw sign that the fight will be savage. My reaction isn\u2019t as fast as my camera shutter, that in an instant captures the desperation in the face of someone who, having nothing, fights for something.\u00a0The\u00a0posts seem enough reason to kill a neighbor. They\u00a0mean the difference between living exposed to the elements, or in precarious privacy.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

News of a birth in a garbage dump affects me deeply. I\u2019m convinced that it will be the mission of this child and thousands like him to bring change to Haiti. It will take more than one generation to change its course and start over from scratch.<\/p>\n

I leave for the border with the Dominican Republic with a strange feeling, one in which I had the chance to give or do something but wasn\u2019t able to do either. My photographs are the best way I know to give, in my capacity as witness to the misery that the Haitians are suffering.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

I take with me many questions and no answers. At night I hear the screams of the people in the obscure camps. I can only think that these are days in which we all<\/em> fear the Devil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The incessant drone of the motorcycle under me becomes distant as my mind creates images from the words of an elderly woman in the camp I just visited. \u201cThe Devil is on the loose in Haiti. He turns into a dog, a pig or a hen, to move unnoticed in the camps and devour life. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-356745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}